Aesthetic Distance in Garca Lorca's El Pblico: Pirandello and Ortega Author(s): Wilma Newberry Reviewed work(s): Source: Hispanic

Review, Vol. 37, No. 2 (Apr., 1969), pp. 276-296 Published by: University of Pennsylvania Press Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/471736 . Accessed: 07/08/2012 22:01
Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at . http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp

.
JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact support@jstor.org.

University of Pennsylvania Press is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to Hispanic Review.

http://www.jstor.org

AESTHETICDISTANCEIN GARCfAIjORCA'S EL PUBLICO PIRANDEIlIlO AND ORTEGA

In "Cuadroqmhinto" which is the f;ffthact of E1publico the appearance of spectators, conflict arnongthe rnany people involved in the prodqhetion of a play, and the rnany levels of reality represented sqxggest that GarczaLorca was alluding to innovatzonsassociatedwith Pirandello. lRhere are also staternents xn "Cqhadro quinto"critical of techniqmhes which destroy the aesthetic distance which shoqxld e$ist between the aqxdience andvthe stage. A comparison of E1 publico with Ortepa y Gasset's Deshumanizacion del artefqxrtherreveals that sorne of the reactions of the two writers to new art are sirnilar. Based on these facts which indicate that GarczaLorca was writing about the problernsof the theater of his time, a new inteq*pretation of E1publico and especzallyof "Cuadro qmhinto" is established:The death of the theater, syrnboltzed by a Christlike f;Egqxse, is caqhsed by the new techniqmhes which rnake poetic illqhsion zmpossible. Howeveq*, resqxrrection is irnplicit in thts death, and at the end of the play yoqhng people are looking for the path whsch will lead to the salsation of the theater. (WC)
THE DEEPLYsigilifieant influenee of Pirandello on the Spanish l theater ean perhaps best be appreciated by studying the experimental plays of Federico Gareia IJorea,Spain's leading playwright of the 1930's. In these plays we ean see that the dramaturgie revolutionineited by Pirandello extendedto even so autarkie a personality as Garcia IJoreawho transformed and poetized this influeneeto such an extent that its presencein his work still passes almost unobserved. Unlike certain dramatists who obviously set out to write plays in the mode of Pirandello or who wished to experiment with his techniques and ideas, Gareia Lloreaeertainly did not wish to be inspired by Pirandello or by anyone else. However he unconsciously absorbedknowledge of everything which was present in the literary world. Angel del Rio's comment is especially expressive: "1Ie had an extraordinary facility for assilnilating for his own purposes whatever literary or artistic current was at the moment in the air: a few allusions, some conversations,or some 276

Aesthetic Distance in "El Pisblico

277

cursory reading sufficed. It was almost like a sisth sense, a physical attribute.22 1 In spite of the fact that this characteristic of Garcla Ijorea is mentionedby almost all of his commentators, and that it is also well known that Pirandellism touched almost all Spanish playwrights of his epoeh, the names of Garcla IJorcaand Pirandello have been associated only peripherally. Eric Bentley, for esample, remarks that after the deaths of Garcla Ilorca and Pirandello, Spain and Italy had to be content with the histrionics of Franco and Mussolini.2 Francis Fergusson states: " 'After Pirandello'-to take him symbolically rather than chronologically-the way was open for Yeats and IJorca, Cocteau and Eliot,"3 and later affirmsthat Eliot, IJorcaand Yeats all belong to the movement which is a quest for a contemporarypoetry of the theater. Edwin Honig has perhaps come closest to actually pointing out the relationship between these two dramatists:
If one remembershow eagerly Lorea sought freedom for his imagination in the theatre, how he attemptedto break down the barrier betweenstage and audienee, it is possible to see why surrealist devices should have interested him. Certainly there has never been anything in the theatre whieh one might call a surrealist f ortn. Lorea's e:xperimentin this direction,however,was not particularlyoriginal. Maeterlinek,Pirandello, O'Neill, Strindberg, and Capek had used, with both marked and indifferent suecess, eertain new imaginative formulas on the stage, by whieh erities learned to argue new terms Expressionism, Symbolism, Constructivism,ete. Quite as daring were the attempts of Azorm, Gomezde la Serna, Alberti, Coeteau, Breton, and a host of lesser surrealists who combined earlier teehnical innovations with their own fanciful projeations, striving for a more startling "reality" or "super-reality"on a transformedstage.4

Even Garcla IJorea'sown mention of Pirandello in a lecture does not reveal mueh: "A1 publieo se le puede ensenar-conste que digo publieo no puebl; se le puede ensenar, porque yo he visto patear a Debussy y a Ravel hace anos, y he asistido despues
1 Angel del Rio "Lorca: Poet in New York," Neuv World Wrtttng No. 8 (New York, 1955), p. 183. 2Eric Bentley, The Playwright as Thinker (Cleveland, 1964), p. XVII. 3Francis Fergusson, The Idea of a Theater (G#arden City, 1953), p. 206. 4Edwin :EIonig, GarczaLorca (Norfolk, 1963), p. 135.

278

Wilwa Newberry

ER, ZZXVII ( 1969)

