Louis Althusser UX Ben Brewster Penguin BooksFor Marx But this make t necessary to pose the problem ofthe pilo- Sophia! leanings which can be detected ta ceain of Eagel’s tings. Why Beside geal theoretical intuitions do we fad in Egale examples of thie step backwards from the Marit sigue of all “piasophy"? This question could only be answered by 2 ‘story of the relations betneen Maryn thought an philoropy and othe new plosophical theory (nthe noneologcl sense) ‘which Marx's discovery brought with it Obviously, T cannot ee at this rable hee. But perhaps we have to be coornced ‘ofthe eistencs ofthe problem before we wilfing eh the wl or the way to pate it cone and then resolve it The ‘Piccolo Teatro’: Bertolazzi and Brecht| should tke to make amends to the Picola Teatro of Milan a their extordinary production at the Théstre des Nations ia July 1962. Amends for the condemnation and diappointment ‘that Bertolaza's EI Nest Mion drew eo copiously fom Pariah tritcsm!. depriving ie of the sudienes it deserved. Amends, because, fr fom divesting our atenion from the problems of moder’ éramaturgy with tted, atachronistic enterainnent Suebler's choice and his producsioa tke us tothe heat ofthese probes ‘Reader wil forgive me if [pve a bit summary of the plot of ‘ercolaz's play, o that what follows can be understood? “Theft of te three ace i et in the Milan Tivol the 1690: cheap, povety-stsken furan the tick fog ofan autumn, ‘evening With ths fog we already fnd ourselves in an Haly unlike the Taly of our myths. And the people sualling at day's end from bocth to booth, between the fortneeler, the crs and sllihe attractions of the fairground unemployed, atsans, sri eggs, ison te look-out, old men and women on the watch {or the 08 halfpenny, soiers on pre, pickpockets chased by th cops. nite are these people the peopl of our myths, they rea rob proletariat passing the te a best hey ean belor sp ‘er (tot forall of them) and rest. A. good thin characters who ‘come and goin thitempry spas, waiting fer who knows what, for something to happen, the show perhaps? no, for they stop at the ait coor eonmeu dawn lon Paro, Combe, Pee Se penitence inom fs slo enough to doen the PecFor Marx doorway, waling for something of some sor to happen io their lives in which nothing happens. They wait. However, atthe end ‘ofthe at, in 2 fash "sor is sketched ot, the image of a dese fing. A i, Nina, stands taoained by the lights of the reas, Starag with aller heartthrowgh a rent in the canvas et he ‘own performing his perilous act Night has fallen. For one momeat ime isin suspense. But shes aleady being watchd by ‘the Togasso, the goed Tornothing who hopes to sedace bet. A auik defiance, retreat, departure. Now an eld an appest, he "Te-euter, ber father, and has seen everthing Something has taken she, which might turn into a tape. ‘A tagedy? Ie is completely forgoten inthe second ac. 1s broad day inthe spacious premises of a cheap eating house. Here gsi we finda whole crowd of poor people, he same peode But diferent characters: the same Dovery and useiploynes, the ‘otsam of the past he wapediesandcomedie ofthe presets craflsmen, beggar, a cabman, a. Garibaldian veteran, some ‘women, ee Also afew workers who are building Factory, ia sharp contrast with their lumpen-pecletavian surrounding: they fre ateady dicusing Indu, politics, and, almost, theft, but ony just and with ficult. This is Man fom below, went years afer the conquest of Rome andthe deeds ofthe Rong Doverty. Yes, the day af the sccond acts adood the truth of the ight ofthe fst: these people have wo more history io thi ives than they ha fa their dreams, ‘They survive, tha is ll: ty eat (only the workers depart, called bythe Tuctory ote) they ext snd wail Ae in which nothing happens. The, just at the cod ‘ofthe ac, Nina reappears on te stage, for so apparent reton, tnd wither the wagedy. We leaca thatthe clown is deed, Te ‘menand women eave the stage ite by lite, The Topatcoappes, he fores the gilt Liss him and give him what ite money abe has Hardly more than afew gstves Hr father aves, (Nina is weeping atthe end ofthe Jong able) He doesnot eat be drinks, ‘After a terol strugae he succeeds inkling the Topaso th & knife and then fess, hguars, overwhelmed by what he has one ‘Once again lightning Hah after long grind. nthe third act itis da inthe women’s night setter Old woe, bendiog into the wal, siting dow, talk or stay sent “The ‘Piccolo Teatro": Bertola and Brecht ‘One stout peasant woman, bursting with heath wil evtaialy xe turn to the county Some wom pas; esclays,wedo nat know them, ‘Te ldy warden leas her woe company to Mass when the bell ring, When the stage has empsied, the tragedy begins tania. Nina was lasing inthe shelter, Her father comes to see ber forthe Inst time before puson! she must realize at leat that e kl for he sak, for er ono... butenddenly every {hing is revered; Nina tars oo her father, on the Hlusions sud lies he is fed her, onthe myth whic wl al him, But not hers {forse fe eng to rescue hel, al alos, for tat isthe only tray. She wil leave tht world of night and poverty aad enter the other one, where pleasure and mosey reign The Togasso Was Fight. She wil pay te prise, she wil sel eral, but she wil be fn the other sie, onthe side of feedom and trth. The hooters ound. Her fathr hae embraced her and. departed, a broken ‘man, The hooters sil sound. Erect, Nina goes out into the d= light, ‘Thee