a las elamorosas ovaeiones que un publico popular haela a las obras antes rechazadas. Estos autores fueron impuestos por un alto eriterio de autoridad superior al del publico eorriente, como Wedekind en Alemania y Pirandello en Italia, y tantos otros." 5 The fact that Pirandello's actual influence on Garcla Llorca has not been seriously considered can be easily explained: his most beautiful and popular plays show not a trace of "Pirandellism". We must go to his experimental theater to find it, and only two parts of El Publico, by far the most important play in this respect, are available. In addition, these two parts, "Reina Romana" and " Cuadro Quinto," have been neglected because they do not give the enjoylnent we expect from Garcla Ijorea's writings; they are a eonfusing conglomerationof images, the surrealist elements seem to excuse us from really understanding,and the homosexualovertonessomewhatobscurethe important artistic messageswhich are the main theme. On the whole El Publico has proved somewhatembarrassingto scholars. Since it exists it must at least be mentioned in any study of Garcla Ilorea's theater. The problemhas been solved in various ways. Some have said that the fragmentarynature of the play makes an attempt at analysis "absurd," or that it is not important, although Garela Ilorea himself elearly stated that his experimentalplays meant much to him.6 Some authors of recent studies of Garela Ilorea's plays limit themselves to repeating and quoting passages from earlier commentaries,or summarizingthe action of the play. Others simply discuss Ast que pasen cinco anos and El Publico as a pair. Amid this, Jean-IlouisSchonberg's blunt statement (with which I eannot agree) that the key to the play is the passagewhich suggests love of two boys for each other; and his further deelarations that the "Desnudo" which is being crucified is the church, and that in this play Garela Ilorea shows
5Federico Garcia Lorea, Obras CoFrnpletas,"aharla sobre teatro" (Madrid: Aguilar, 1957), p. 35. All quotations from Garcia Lorca's writings are taken from this edition. 6 In an interview Garcia Lorca said: " En estas comedias imposibles est mi verdaderoproposito" (p. 1635). Alld Angel del Rio states: "E3abemos que el mismo Lorca y 1o8 amigos que la conocen integra le concedian bastante importancia." " Federico Garcia Lorca ( 1899-1936), " Reswta E"pdntca Moderna New York, July-October, 1940; vol. VI, No. 3 and 4, p. 240.

Aesthetic Distance in "El Pqxbltco"

279

his decision to make the stage a court to discuss social problems,is is at least a refreshing approach.7 The conjecturehas been put forth that El Publico was intended as a violent blast against the commereializedtheater,8 and it is even suggested that he expressed his anger and disdain toward the public in this play, which would seem to contradict what we know about Gareia Iloreas attitude toward the audience, as Sanchez points out.9 The playwright's own statement about the impossibility of representation and the wrath it would eause if it were performedis frequently repeated.10 However, there have been some important contributionsto the understanding of this play by several critics who seem to have realized its signifieance. Alfredo de la Guardia, in his chapter entitled " iELevolucion en el teatro," suggests its relationship to Pirandello: "Por su pensamiento,si ha de busearse en el titulo, la obra podia tener una relativa filiacion pirandelliana, pues afirmabaIJorcaque se proponla la intervencion de los espectadores en el espectaculo.''li He goes on to say that Gareia Ijorca understood in time that this was not the road his theater should take, although he admits that the idea of participation by spectators fascinated the playwright. Del Rio points out that El P?blico seems to have been inspired by the problem of reality and poetic "super-reality" on the stage and in real life.l2 Edwin Elonig states that the fragments <<exciteand confound expeetaney by the enormouspromise they reveal,' but he sees a confusion in dramatic focus.13 He also feels that something in El P?iblicoand the later poems eseapes us: "we ean say that what
Jean-Louis Schonberg, Federico Garcta Lorca (Menco, 1959), p. 299. Probably based on the fact that he did criticize commercial theater in interviews; and that in El retablillo de lSon Crtstdbal, the poet, after he has lost his artistic integrity because he was forced to tell the audience only what the director wished is then scornfully paid by him. oRoberto Sinche$, Garcia Lorca-Estudio sobre sqxteatro (Madrid, 1950), p. 49. lo Alfredo de la Guardia, GarcraLorca, persona y creaczdn (Buenos Aires, 1961), p. 321. Ibid., p. 124. l2Angel del Rio, "Lorca's Theater," in Lorca X Collection of Crttical Essays, ed. Manuel Durin (Englewood Cliffs, 1962), p. 144. l3Edwin Eoliig, "Lorca to Date," Tulane lSrarnaRevtew, VII (1962), p. 121.
7 8

280

Wtlma Newberry

ER, :KL:ZVII (1969)

escapes us are the signs, the first birth pangs, of a new dramatic language, even a new dramatic orientation, based on a necessity of the imagination to break through the impasse of sterility, already so insistently documentedin his last three plays." 14 Maria Teresa Babin also realizes the importance of this work, stating that Ast que pasex cinco anos and the available scenes of El P?iblico constitute the most intellectual eSort of Garcia Ijorca in the theater. These plays: 'vpenetranla zona de la estetica en su dimension mas abstracta y encarnan ideas que trascienden de la vida externa a la vida del espiritu y del pensamiento."15 In the following pages I hope to demonstratethat El P?iblico is an extremely important document because it shows Garcia Ilorca's very special reaction to Pirandello. First of all I shall point out the definite Pirandellian characteristics. The second considerationwill be the problem of aesthetic distance, the decrease or disappearance of which is an important consequenceof the theater-within-the-theater form so intimately associated with Pirandello. It will be suggested that Garcia Ijorca, realizing that his type of lyrical theater could not exist unlessa certain aesthetic distance were maintained,wrote El P?iblico to illustrate the damagecaused by extreme forms of Pirandellism, tocriticize these forms, and then to manifest his rejection of them. Third, as Garcla Ilorcas commentaryon aesthetic distance, El P?iblico can be considereda companion-piece to Ortega y GassetXs Desh?l,manizacion del arte. A comparisonof the ideas expressed bythese two writers will show how Garcla Ilorca's reaction to the new theater comparesto that of Ortega y Gasset,and that the unusualsimilarity of many images suggests that Garcla Ijorca may have been inspired by Ortega y Gasset. Iluigi Pirandello, in the Premise to his theater-within-thetheater trilogy explains how these three plays (Sez Personaggi in cerca daautoren Ciascunoa S?o modonand Questa sera si recita a soggetto)are similar: 'formano come una trilogia del teatro nel teatro, non solo perche hanno espressamente azione sul palcoscenico e nella sala, in un palco o nei corridoj o nel ridotto d'un teatro, ma anche perche di tutto il complessodegli elementi d'un teatro,
Ibid., p. 124. Maria Teresa Babin, El tntxndo poettco de Federtco Garcia lorca (San Juan, 1954), p. 15.
14 15

Aesthetic Distance in "El Pqxblico"

281

personaggie attori, autore e direttore-eapocomico o reeistra, critici drammatici e spettatori alieni o interessati, rappresentano ogni possibile conflitto nn16 These same words could almost be used to describe the action of El Publico.l7 Although Garela IJoreashows most of the possible conflicts suggested by Pirandello in this Premise the emphasis on the intervention of the spectators in the play correspondsespeeially to Ciascunoa suo modo. Just as in this play, in El Publico there are differing opinions among the spectators, who are even more violently opposed than in Pirandello's plays to the director (they ask that he be killed), to the poet (they want him to be dragged by the horses), to the actors (they kill them after forcing them to repeat a seene), and to the eharaeters (they kill the "verdadera' Julieta after stuffing her under a theater seat, still alive gagged and whining). Another essential element of Pirandellism found in El Publtco is the many levels of reality represented. In this respeet, Gareia IJoreaeould almost be said to outdo Pirandello, e2eeept for the faet that so far as we ean tell from this fragment, all of the aetion takes plaee on the stage. The violent aetions of the speetators are narrated by representative membersof the audienee who appear on the stage, and by allegoriealfigures. Thus, to begin with, we have two planes of reality: the aetion on the stage, and the aetion whieh is narrated. The persons who appear on the stage represent three levels of reality: the allegorieal figures, the prompter, and the membersof the audienee. The narrated aetion also eontains figures whieh eorrespondto these three levels: the allegorieal figures (Elena who is the personifieationof the moon, and the horses), the stage direetor,and the audieneewhich, swarming through every possible area of the theater, is the main protagonist of this narration. In the narration there are three addi6Luigi Pirandello, Maschere Nqzde,I (Mondadori: Verona, 1962) 51. Although the major part of this analysis concerns only " Cuadro Quinto," I have used the title El Pqbblicobeeause it is more eharaeteristie of this seetion than it is of the less important portion "Reina Romana." I have used the word " Pirandellism" throughout this artiele when I mean the many varieties of theater-within-the-theaterteehniques assoeiated with Pirandello. This term, of eourse, ean also be used to eonnote the ambiguity of personality theme whieh is also sueh an important part of Pirandello 's work.
17

282

WtltnaNeqltberry

HR, ZZXVII (1969)

tional levels: the poet (playwright), the aetors, and Juliet (the ). eharaeter Both dramatie authors allow the audienee to see the interior mechanies of the stage. In Pirandello's plays this is one of the basie themes; in El Publico this is the cause of the revolution. Another intrusion of reality into the illusion of the stage is aeeomplished,as in Pirandello's plays, beeause mistakes made by the stagehands interrupt action. The prompter has sent the thieves onto the stage too soon, and then there is a delay because Jose de Arimateas beard has been lost. Ilater, an intrusion into by nature, when a nightinthe illusion of the stage is aeeomplished gale sings (symbolizing death) before the seript called for it to do so, with the result that the action on the stage is governed by this uneontrollablenatural element of life. There is even some similarity between the stage setting in El a suo modo. Pirandello tells us that in the Publico and Ctasc?bno aneient palace whieh is the setting for his play we have the impression of being in a chapel. In the backgroundthere are arches and columns. In El Publico there are arches in the baekgroundand stairs whieh lead to the seats of a theater. There are columns in 'sReina Romana7"and a eathedralis mentionedin the test. Both playwrihts are eonseious that these theater-within-thetheater teehniqueslead to ehaos, destruetion and eonfusion. This is one of the main themes of El Publico, and Pirandello explains in his Premise: ' 4Ove la eommedia e da fare, come nel primo, da reeitare a soggetto, come nel terzo, il eonflitto, non uguale, ne simile, anzi precisamente opposto, impedisce che la eommedia si faeeia e ehe l'improvvisazionesia governata e regolata e giunga seguitamentea una eonelusione;ove la commediae fatta, eome nel seeondo, il conflitto ne manda a monte la rappresentazione.l8 The deerease or disappearanceof aesthetic distance is one esteehtremely significant result of the theater-within-the-theater niques, used by Pirandello and others, whieh inelude in their estreme form deviees such as partieipation by members of the audience who are really actors but who seem to be speetators, interruptions by aetors or prompterswhith destroy the illusion, and direet addressto the audienee. Stated in the simplest terms, the problem of aesthetic distanee
18

Pirandello, op. Cit. p. 51.

Aesthetic Distance in "El P?blico"

283

is eoncernedwith the observer'sneed to be somewhatremote from the art form he is contemplating,that is, he must be psychologically and physically detached in order to view objectively the work of art as sueh without being so distant that he is detached from it eompletely. Any dramatic technique which does not allow the play to exist as a detached entity for aesthetic contemplation,because it actually attempts to involve the spectator, destroys aesthetie distanee. Edward Bullough, the British psychologist, published an important study on aesthetic distance as a factor in art appreeiation in 1912,19and reeently Oscar Budel has distussed its implieations in the contemporary theater.20 Bullough and Ortega y Gasset have been paired in Rader's iL Modern Book of E7sthetscs under the caption <' Theories of Psychological Detachment,''21 and, following his lead, P. A. Miehelis has commented on the relationship of these two men.22 Aesthetie distance is both a physieal and an intelleetual phenomenon. Treatments of the problem inelude everything from the arrangementof the theater seats to the most intimate mental attitudes of the individual speetator whieh enable him to view a play subjectively or objectively aeeordingto his own experienee or state of mind. The form of Pirandello's theater-within-the-theater plays deereasesor destroys the aesthetie distanee between players and spectators because they feel varying degrees of almost physical contact with the stage. The content of these plays increases aesthetic distanee to the utmost because the human story with which the spectators can emotionally identify has been removed to the plane of the idea-the -characters are no longer replicas of human beings acting out human con:dicts-they represent abstract ideas or are fantasmt d'arte. Thus Pirandello's plays illustrate minimum physical aesthetic distance in eombinationwith masimum ideologil9Edward Bullough, " 'Psychical Distance' as a Factor in Art and an Aesthetic Principle," British Joqxrnaa of Psycholopy, v (June, 1912), 87-118. 2 Oscar Budel, "Contemporary Theater and Aesthetit Distance," PXLA (June, 1961), 277-291. e1X hlodern Book of Esthetics, ed. Melnn M. Rader (New Tork 1935). (Only the first four chapters of La deshum&nizaco6n del arte appear here.) 22 P. A. Michelis, "Aesthetic Distance and the Charm of ContemporarJr Art," lRheJournaaof Jesthetics and Xrt Crtttcwm,XYlll (03eptember, 1959), 1wL5.