are the themes ofthis play andthe order in which they ppear, preted ino fw words Altogether not much. Eocogh, howevey, to foster misunderstanding, but also enough to cest that up. and dicove Beneath ter a astonish doth ‘The bat ofthese misunderstandingss, ofcourse, the accusation tht the ply i modrame misrabilve But anyone Wo has ied” the performance or sade ie economy can demolish charge. For it does contain melodramatic elements, asa whole the drama spl etm of them. Ni’ father does indeed Live hs dahter’s story inthe melodeamatc mode, and not jst his daughter's advent, bt above all his ova fea elation ith is daughter, He hs invented for he the tion ofan imagis- fy eonlile, and encouraged ber in er romantic ions; be tees desperatly to ive fash and lood to the Husons be bas fontered im his daughter: abe wishes to keep her fee from fl contict with the word he has hides fom ber, sad a, desperate ‘hat she wil nt Histn to him, he Kl the souree of Evi the To- aio, So he lives intensively and realy the myths he has eam ‘rte to epie his daughter Irom the law ofthis world. So the father eth very nage of melodrama, ofthe “la ofthe heat™ 1For Marx ‘eloing its ao the “aw ofthe wor It is preci this de- Iiberateunconssiousnes tht Nina jets. She makes her ov el trial of the word. With the clowa's dest her adolescent creas Ihave died too. The Togaso has opened er eyes and deptched der cldhood myths slong with ber Zaher. His violence self Ins fred her from words and dates, Se as at lat sxn this paked, uel word where morality is oching but a He; sb has realized that her sfety Les im ber own bands and that she can nly reach the other world by selling the only goods at her de posi: her young body. The reat confrontation atthe end of the {hied act & more than a contonttion between Nina aed her father, 8 the confrontation ofa world without illsions wth the ‘wretched ilusons ofthe heat’ he confrontation of he el ‘word withthe meldranate worl, the drpmatis access to cone Sousaes that desoys the myths of melodeama, the very myths that Hero and Stehler are charged with. Those who make ‘his barge could quit easly have found in the play the ers they tried to adres tt from the als "But there is anotbes, deeper reason that should clear yp this sisunderstanding.¥was trying to hina tin my summary of he play's “sequence’, when I poited out its strange “temporal” thm, "Por thia a tndoed, «play romarhable frit interme dnoiae tion The rear wl ave noted tht its re acts have the Sune structure, and almost he same content: the coexistence of slong, slowly-paasing, empty time and a lightning shore, fll tine; ho cocuisence of «spce populated by a erowd of characters whore ruotua reltons are eacdental or episodic and a shor space, tipped in mortal combat, iababited by three christen: the father, tbe daughter and the Topssso. In other words, tis is ‘ly ia whith about forty characters appear butte tegedy con {eras oaly thee ofthe. Moreover, thee is no expe lation Ship between thee two Ues or between thee two spaces. THe chatacters of the time seem strangers 10 the characters of the lightning: they repulaty give place to them (sit the thunder of fhe storm had chased them from the stage), aly to sere a the eat atin eer gui, once the instant foreign to thir yh tae passod, I we deepen the latent meaning ofthis discltion it wil ead us tothe best ofthe play. For the spectator actly 1 The ‘Pool Testo": Bertola and Brecht lives tis deepening as he moves from disconect reserve to fstonshiment ad thea passionate involvement between the fst {dd the third ct, My im bere is merely to sect this ved deep ning, to make expt thi latent meaning which elects the spet- tator despite hiswel, But the dectve question i this: why iit that this dissociation isso expesive, and what does i expres? ‘Whats this absence of relations to suggest tent relation a is ‘bs and jistieaton? How can there ezexst to forms of tem poral, spperenly foreign to one another and yee ted by a Iived reiationsip? ‘The anwer is na paradon: the tae relaonship is consiuted preisely by the absence of relations. Te play's eee nistrat= Ing this absence of relations and bringing Itt Le gives it its ‘ugialig, In sort, I do not think we are dealing with melo “ramatc veneer on ctenicle of Milanese popula: ie in 1890 ‘Were dealing with a mslodramatic consciousness eritiied by an Cntencethe existence ofthe Milanesesuproletatiatn 190. With fut this existence t would be impossible ell what the meiodras nate consciousness was; without this ectique of te melodramatic Consciousness st would e impossible to gasp the tgedy Intent inthe existence of the Milanese sub-proletart: ts powerlessness ‘What is the signileaoe ofthe chronicle of wrethadexstence that tals uphe sential art ofthe hve acts? Why this chronicles fine a marchpat of purely typed, monymous and inechange tle Benge? Why i hi time of vague mectngs, brief exchanges find broached cputes preiely an empty time? In is progress ftom the fst ac through the s8coad to the third, why does this. time tnd towards sence and immobility (i the Best at theres bill semblance of Efe and movement onthe tages the second, rerone ising down and some ae aay apingato sence {nthe thir, the ald women blend into dhe walls) Why ~ if otto ‘Saget the actal content of this wretsbed time: it i time in ‘etic nothing happens, atime without hope or fot, atime in Which even the pst is xed in zepettion (he