284

WiltnaNewberry

ER XXXVII (1969)

cal distanee. Budel, who makes it clear that his artiele is concerned only with form uses Pirandello as one of the major illustrations of the breakdown of distanee in the contemporary theater. Ortega y Gasset,who is coneernedwith ideas, thinks Sei personaggi in cercad'autore is the perfect e2ampleof the inerease of distance in new art, and is, of course, referring to the increase of intellectual distance, the plaeing of an idea beyond the immediate grasp of las masas, in short, "deshumanizaeion." In El Pt'6bltco Gareia Ilorea is eoneernedwith the destruetion of poetic illusion wrought by the breakdownof aesthetic distance caused by theater-within-the-theater techniques in their extreme form. The audience begins by intervening in the play, and, its appetite thus whetted for full discovery of the mystery of poetic creation, forges ahead until it kills almost everyone involved with the theater, including the "true7' Juliet-a beautiful poetic characterwho is destroyed by the public who, like children, tear her apart as if she were a rag doll, to see what is inside her. Not even Juliet, a name probably used here because Romeo and Jultet was one of Garcia Ijorca's favorite plays, can continue to exist underthese circumstancesand suSers the great indignity of being gagged and stuffed under a theater seat before she is dead. Thus GarclaIjorca dramatically illustrates the end results of the destruction of illusion found in the contemporary theater. The followingparagraph from Professor Budel's article could almost be used to summarize the thesis of El Publtco: " Whereas the Expressionist revolutionmay have been a salutary reaction against anera of 'illusionism' (and as such stressed again the theatricality oftheater), its implicationsseem to have created tendencieswhich perhapshave gone beyond original intentions. These tendenties maydestroy more than mere theatrical 'illusionism'; they indeed seemto reach to the very roots of theater. One of these trends appears to point toward a destruction of aesthetic distance with referenee to the spectators, thereby reducing or eliminating the tension between actor and spectator, between stage and audience, which seems to be a corwdttw strwequa non for the theater.?'23 This idea of initial confidencethat the new techniques would besalutary for the theater, followed by disillusionmentwhen it
23

Budel, op. ait., p. 277.

Xesthetic Distance ix "El Pi6blico"

285

became obvious that they could lead to disaster, is stressed in El Publico. The audience is represented by a lady who expresses her own illusion and subsequentdisillusion by saying that when they were climbing over the hill of ruin (in the contest of the play this obviously means when the theater-within-the-theater techniques permitted them to wander over the stage) they thought they saw the light of dawn, but they stumbled against the curtains, and her shoes are now stained with petroleum. The stage director has had a similar experience. He was the initial cause of the revolution because he opened the stage traps to allow the audience to see the inner workings of the stage. He soon discovered that under these circumstancesall of his skill is msufficientto maintain theatrical illusion. "El director de escena evito de manera genial que la masa de espectadoresse enterase de esto?pero los caballos y la revolucion han destruido sus planes2' (p. 1075). In addition, the revolution has escalated beyond imagination. No one could have anticipated it would touch such time-established masterpiecesas Pconseo and Juliet: "Era ull drama delicioso y la revolucionno tiene derechopara profanar las tumbas" (p. 1069). However, Garcia Ilorca does not limit himself to these more subtle forms of lamenting the destruction of aesthetic distance. After listening to the argument of the students about exactly why the revolutionstarted,Ilorca clearly states why the theater is dying: "Aqui esta la gran equivocacion de todos y por eso el teatro agoni2a. El publico no debe atravesarlas sedas y los cartones que el poeta levanta en su dormitorio. Romeo puede ser un ave y Julieta puede ser una piedra. Romeo puede ser un grano de sal y Julieta puede ser un mapa. ^ Que le importa esto al publico" (p. 1070). Ijater, he reinforces his message that a spectator should never take part in a play and that aesthetic distance must be maintained. When a student complainsthat the attitude of the public has been detestablehis friend answers- "Detestable. Un espectadorno debe formar nunca parte del drama. Cuando la gente va al acuarinm no asesina a las serpientes de mar, ni a las ratas de agua, ni a los peces cubiertos de lepra, sino que resbala sobre 1QS cristales sus ojos y aprende" (p. 1075).

286

Wtlqna Newberry

ER, :xZVII

(1969)

A comparisonof Ortega y Gasset's Deshumanizacion del arte (1925) and Garcia IJorca's El Publico (1930) 24 iS surprisingly fruitful. It may seem incongruous to compare the work of the philosopherof the mtnorzasselectas whose essay has a clearly defined thesis with that of the poet of and for the people whose surrealist play under analysis is not available in its entirety. However, the irnages employed by GSarcia Ijorca show an amazing sirnilarity to those used by his predecessor,making it seem conceivable that part of El Publico may be GSareia Ijorea'sunconscious surrealist distortion of some of Ortega y Gasset's ideas, even though Ortega y Gasset is concernedwith all "arte nuevo" manifestations and GareiaIlorea refers only to the new theater. Ortega y Gasset is tertainly the most likely ideological inspiration for ideas regarding aesthetic distance in El Publico, not only becauseof the commonlanguage, but because Garcia Ijorca had two direct opportunitiesto be exposed to these ideas: the two men frequentedthe Residencia de Estudiantes in Madrid during the sameperiod, and xvhenGarcia Ijorca was in New York one of his friends xvas Ortega y Gasset's translator, Mildred Adams. Even if the possibility of direct inspiration is to be rejected, this reaction of two writers, otherwise diametrically opposed in almost every +^ray, to the same phenomenonis estremely interesting. In spite of the similarity of images denoting interest in the sametheatrical situation, it is obvious that most of the time these twowriters are reacting to distinct facets of the phenomenon. Although oceasionallyOrtegay Gassetmakesa statementwhich could referto the breakdownof aesthetic distance caused by theaterwithin-the-theater techniques, his chief concern is to study the phenomenon of ideological content in the new art which has becometoo distant for the majority of the people to understand. Garcia Ijorca7 although there are definite examples of dehumani2ation in his play, illustrates the results of the breakdownof physicaldistarlce between the poetic illusion and the audience caused by the theater-within-the-theater techniques. Another important diference is that GSarcia IJorca definitely
24Although the date 1933 is often given, GSarefa Ijorea's acquaintances seem to be iD agreement that he was working on it during and immediately after his stay in New Tork City. During this time he stated: "El teatro nuevo, avanzado de formas y tooria es mi mayor preoccupaciin. Nueva York es UDsitio fliico para tomarle el pulso al nuevo arte teatral" (p. 1608).

AestheticDistace in "El Publico"

287

shows his disapprovaland rejection of these techniqueswhich have caused the destruction of theater. Although Ortega y Gasset elearly states that he is merely moved by the desire to try to unmotivatedneither by ire nor enthusiasm, derstandthe phenomenon, and admits that new art has produted nothing worth while, in his essay we feel a tatit approval of the dehumanizedart which makes a elear intellectual distinetion between the select minority and the masses which are foreed to recognize their inferiority because of their inability to understand the new art. In fact, the social implications of the intellectually aristocratic ideas conveyed by Ortega y Gasset almost overshadowhis distussion of aesthetic distance. However,a comparisonof Bullough's artiele and Ortega y Gasset's essay reveals that they are treating the same fundamental psythological problem.25 Ortega y Gasset's statement which most elearly deseribes the appears at the end of his thapter situation treated in Et PubEico in cerca "IJa vuelta del reves" in which he calls Sei personaggi ejemplarmente "se advierte first "drama de ideas": d'autorethe la dificultad del gran publico para acomodarla vision a esta perspectiva invertida. Va bustando el drama humano que la obra constantementedessirtua, retira e ironiza, poniendo en su lugaresto es, en primer plano-la fiecion teatral misma, como tal fiecion. A1 gran publico le irrita que le enganen y no sabe complacerseen el delitioso fraude del arte, tanto mas esquisito cuanto mejor manifiestesu te:sturafraudulenta.2226
25 Mithelis states: "Bullough's theory, then, would keep contemplation elose to the spectator's psychological experience, while the theory of Ortega y Gasset would liberate it from every emotional link with the object, by the greatest possible retreat from it, thus making of aesthetic contemplation an almost e2clusively intellectual act" (op. it. p. 2). It is possible that this statement is not quite accurate. The two men were doing completely difEerent things. Bullough, as a psychologist, is analyzing the factors which create the ideal aesthetit distance for masimum aesthetit enjoyment. Ortega y Gasset is describing the characteristics of the new art which he believes removes itself from the common man. The former, therefore, is presenting this comple2 problem and analyzing psychological reactions. The latter is describing how he thinks the new art is. Both realize that too great an aesthetie distance will prevent enjoyment of the work of art, although Ortega y Gasset maintains that a select minority possesses the unusual ability to enjoy aehumanizea forms. 26 JosE Ortega y Gasset, Obra Completas (Madnd: Revista de Occiare dente, 1947), III, 377. All quotations from La deshxmunwaci6ndel atwte from this edition.

288

Newberry Wilmva

BR, XXXVII (1969)

This irritation of the audience describedby Ortega y Gasset is one of the main themes of Et PubEico,of course, but there is a passage which specifically echoes the above-quotedconcepts. The audienceis angry and asks that the poet be dragged by the horses; even though it was a "drama delicioso" and the tomb scene was well developed, they discovered the lie when they saw Juliet 's feet, which were extremely small. This was "delicioso" and impossible to criticize, but they were too small to be a woman's feet. They were too perfect and too feminine. Obviously they were male feet, feet invented by a man, and this is horrifying. The confusion of the audience caused by the new art or new theater is treated by both writers, Ortega y Gasset betause the work of art is intellectually too distant from them: "Tan pronto como estos elementos puramente esteticos dominen y no puede agarrar bien la historia de Juan y Maria, el publico queda despistado y no sabe que hacer" (p. 357); and Garcla Ijorca because aesthetic distance has disappeared and they have approached closely enough to see the interior mechanics of the theater: "Y que han sacado en claro? Un racimo de heridas y una desorientacion absoluta" (p. 1076) . Naturally in La deshumanizaciondel arte the conversion of human forms into non-humanones is a prominent theme. "Convenla libertar la poesla, que, cargada de materia humana se habia convertidoen un grave, e iba arrastrandosobrela tierra, hiriendose contra los arboles y las esquinas de los tejados como un globo sin gas" (p. 371). Ortega y Gasset believes that in the new epoch the symbol of art has again becomethe magic flute of Pan, which makesthe goats dance on the edge of the forest. He inquires what the young people want the poet to be, in contrast to the romantic poet who "querla siempre ser un hombre" (p. 371). He rejects the possibility that they want him to be "un pajaro, un ictiosauro, un dodecaedro",believing that they only want him to be a poet. This "deshumanizacion"aspect is quite prominent in El Publico. There are many figures which are not quite human, and a constant theme is the possibility that all forms can represent poetic reality, for example: "Es una cuestionde forma, de mascara. Un gato puede ser una rana, y la luna de invierno puede ser muy bien un haz de lena cubierto de gusanos ateridos" (p. 1071). Of course the Pan-like figures who dance and play the flute in