Gasibalian veteran) {od the fture sadly groped fora the politcal ammerings of the labourers oiling the factory, a time in which estares have to continuation or ees, n.which everyting i summed up in 8 fw exchanges close toi, co ‘everyday lien discussions and spate ubich ae ether abortive or reduced to nothingness by 8 bsFor Marx consciousness of thir ty? Isa wor, stainay tine fn ich ching resembling History ean yet happen an ence dexpled as empy etme of the station Tow of nothing co masterly inthis respect asthe stig for the szond at, because pesily @ dct pet of 1s tie I he rt ot was sl pose o wonder te the ‘wasteland ofthe Tivo only harmoninad with the nochaane of Ute unemployed and fe who saute betcen ts fw sons sndfew facinating phe theo the day. In tesecon act t i everwhsmingly obvious thatthe empty, closed cube ef this Cheap restuurat i a tage of tine ta thee men's saan ‘Ath botom a th wom rfc ofan mmenge wal sa unos at thelinit ofan acssbl cing covered with oti of gt Insions al fice by he yeas bt lege, wes enor ‘oul ong a, paral othe foi ete downsags the Ser mitge; Bed hem, up aginst te wall 3 orate irom bar dividing ff he entrance fo the restanants This the ‘wy themen and omen vil comein Par ight» gk pron Prpediar ote line ofthe tates pert he hal em the Fiche Two htchey ous for deol, he oer fo food, Bend the soa the ich exept ade iperiae cook, The bares oft immense feld rested by {ts aan tn inert awe coe tm unberalymsterand yang ction A fow tiene seated St th abe. Here an there. Facing the snr, or wi it teks to them. They wil alk face or or backwar jst a thy so siing Inaspace which’ tooageor them, a spe tn mil everbe abl to ll eve hey will mak tes Gerson exchonge buthowever often they eave ter lacs ian stomp fojosos hance neighbour, wo ha tossl them propos eos ale, td beaches, they wl ever abolish bles oe Benches, which wll ftv eat he from each, nde he tablet Fepulation that dominates then Thi space neal the ie thy Tein. Onc an hr, enter tee Sei as ener het sound. They wil stay where thy te, Ean, past hit xii orn bp 136 “The ‘Picola Teatro": Bertola and Brecht oes, eating agin, At these times, the gsstrethamaclves reveal Sl tet meaning. The character sven fac-on at che beginning of the te, head hardly higher than the plate he would per to tary between hist habds, Te imei takes hin ois spoon, {oliftirup to his mouth and over i ia an interminable moverent {esgoed fo ensue that not one scrap ie lost, and when at lst he Ins filed hs mouth, be lingers over is portion weighing it up be fore evalloning it. Then we soe thatthe eters with thei backs to taremakng the she movements their isd elbows compensie ting foe tsi unstable backs ~ we se them eating absent, ike all the other abvent people, making the sume haly movements in ‘Milan and in all he world's ret cites, because thats the whole of thei es, and there is noting which would make it posible for them to live out thei tie otherwise (The only ones with an ait thse ar the labourers, thei fe and work pnctsted by the footer) Tcan think of no comparable representation in spatial Structure inthe distribution of men and paces, af the deep eae tions Between men and the ime they ive "Now forthe stent point: this temporal structure ~ that of the chron ~is opposed to another temporal stuctre: that ofthe ‘tragedy’, For the tragedy ie (Ninn) is falls afew Hghtaing- ‘ashe, a arcusted tine, ‘dramatic’ time, A time in which some history must take pee. A tine moved from within by an inetile fore, producing i oWa coatent, Tele clalectcl time por excellge, A tine that abolishes the other time and the Hct fits spatial representation. When the men ave lft the Fesiaurant, and only Nib, er father and the Togaso ar Ie fonehing has suddeoy disappeared: a ifthe diners had taken ‘Me whole dco ith them (Suetlersstrokeof genius:tohavemade fo ats one, sad played to diferent act nthe same dor, the ‘ery space of valle and tabs the logic and meaning of these Tocatons; as feat alone substituted for his wsbe and emp) Space anther dens, invisible, reversible space, with oe dimen ston, the dimension that propel towards tage, ultimately the Ginnsion that had o propel it into tragedy if there as realy to beany tragedy ib prsely this opposition that pes Bertolzas play its epth. On the one hand, a non-dilectical tine in which nothing Neppen, time with no interaal neces forcing Wt itoaston;For Marx on the other, a disectcal tne (that of cont) indoced by iso feral contain to produce ite development and reset The paradox of £1 Nos Mia's that the daectioin itis acted aren Ay, s0 to speak, in the wings, somewhere in one corer ofthe fuage and atthe ends ofthe at: this dati (although it does seem to be indispensable to any theatrical work) i a Tog time oi: the characters could not careless about i Te kes is time, and never arsives oni the ea, inialy at night, when the tris heavy with he renowned aght-owl, then as midday kes, withthe sum already on ie descet, Sly a dawn ries. TS Uialecl alvays appears ater everyone hat departed How isthe “dehy” of ths dakcuc to be understood? Is it elye inthe way consciousness for Mars ud Hegel? But can ' dileticbe delayed? Only on condion that it another ame for conecioveness, the disete of ET Nast Mion i acted inthe wings, in one comer of the stags, i is Bera tis noting but the dialectic of ' consovsnes: the dslsti of Nina's father and his coscous ‘es: And that is why ts destaction i