Aesthetic Distance in "El Publico"

289

"Reina Romana" are directly reminiscent of Ortega y Gasset's opinion about the new epoch. Both realize that aesthetie distance is necessary. This is one of the main ideas of Garcla Ijorca's play, and he nuderlines it by saying that the audience should not go beyond the silk and cardboard that the poet erects in his room, and that people who go to the aquariumslide their eyes over the glass and learn, so why should they not do the same in the theater? Ortega y Gasset states clearly: "Ver es una accion a distancia. Y cada una de las artes maneja un aparato proyector que aleja las cosas y las transfigura. En su pantalla magica las contemplamosdesterradas, inquilinas de un astro inabordable y absolutamente lejanas. Cuando falta esta desrealizacionse produce en nosotros un titubeo fatal; no sabemossi vivir las cosas o contemplarlas" (p. 370). An allusion to the screen of the cinema is also found in the stage directions of El Publico: "Ija luz toma un tinte plateado de pantalla cinematografica" (p. 1075). This occurs after the "Desnudo" dies: the man appears in his place, just before the statement that the spectator should not form part of the drama, obviously to suggest that this new genre has a lesson for the theater because spectator participation in the film is impossible. Both writers show the ironical or farsical essence of new art. Ortega y Gasset believes that the new inspiration is comical,ranging from clownery to a slight ironical wink, even though the content of the work is not comical. Art mocks itself. Garcia Ijorca uses the joy and laughter of the students in an episode toward the end of the play to create an emotional about-face: the vitally important situation which had been treated with complete seriousness until then is suddenly made the object of jest when one of the students throws Juliet's shoe at his friend. This shoe had been taken from the dead actor, apparently with the original intention of conservingit as a relic.27 Youth is an important element of the phenomenonwhich both artists observe. Ortega y Gasset believes that " Todo el arte nuevo resulta comprensibley adquiere cierta dosis de grandeza cuando se le interpreta como un ensayo de crear puerilidad en un mundo viejo" (p. 384). In Garcia Ijorca's play youth is
27Professor Budel also discusses this "making fun" aspect of the contemporary theater. Op. ott. p. 291.

290

WilrnaNewberry

BS, XVII

(1969)

hopeful of finding the solution, is helpful in leading the older people, and is willing to destroy the old doetrines of the past. Finally, both writers see that young people want to start from seratch, as Qrtega y Gasset states: "ljos jovenes quieren crear de la nada" (p. 356), and Gareia Ijorea's young people intend to burn the book from which the priests read the mass. Also, they both realize the need to find another road, which is neither the present one nor the traditional one, as Qrtega y Gasset says: "A las objeeioneshabria que anadir otra cosa: la insinuation de otro ni reitere las eamino para el arte que no sea este deshumanizador e:xpresses IJorea Garefa and 386), (p. vlas usadas y abusadas" path at this for looking people this idea by showing the young 1079). (p. verdadera" la the end of the play: "Alguna puerta sera to seem distance aesthetic of Pirandellism and the problem figure central elarify Garela Ijorea's message in Et Pubtico: The of " Cuadro Quinto>' is a " Desnudo viejo " who is dying ( " agoniza"). Although most commentatorsconsider this figure to symbolize the poet, I wish to suggest that more specifieally he represents the theater, or the spirit of the theater. I believe this to be true because the te:xt states "el teatro agoniza," and because he is an old man and is lying on a bed "como pintado por un primitivo" whieh would suggest the ancient art-formof the theater. Also, he is naked, which in addition to stressing the analogy of his death with the crutifision of (:hrist would show why the theater is dying-it has been stripped of its elothing which would symbolize the distance plated between the illusion of the theater and the audience. "Cuadro Quinto" is preceded by a lyrical interlude entitled "Reina Romana," which is set in a different historical period, the epoch of the Roman Empire, explaining the emphasis on elassical unity here. GarelaIjoreamay have intended to representa diferent period of the theater in each of the five acts, ending with "(:uadro Quinto" about the contemporarytheater which terminates with hope for the future. If so, Gonzalo,who is called at the end of "Reina Romana," having been inquired about at the beginning of "(:uadro Quinto," could possibly be don Gonzalo, Tirso de Molina's Convidado de Piedra and Zorrilla's character of the same name who could have appearedin the intervening acts de oro and the romantic theater. Of course to represent the sig1>o this is only conjecture, but Garcia Ijorca did state that his two

Aesthetic Distance tn "El Pxblico'2

291

favorite plays were Romeo and Ju1>iet and Don Juan Tenorzo.28 Also, Schonberg's suggestion that the shout "Enrique, Enrique" at the end of the play is the cry from Praust could possibly be valid and would fit in with this general theme. In "(:uadro Quinto" the male nurse is estracting blood from the nude figure with his completeconsent and cooperation. Garcia IJorcaonce stated: "Now I am writing a poetry which demands the opening of veins,-a poetry freed from reality," 29 suggestmg that this figure of the theater must also be freed from the close contact with reality which the theater-within-the-theater techniques have forced him to accept. The figure is being crucified. Although no cross actually appearsymany of the other symbols of the crucifi:xion of Christ are present, including the thieves. As Saez points out,30in Poet in New York the figure of Christ crucifiedcarries with it the lmplied hope of resurrection. Obviouslythe crucifision has the same significance here, because a nurse, a figure associated with healing, is arranging for his death. There are other very strong symbols of hope at the end of the play, that is, the students have lanterns in their hands and are leading the adults in their search for the right door. The reason for the great importancegiven to the students in this play is clear if we rememberthat after his return to Spain from New York Garcia Ijorca organized a university theater. The audience asks that the stage director be killed. The director is one of Pirandellos most prominent agents for breaking into the illusion of the stage as esemplified by Dr. Hinkfuss of Questra Sera st recita a soggetto. The membersof the audience are indifferent to the dying theater, probably because they are unaware of its ancient grandeur, so cluttered has the stage become with all the gimmickswhich make true theater impossible
28 Carlos Morla L;ynch,En Espana con FedertoGarcfaLorca (Madrid, 1958), p. 125. 'sSon las dos obras que desearia haber eserito." 29 Lorca-Selected and Translated by J. L. Gili (Bungay, Suifolk: Pe:clguin,1960), p. . 30Richard Saez, "The Ritual Sacrifiee in Lorea's 'Poet in New Tork' ", in lorca, X Collectionof CrtttcalEssays, ed. Manuel Durin (Englewood Cliffs, 1962, p. 108-129. Although f3aez does not mention Et P4blico ill this artiele, his analysis of the propitiatory vietim aspeet of Poet in New Zorkis also directly applicable to this play.