the precondition for aay {eal dali, Here we should veall Mar’ tales in The Holy Family of Bugine Sue's personages" The motr of their éamatic 4 Manes toa (he Holy Fay, nah (a) Ths poss Pars prtent moray an rl a vent 08 rata tinge Catal dpe thar pve ox Saga). Waters use in ogy comer al enero goers abd cio un esasn from the “people’, noe he innocent” But (tues) he wes save" Sp a i a hy at pat “Siete tera ct hy ony 2; apn Ses etn {No hr ar the renee why the eer kes ho teave na ea ‘ott a) at i a eo oe oe “The “Pisoolo Teatro": Bestolaza and Brecht condvet i their entation withthe myths of bourgeois mor. ity: these wnfortanates ive their misery within the arguments of {ligious aad moral conscinoy; ia borrowed finery. Init hey ‘Sisguse their problems and even their condition. In this sense, ‘acodrams i foreign consloumess asa veneer on areal con ion, Tue dilectie of the melodramatic consciousness only powble st this price this consouanest mast be borrowed from ‘ite prot sme’ 4 snort, paras ud duns 8 Sorta and cso iteoaé ott more ny Pu ta se ‘SSUES fect meted fice people popula yh fhe elo {cit dt prope ons i eo rs tp "Ghai eae tern cnr eh Seon te yom eon Bt ‘yours nd fo al eer uring ata on oar ot Te tcc une hud be iid oe epi cone of iba Sine ool A Paso of Guay cnet bck st or fon or Sova th oe woth res iy oh vet fr. eg {natin at rows to ons oh po nar hat ob ‘Bue omer wore ons qt repued fo beam om the “pote Sepak wah tht one be ned and Sandel ut ee © Reem couton de hey are sabi sronsmodhted nl rte ‘Gondor mdse vet” ck as Brent abl Pa od the Pees Sees ent. wt mat rom Stuy seela py at bg tbl epost on ot Jeo the pore o pope, pale nth a avr of mo Fiat mloruma tas worthy of thw sap (ie ea het Sg isvrcaed ama pein he cae Syst ier rst oo oe 1For Marx ute rom the worl fais, sbtimations and es of bourgeois ‘moray, and it mast etl be lived sth consciousness of cond tion (tht of the poor) even though tis condition is raialy foctgn tothe consciousness, I follows that betwean th malo dramatic consiosnesson the one band, nd the existence ofthe tharaters of the melodrama on the other, there ean est no tiradiconsticy speaking, The melodramatic consciousness ot contradictory fo thse conditions: Isa quite difret con- ‘Slusnes, posed from witout ona determinate condition but tithout any inet! ation tot Thats why the melodramatic onsiousness can oly be daectialifitignorsits real conditions fd baricades tif inside its myth, Sheltered fom the wl, it ‘nleashes ll the attic fotm ofa reals confit which can ‘nly ever Hid peas in the catastrophe of someone eles all it takes this hallo for destiny and te brethlesmest for the Aalst. Init, the dint turn i a oid, sac ts oaly the alse ofthe void, ext of fom the real word for ever, THs forsign consiousne, without contradicting is conditions, ear rot emerge frown if by fuel, by is own “sees. I has to rake a ruptore and recogeiae thi aotlngness, scores the on-datity of this dat, “This never happens with Se: bu it doe in EY Nost Aloe. In Ahsan the fs rene de git am ane tothe paras of the ply and of itr etroctore, When Nina tars oa heft, wen she fede him back nto the night wih his dreams, shes breaking both wither father's melodramatic consciousness snd with it "dia- Teco’ Shes ished with these myths and the conte they leash, Father, consclousness, dialectic, she throws them all ‘overboard and erose the threshold of the otter Would 8 io show that tis inthis poor word that things ace happenin, that ‘erything has already boron, nat only ts poverty, but to the ‘essoy dusions of ts consciousness, Ths disletc which only ‘comes int its own atte extremities ofthe stags, inthe aes of @ ory it aver ausseeds i invading or dominating, i very exact lage forthe quaseml elton of fab consciousness 0 areal suation, The sanction ofthe necessary rupture impose by rel ‘experience, foreign othe content of conseiouses isto case his ‘ialetis fom the stage. When Nina goes through the door sep ‘rating her frm the daylight she doesnot yet know what her Me 1 “The ‘Piccolo Teatro’: Bertoazal and Brecht wi be; she might even ose it, AUeast we know that she goes out Thuothe rea wel which s uadoubtedy the world of money, but fio the word that peadues poverty and imposes on poverty even Itsconsiousness of tragedy And tis is what Mars said when he rejected the false dete of consciousness, een of popular com ‘lousnes in favour of experience and stody ofthe other word the world of Capital ‘A this pint someone wil want stop me, arguing that what T amr drawing from the pay goes bejond the intentions of the futhor and that Tam inft, tibuting to Bertolaza what really belongs to Stele, But repard thi statement st meaningless, for ino hee i the ply latent strectare and nothing els. Berto faze capi intentions are unimportant: what counts, beyond the words the character and te artion ofthe pay ith internal elation ef the bas element of is structure [would go further. does uot matter wheter Bertola consciously wished for this Stacure, or unconsciously produced it: it onsiues the eseace fot his work it lone makes both Steele’ iaterpretation and the sodieno’s rection comprehensible Seber was acutely avare ofthe implication ofthis remarkable structure and his prodoction and direction of the scors were 6e- termined by it; that is why the andience was bowed over by i. The fecttors' notion cannot be explained merely bythe presence" ‘ih eceing popular Ife nor bythe poverty of these peone, ‘who sll manage to keep up a hand-to-mouth essence, acepting Tei fae taking tet revenge, on ocasion with a lugh, at mo Inenis by solidarity. most often by sence ~ nor by the lightning tragedy of Ning, ber father and the Togasso; but basally by their tunconcou pectin ofthis strata and it profound mean Ing The true fs nowhere exposed, nowhere Jos i constitu so ofe wat onjet ary Glned 8! Mises daa ote me, ma oti ee ch nt ih od {ihe yon yh ch toh. ho dese igo ee We hee sued to make we rnrangomets in ae ‘Section ofthe py oo at san hi wee ctr, Bertlaas ‘Gor Tet hee ben rede etary he ono the cod ad hd ra eogamne Not) aFor Mars the obec ofa speech ora dialogue, Nowbere ca it be paclted ‘eo in the play as can tho visible characters or the course of the action, Butts thee inthe tact eation between the feople’s tne and the tne of the tragedy, in their mutual imbalapc, in thei incessant “interference” aod fall in tei tr and clasive ‘lem, I isthe reveling Intent sla, this apparely a+ ‘Sgnfcant and yet deive tension that Strelder’s production en- ables the audience to pereive without thet beng able to uansate this presence direlly foto cleaely conscious terms. Yes, the ae fence applaided in the play somthing thal was beyond them, which may even have been beyond its author, but which Strehler ‘povided im: a meaning bused deeper than words and estures, fecpr than the immediate fate of te character who lieth ate Svithout ever being able to reflect on it. Even Nina, who ifr us {he ruptire andthe bepinnin, and the promise of enote: world tnd another consciousness, dace not know what she js doing. ‘ere we can truly eay that consiouses is delayed ~ or even if itis il Sind, te a Consciousness aiming ot st ata real word 1f thie refecton onan ‘expeience” is acceptable, we might ws it to illuminate other experiences by an investigation saxo thei lays, problems which ecoune fo such concep asthe alieuation fMfact or the pie theatre has pethaps notin principle perfectly fale Lam very struck bythe fat that att asjranercal~ rica Mructre, the dsisiointhe-wingsstructre found in ertolaa's play, ie ineentinle also the strsctore of playssuch a Mother Courage nd (above all) Galito. Here again we aso find forms of temporality that do not achieve any mutual nteration, ‘which have no relation to one another, which coeast and inter ‘Soanect but Never niet each ater, 9 to speaks with fred ele monte which interne in dalectic whichis leslie, separate td apparently ungrounded; works marked by an intr 8 Seciation, en unresolved ltt “The dynamic ofthis specie fatetstroctre, and in pacar, the coeitence without any explicit relation of a dale tem pouty and e nonalestical temporality, the basis for tae rite of the sions of consciousness (which always Believes “The ‘Piccolo Teatto':Bertolazal and Brecht isc tobe diletcl and rats ite a8 dskestical), te basis for ttre eique ofthe fale dst (cof, raged, ee) by the ‘Kaconcering scaly whi is basi and which is waiting for evogaition Thus, the war in Mother Courage, as opposed tothe petsondltragedit of her blindness, tothe fase urgency of er [rods thusin Gale the history that slower than consciousness Empat fr th the history which is also disconcerting for 3 ‘onsclousnes which iuever able to take" dorably on tot within the pstiod of is short This slentconfonttion of a con- teioumness ving ite own situation isthe dsletical-tapc mode, “Shi leving the whole world to be maved by is impulse) witha fealty whi is ndifrent and cage to this so-called dialectic = fo apparel uodialetal realy, makes posible an immsaent ‘agveofthellsions of consciousness. [hardly matters wheter hte things are said not (hey ae ia Breet, in the form of {ables or song): inte at resort sno the word that produce ths eclique butte infernal balanes and imbalances of forss beeween the setients ofthe play's structure, For tere sno ue (tig whichis nt inanentand already eel and material before {Cis conscious, I wonder whater this aeymmatrical,decentred Frcture should not be regarded eseaial to any theatrical (fort of mate character. If we cary our analysis of thi oni alitfurter ween easily fad int Mer fundamental frinpc at tis imposible for ny fora a ealopeal conscious est contin inital, ehroveh te ova internal dialectic, an scape Rom sel thet sry speaking, thre tno dlc of conscious eso dilctcf sonstionsness whic could reach reality isi Dyvietue ofits own contradictions; nor, there ean be no "phen tnenology’ in the Hegelian sense: for consciousness does not tele to the real throught wn ternal development, but by the acca iseovery of whats otor than el twas inprecsl this sneha Brecht overthrew the problem: atc ofthe cassia theatre ~ when he rnounced the thematization fhe mecnng and implations of play in the form of acon ‘SSouiaes of ei. By this meus tit, fo peoduce ane, trac and fess conslousoess in his spectators, Brecht’ werd mist neces ‘eelyexclade any petensions to exhaustive selezecovery and sei Fepreenttion inthe fom ofa consciousness off, The clasieal thet (hough Shakespeare aod Mole must be exceped, and “3For Marx this exception explained) gave is tragedy ts conditions aad its “inet, completely refered in the speculative consiomess cof a central character ~ n shor, reed its total meaning ina oniciourness, is «talking, acting, thinking, developing human bing: what tragedy ie for ws. And tis probably no scidect that this formal condition ofclassical”aestheis