292

W.s

tlwa wew erry

a.

BB, XVII

(1969)

The spectators are completely confused because they have approached the dramatic work too closely, can touch the props and clothing of the actors, and thus all illusion is destroyed which nothing can be found to replace. At the same time they are unable to find an exit from the burning theater, perhaps stressing man's commitmentto and need of theater. Horses are an important symbol in "(:uadro Quinto." They seem to represent uncontrollableforce and freedom. They aid in the breaking down of barriers between the stage and the audience. Thus, at the beginning of the "Cuadro" they accompany the director who has instigated the revolutionby opening the stage traps. But when the revolution gets out of hand, and the director finds that he can no longer maintain poetic illusion, the horses are still aligned with the revolution which is now destroying the director's efforts, and when everyone else is desperately looking for an exit from the burning theater the horses are able to escape by breaking a hole through the roof of the stage. The first bombof the revolutionkills the professorof rhetoricat least the new techniques are spontaneous-which enables his wife, whose name is Elena or Selene, symbolizing the moon, to work so much "que tendra que ponerse dos grifos en las tetas" (p. 1067). They say that she used to go up to the terrace with a horse, so she is associatedwith freedom of poetic expression here, with the destruction of artifieial barriers. In fact, she is the one who sees what was happening in the theater and ives the voice of alarm. The poets try to kill her, but she keeps shouting and the crowd arrives to help. Thus the role of the moon in EZ Publtco illustrates Gustavo Correa's article in which he explains the very comples moon symbolismin Garela Ijorca's writings: the moon is an affirmativebut ambivalent symbol, correspondingto the changeable nature which the moon's phases give to it. The moon symbolizes vital renovation and "plenitud de realizacion" and at the same time it destroys life implatably and inevitably. "Se halla asI el hombrebajo la influentia ineseapablede un signo que es a la vez su salvacion y su propia destrueci6n. Apartarse de el es penetrar en el caos desmoralizador y ag6nico de lna vida sin sentido.n2 81
8l(}ustavo Correa, "El simbolismo de la luna en Garcia Lorca," PXLi1, T.XXTT(Deeember, 1957), 1084.

Aesthettc Dtstance tn "El Publtco"

293

under the seats, does not Juliet, the character who is stuf3Sed correspond to Pirandello's "Sei Personaggi" because she is not in search of dramatic form for her story. Allowing for a certain surrealistic distortion of time, she is somewhatlike Delia Morello a sxo modo who suffers in the audience when the story of Czascuno life is represented on the stage. Ijike Pirandello's "Sei of her Personaggi," however, she seems to represent superior artistic creation, destroyed here to show the most horrible effects of the revolution. At the same time Garcia Ijorca illustrates the superiority of dramaticillusion, which has also been destroyed,to whatever reality the "verdadera" Juliet represents, as manifested by the comment of a student when his friend tells him that Juliet was played by a disguised boy, "un truco del director de escena," and that the true Juliet had been gagged and placed beneath the chairs: " i Pues me gusta ! Parecia muy hermosa, y si era un joven disfrazado no me importa nada; en cambio, no hubiese recogido el zapato de aquella muchacha llena de polvo que gemia debajo de las sillas" (p. 1077) . Consistent with the theme of disorientation of this play, the spectators are in disagreement about why the revolution began. However, one of the students states: "Se amaban los esqueletos y estaban amarillos de llama, pero no se amaban los trajes y el publico vio varias veces la cola de Julieta cubierta de pequenos sapitos de asco" (p. 1070). This statementseems to echo a remark made by Garcia IJorcain an interview: "El teatro necesita que los personajesque aparezeanen la escena lleven un traje de poesia y al mismo tiempo que se les vea los huesos, la sangre" (p. 1634), which is a plea for a combinationof profound humanity which communicatesitself directly to all men with the compensating distance factor of poetic illusion. The ritualistic element of "Cuadro Quinto" cannot be overlooked. Professor Budel points out the audience participation factor which religious ceremony and contemporarytheater have in common: "On our modern stage, in comparison,the audience is to be made part and parcel of the whole performance; it is to be dragged, as it were, into the play. With this we move toward the concept of theater as rite, as the liturgical celebration of a