the ceatra uni of ‘tamale consciousness, controling the ether, more famous "une tie’) it slowly rented to is material content T mean tat the raters, o the themes, of th asia hate (pois, meray, religion, bonos, gory “pasen’ ete) are precy ideological theres, ad they remain so, without thee ideologial mature eer being questioned, that is caicaed passion” isl, opposed to "Guy" or “glory” sno more than an iéolopcal eouaterpint never theefectivedisishuton ofthe ideology) But what,conetly, Ie thie uncieized ideology f not simply the “Tai, “well- Known’, tranparent myths in which & society or an age can resogaieital (but not kno tel), he miro ooksinto fx sel- fecogntion, precisely the miror it must break if i sto koow uel? Whal te sdeology ofa society or peciod if itis not that society's or peiog'sconsfourness ofl, hat is, an mediate imate wtich spontaneously impli, looks for and naturally finds its forse in the image of conciousness of sel ing the fntality oft word i the transparency of ex own mythe? T am ‘ot aeng why these myth te ology a8 such) were ot gener- fly questioned inthe elasseal period. Yam content to be abe to {afer that atime without reat seri (wih ether the means ror the aed fora zeal theory of politics, morality and religion) ‘hould be icine to represen ite and ecopnze sl In a un ‘rica that, that iy a there whose Geological) material ‘presupposed the formal conditions for an aetheuo of the con- ‘Sours of self. Now Brecht ean only break with these formal Conditions because be iis already broken with ther material ‘conditions. His priseipal sim is to produce e eidque of the ‘Spontaneous ideology in which men ve. That is why bei nei ably forced to exclude fom his plays this formal condition ofthe ‘deologss sexes, the consciousness of sel (and its esical ‘ecvetion: the rls of nity), For him Lams discussing the great play}, no character coossiosly contains in hil the ‘tality of the raped’ conditions. For ha, he tu, anspareat M4 The “Picolo Teato": Bertolaza and Breet conseiousnes of sl the mirtor ofthe whole drama is neve any thing bat en image ofthe ideologies! consciousness, which docs include the whole world in ite own tragedy, save only that tis World Is merely the world of moral, plies and religion, in ‘hort, of myths and drs a thie sente these pays are daoented precely btaute they oan bave no cen, beause, although the Itason-urapped, naive consciousness bis starting point, Brecht refoses to make that centre ofthe word it woud ike o be. That §S why ia these play the centre savas to one side, i may pat thot ways and in fae ae we ae considering a desjtfction of {he consiouress of rl the ceatre is always defeced,alvays in the beyond, inthe moveseat going beyond illusion towards the real. For thie basic reason the ential relation, which iss eal Proiuetion, cannot be thematzed for sl: that is why no carae- {erin himself "the roralty of Mstory”~ except when one of ther coenes down tothe foolights takes of his mask and, the ply over, ‘drame the lssous” (bu then he is only a spectator Fefctng onl fom the ouside, or rather prolonging its move- ‘ent: we have done our best, now it it up 1 you) Tt should now be sear why we have to speak ofthe dynam of ‘the play's latent structure, I ete stocture tat we most discs. ins fara the pay cannot be reduced tots actors, nor to ther ee int ventions ~ cay to the éynami relation exsting Between onsloutnessof sf alenaed in spontaneous ideology Mothet Courage, ber sons, the cook, the pret, ete) and the real con tions of their enstence (vas, soc). Tis reson, abstract ia self abstract with reapet tothe conilousoess of sl for this tract i the tre concrete) can only be acted and represented fs charset, their gestores and thelr aes, and thelr “histor” aly asa relation which gos beyond them while implying thom; that i a. elaioneting to work absiact suuctural cements (Ga. the diferent form of temporal in I Nost Mion ~ the tateronty of dramatic ronds, et), thei imbalance and hence thir dynamic, This relton i necsary latent in so fa asi Cannot be exhaustively thetatined by any “character” witout Tuning the whole ential projet tat Why, even ii is implied ty the ction as «whol, by the existence and movements ofall the characters, thet deep meaning, beyond their conscious ‘ets ~ and thas hidden from them visible tothe spectator in so usFor Mara far 4 it lavicbe to the actors ~ and therfore Wsble 10 the spectator the mode ofa perception waich snot pve, but hss to be discerned, conquered and drawn from the shadow which Inialy envelope i, and yt produced it ‘Perhaps the remarks give bs a more precise dea ofthe peob- len posed by the Brectan theory of the alicatonffet, By means of tht lle! Beech hoped to create w new relation been the nuience and the pay performed: eval and ative reation. He wanted to bresk withthe classical forms of identition, here the audience hangs on te destiny ofthe hero" and all is ‘rotonal energy fsconentated on theatrical catarsis. He ented to set the sesttor at distance from the performance, ut in ‘ich station that he would be incapable of fight or smple ‘njyenet In short, he wanted to make the spectator ato an actor ‘vo woul complete the unfinished play, bot elie. This pro- {ound thesis of Brees has perhaps teea too een interpreted Sy asa nation ofthe technical elements of alienation: the holon ofall impressive” inthe acing, oll and all "patos" lfc ating; thease ofthe st, sto cia ale any ejecateing rebet (ete daa oakre and ash eaours in Mother Courage, the Aa lighting; the commentary pscards to direct the readers attention to the eXtraal context ef the ‘Sonjunetre (calig) oo The thea suo goon ise to prybalo teal interpretations centred around the phenomenon af estes Tion ad lt clase! props the hero. The disappearance of the hero (whether postive or nepais), the objet of ideniation, fas bora seen oe the very precondition of the alinationefec fo move het, more identifestion ~ the suppression of the boro being ale inked to Brecht’ “mates” conception — iti the masses who make history not “heroes, Now, 1 el ha these Interpretation ae linited to nations which may wel be impor fant, but which are not determinant, and that ii esenalt g0 Dryond the technical and puychologial conditions to an snder standing tht this Very sped riique most be constituted in the Spectators eoncioumess. In olber words, if a dlstance can be ‘tablished between the spectator and the play, itis eset tha in some way tis ditnce should be produced ihin the play ital, and ot only inte (echleal) ueatment, orn the poyeholo= ‘Beal modality of the characters (are they rly heroes or nom | | | The ‘Piccolo Testo’: Bertoazal and Brecht toes? Take the dumb daughter on the roof in Mother Cowage, thot beste she teat her infernal drum to ware the unknowing city that an enemy was about to fall oni, she not in fact, a “pov hero"? Surely we do temporary “identi” with this scondury character) tie within the pay ie, inthe dymazic ‘of ie internal structive, that this distance is produced and re resented, at once eitcizng the sions of consiousnes and un ‘aveling its real conditions. This thatthe dynastic of the att stroctre produces this stance within the play ie ~ mst be the starting-poat from. ‘whi to pose the problem of the relation between the spectator {ind the performance, Here again Brecht reverses the established. onder, In the sical theate it was spparently quite simple: the Tee's temporality was the sole temporality al the rest was sub trina ot even his opponents ware mae t hs meats, they had tobe if they were oe is opponents; they ved ite, rhythay, they were dependent on him, they were mecely his pendants The opponent ws realy A opponent: in the stage the ero belonged to the opponent as och a the opponent dito {he hero, the opponent was the hers’ double, his reeeton, his ‘opposite his night, his temptation, his own eaconssows tirned against him Hegel was right, his destiny was conciousness of [imu at fn enemy. hero the conte of the strapye Was ented with the hero's vonseiouenes of himll. And. ite rurally, the spectator seme to “ive te pay by “denying” Fimself with the eco, that, with his te, with his conscious nes, the only time and the only consiousess offered him. Ta Bertola’ play and ia Brec’s geet plays this confusion be ‘comes impor, prciely because oftheir dsocated stwucture T should say, not tat the heroes have deappeated because Brecht hae banished them fom bi plays, Du that even ashe Hees they sre, and inthe ply itl, he play makes them imposible, abo [ahts them, thei consciowsness and its ave dake, This wedue- tions not the eet of he action alone, nor af the demonstration Which cata popular gure are fated to make of it (on the ‘theme: nether God nor Cues; i not even merely the result ofthe play appreciated as an unresolved story; it snot produced the eel of etal or of coninity, But the deper eel af he play's structural dyaaicFor Marx [A this point close attnton is eseaial: up tl ow ony the lay hasbeen cisunsed~ now we mst deal withthe specuto’s onions, should listo show ina fer words that hii 0, te might have been thought, new problem, but realy the same fone, However, i sis a be accepted wo lasical modelo the syectatorial consiouinese which clood our reltion mst fist, ‘ofall be relinquished, The fist ofthese misleading models iscnce Spain «consciousness of sl this tie the spostator’. Ie api thatthe spectator sboul'not entiy with the “heros int be ‘eptata dheance, Butis he mot then ouside the ply judging, 32> ing up the sore and raving the conclusions? Mother Courage ‘a prereted to you, Iisfor hr to ac. es for yout jade On he ‘tags the image of Blindness ~ inthe salle the sage of los, Jed to consciousness by two hours of unconsiouses. Bu his Avision of oes amounts to conceding to the house what hasbeen HHeoroulyetcluded fom the stage. Rell, the spectator as 90 ‘sim to thie abefute conssiovanes of self which he pay enact tolerate, The play can no move contain the "Last Jadgemeat™ on ts own ory than can the spectator be the supreme Judge athe ‘ly. He aso see and lives the pay ia the mode of a questoned {ale eonssouimess. For what eee she f not the brother a he characters, caught in the spontaneous myths of idecoey in its 1 distance fom the play by the pla i, ls ptt spare hin ‘orto mt him up asa Jidge- on the contrary, ti to ake bis and ‘rit hi inthe apgerest distance, in thi “estrangement” ~ to make hi into this stance sl, the distance which is img an ‘sete and living exique Tut then, no doubt, we must also reject the second model of ‘he spectatrileonselousnes ~ 2 model that will aunt us unt it has been rejesteds the entiation mode. I am unable 10 answer this question fly here, but Tshll ty to pose it cay Sorsy the invocation of » conception of identstion (oath he hero) to deal with the staus ofthe spetatorial consclousnat isto ‘bzard