294

WtlmaNewberry

HR, ZZXVII ( 1969)

community; indeea a situation not unlike the one from which theater originally sprang.2232 In El Publ1,co the sacrifice of the "Desnudo" is carried out accordingto strict ritual-the prompter is in charge of preparing the necessary instrllments: "Solo faltan los candeleros, el caliz, y las ampollas de aceite alcanforado" (p. 1073). The timin, although thrown somewhat out of kilter by the mistake of the prompter, is obviously intendea to follow a pre-establishedceremony. The ceremonialdeath of this figure is also shown to be intimately connected with the fate of man, because when the "Desnudo" dies the revolving bed turns to reveal a man in evening clothes, representingthe spectator, who is also dying, complaining about the loneliness of man who has been deserted by the spirit of theater: " Agonia. Soledad del hombre en el sueno lleno de ascensores,trenes donde tu vas a velocidades increibles. Soledad de los edificios, de las esquinas, de las playas, donde tu no apareceras nunca" (p. 1079) . Spain possessesa unique genre which is a perfect synthesis of theater and ritual, the bullfight, and Garcia Ijorca is not ignorant of this. He said in his essay Teor1,a y juego del duende:"la liturgia de los toros, autentico drama religioso donde, de la misma manera que en la misa, se adora y se sacrificaa un Dios" (p. 45). And the bull symbol appears in El Publtcotwice. Near the end of the play one of the students states: "Yo tengo cuatrocientos toros. Con las maromas que torcio mi padre los engancharemos a las rocas para partirlas y que salga un volcan" (p. 1078). Perhaps the elementsassociatedwith the bullfight, then, of3Ser a partial answer to the problemof the theater.33 Soon after the bulls are mentioned the prompter announces: "Senores: elase de Geometriadeseriptiva." In his artiele Teorta
Budel, op.cqt., p. 284. Guillermo Diaz-Plaja has also quoted a pertinent remark made by GEarcia Lorca in this connection: "Creo que 108 toros es la fiesta mas culta que hay en el mundo. Es el drama puro, en el cual el espanol derrama sus mejores ligrimas y sus mejores bilia Es el Gnico sitio adonde se va con la seguridad de ver la muerte rodeada de la mas deslumbradora belleza sQud seria de la primavera espanola de nuestra sangre y de nuestra lengua si dejaran de sonar los clarines dramaticos de la corrida" Federtco Garda Lorca (Madrid: Austral, 1961), p. 62.
82 88

Aesthettc Dtstance tn "El Publtco"

295

y juego del d?4ende GEareia Ijoreastated: "En los toros [el duende] adquiere sus acentos mas impresionantes,porque tiene que luchar por un lado, con la muerte que puede destruirlo, y por otro lado con la geometria, con la medida base fundamental de la fiesta" (p. 46), which is a restatement of a fundamental problem of the theater somehowa way must be found to fit the life foree, which is essentially noncontrollable, into the art forms which separate aesthetic experience from life. In summary, Garefa Ijorea demonstrates that although the revolution in the theater, that is, Pirandellism, was greeted with enthusiasm by the members of the audience, they soon became confused and unhappy because these same techniques, by removing aesthetic distance, made poetic illusion impossible. After the death of the theater thus caused a new path must be found to enable its resurrection. The young people, carrying lanterns and leading the adults, are hopefully looking for this path at the end of the play, as GareIaIjorea said in an interview in 1934: " Caminos nuevos hay para salvar al teatro. Todo esta en atreverse a caminarpor ellos" (p. 1624). Before El PtGbltCO GartIa Lorea had employed theater-withinthe-theater techniques to a limited extent. In Los t1,teres de Cachtporrathere is a prologue in which Mosquito speaks to the audience, in La zapatera prodtgtosathere is a puppet play-withinthe-play, and especially in Retabltllo de don (7rtstobalin which there is a battle between the playwright and the director, who also enters into the play with the actors, and at the end holds the puppets in his hand, showing them to the audience.34 In Ast6que pasen ctnco anos, which was written at the same time as El Publtco, Garcia Ijorea shows how appropriate the play-within-the-playis in surrealist theater. After El Publtco he seems to have abandoned the technique completely, which would support my theory that this play is actually a rejection of aspects of Pirandellism which destroy aesthetic distance. At the beginning of his career when Gareia IJoreadid use the forms which break into theatrical illusion, most of the time he
84 For more idormation about Garcia Lorca's puppet plays consit: William I. Oliver, "Lorca: 'The Puppets and the Artist,' " Tulane Drama lieview, Vll, ii, 76-95.

296

WtltnaNewberry

HZ, ZZXVII (1969)

used eompensatingfaetors which prevented destructionof illusion. In the first place, most of these early plays are puppet plays, and although we may be reminded of the Maese Pedro tradition here, Don Quijote no longer exists. When Glarcia Ijorca used this technique ia a regular play, La zapatera prodig1,0sa, he allowed fantasy to re-distancethe play, compensatingfor any loss of illusion the initial direct address to the audience by the playwright may have caused, because before the playwright withdraws he performs a magicians' trick-when he takes off his hat a green light shines out of it, and then when he tips it a shower of water falls. Sanchez comments: " Nada podia ser mas teatral, nada mas falso, pero la intencion de Ijorca es perfectamente clara. Despues de invitar al espectador a acompanarleen su mundo de fantasia, queria poner en claro la magia que es esencia del teatro. "35 Even here, however, the stage directions state: " E1 autor mira un poco cohibido al publico y se retira de espaldas, lleno de ironia" (p. 822), again showing that Garcia Ijorca was awareof the ironical aspect of these techniques. GarcIa Ilorca may not have been completely aware of the deepersignificance of Pirandello's plays. He probably dia not realizethat Pirandello also always compensatedfor a loss of distanceon one level by an increase of distance on another. There areintellectual and poetic aspects of these two playwrights which showsimilar artistic spirit. Don Perlimplin (of AmoqO de Don PerliZmpltn con Belisa en su jardtn) and Maria Josefa (of La casa deBernard,aAlba) are Pirandello-like characters. Garcia Ijorca would have lovea I giganti della montagn which, according to Pirandello, is "The triumph of poetry, and at the same time the tragedy of poetry forced to exist in the midst of the brutal modern WOrla.^ 36 The cosmic identification of man and the universe in Non si sa come and, for example, in Bodas de sangre is strikingly similar.But this, of course, must be treated in another essay. WEMANEWBERRY State Untsersity of New Zork at BuJfalo
35 Sinehez, op. act. p. 25. 3sQuoted by Marta Abba in her Introduetion to Luipi PirandelGo lDhe 71fountain Gpiants and Other Plays (New Yorkt 1958), p. 24.