a dubioos corelation? Rigrously speaking the concept of denicaion ie pyeholoiel, or, more preity, a pseho- talytic concep. Far be it fom me to contest the efcctly of piyehologicl processes in the spectator sated in Goat cf the ‘age, Butt mse be sald thatthe phenomena of projection sub- ue “The “Plzolo Teatuo":Bertolz and Brecht Limation, et, tht can be observed, described and deine in con- trolled poychologicl stations cannot by themacves aco for ‘complex behaviour as specific as that of he spectatoratteding-- Pesformanee. This bebwiour ie primarily soeil and culturl- Sesh, and as such iti also ideological. Certainly, it s an [important ak o elucidate dhe iseton of coueete psychological promise (uch as ideatication, eublination, represion, ete in {heir tree psychological senses) in behuviou which goes beyond ‘hem, Bu hibit ae cannot abolish the second —the definition ‘tthe specify ofthe spentatoral consciousness elf = without Iapsing int pscholopem. Ith consciousness cannot be reduced 1a purely pycholowcal consciousness, i i is «sod, cultural tnd deciles consiousoas, we cannot think ita relation tothe ‘Performance solely In the form of « payeological denieston, Indeed, before (poyhologicly) identifying ie with the hero, the spectators conciousness recogaies ite inthe ideological ‘contet ofthe ply, and i he forms characteristic of his content Before becoming the oacasion for an identification (an identiin. tlon with self nthe epi of another, the performance i, fu ‘Samentally the occasion for acaltorl and idesogieal recognition. sie tints comand he yo the ole. Inet art ‘SEK malt epson persue nicest phenoce Mon=ibniy sess Sed or ott uy stan ached ag ae rnd ein 2 tease at mre hh ut at yo ay pa ed nl ca actoceal recene nanan een aactapesutoit ‘eal chent-nben we know tt ht se profionl and ter pe ‘tgvhe dct antonio mnying enone ‘earng, a eal heating, by the lenders of "Parsi pubic consciousbes? ‘Wheres ne popu auc ow asp ad eos Hn na WsFor Mare “This selfsecogiton presupposes ass principle an eiental identity (bien malkes the prosestes of psychological deniextion thense¥es posible, insofar as they ate paybologcl): te iden fy uniting the spectators and actors assemble in the sume place fon te same evening Ye, we re st nied by sa asiution~ the ferformance, but more deeply, by the sume myths, the same themes, that govern us without our consent, by the same spon ‘tancounly ved ldeslogy. Yes, even if i the ideology of the poor par exellnce, stn EI Nos! Mi, we sl eat of the same bre, we hae the tame age, the same ebelions the sme mad nes (a less inthe memo where stalks ths everest pos [iy if mo the same peostration before atime unmoved > 299 History. Yes ike Mother Courage, we have the sme War at out fnes, and batdsbredeh from vif not nu, the sme oreibe ‘Bldgs, the same dt in Our eye, the same ath in oUF mouths ‘Weave the sume daw and night, we skirt the sme abyss: out tnconscowsnes, We even share the sme history ~ and shat i how it ll started, Tha is wy we were aleady ourselves inthe iy itself, fom the Bepnoing ~ and then wht docs it matter Ivheter we know the esl since wil never happen to yore Dut ourele, hat stilin our weed. Thats by the als rob emf detiation was solved Fom the begining, even before Js wha ithe fate ofthis taitidenty, this inet selt-scogai- tion what asthe autho already done witht? What wil heactos to work bythe Dramatrg, by Brecht o Seber, do with i ‘What wil become of this ideelogicalseitecogition? Wil tex: nha ie the dlc ofthe conscoussss of sf deepen Ing its mys without ever escaping from them? Wil it pat his Saft ior tthe centre ofthe aston? Or wl tater place ‘pti to one sid, Hadi and lose, eae it retura tot, spose it trom afar to forces which ae external ~ and 0 dawn otha ike those wine glasses broken at a distance by 2 physical reso ‘nanee itcomas to a sudden end 2s a beap of pines on the oor "To return faly to my attempt at efnition, with the simple sim of posing the question anew an in a better fem, we can se ‘that the play the spectators conciousness for theese til reson that the spectator bas no other conscovenes thn the ‘conten which unites him the payin advance and the develop 10 “The “Piccolo Teatro": Berolaza and Brecht rent ofthis content ia the play ite the new result which the play produce from the s-recopsiton whose image and presence its ‘rect was right ifthe theaue’s sole object were fo be even & ‘dialectical’ commentary on this eter selesecogition and non- recognition ~ then the spectator would already know the tan, itis his own I, onthe contrary, the thea’ objet isto destroy this intangible image, to set in motion the immobile the eternal Spbere of the ilsory conciousness mythical worl, then the lay i sealy the development, the production of «new conscious es in the spectator ~ incomplete, ke any other consciousness, ‘ul mnved by thie incompletion el hit dstanee achieve, this inexhaustible work of esa i action; the play i realy the production of new spectator, an actor who starts where the per formance ends, who only stat S038 complet, but in if Took back, and Tam suddenly and iresiblyasalled bythe uestion: are not these fe’ pages, ia their maladoit and groping vay. sinply that unfamiliar ply El Nort Milas, pesformed on 8 Jane evening, pursuing in me it incomplete meaning, searching in me, despite mypel, now that all th acors and ses have Been ‘dete aay forthe adbnt of silent discourse? Avg 1982