Comments on L.S. Vygotsky's Theatrical Reviews

1088

Abstract

The paper provides detailed notes and comments on L.S. Vygotsky's previously unpublished work that was written in the form of a critical review of three premiere plays performed in 1916 at the Komissarzhevskaya Theatre, Little Theatre and the Second Studio of the Moscow Art Theatre. In this review Vygotsky addresses the key issues of meaning/sense relationship, emotional experience ('perezhivanie'), and the specifics of actors' transformation. Of special interest is the relationship between an actor's personal experience and the features of his/her stage feelings in the three theatrical performances. It is also worth mentioning that all aspects of this discussion clearly have much in common with Vygotsky's last work, On the Problem of the Psychology of the Actor's Creative Work (1932). The notes and comments to this review refer to biographical data as well as to the history of theatre, culture and psychology. This enables us to roughly reconstruct the social context which is crucial to understanding not only the analysed work, but also the formation of L.S. Vygotsky's views as a professional psychologist.

General Information

Keywords: Vygotsky, 'pure theatricality' principle, 'neorealism' theatre, 'scenic naturalism', Oedipus complex, Electra complex, jointness, gesture, sign, sense, emotional experience, transformation, psychotechnique

Journal rubric: Psychology of Art

Article type: scientific article

For citation: Sobkin V.S., Mazanova V.S. Comments on L.S. Vygotsky's Theatrical Reviews . Kul'turno-istoricheskaya psikhologiya = Cultural-Historical Psychology, 2014. Vol. 10, no. 3, pp. 82–96. (In Russ., аbstr. in Engl.)

References

  1. Aikhenval'd Yu.I. Otritsanie teatra [Denial Theater]. V sporakh o teatre: Sbornik statei [In the debate about the theater]. Moscow: Knigoizdatel'stvo pisatelei v Moskve, 1914. 199 p.
  2. Annenskii I.F. Dramaticheskie proizvedeniya: Melanippa-filosof. Tsar' Iksion. Laodamiya. Famira-kifared [Dramatic works: Melanippe philosopher. King Ixion. Lao­damiya. Famira — Kifared]. Moscow: Labirint, 2000. 320 p.
  3.  Blyum G. Psikhoanaliticheskie teorii lichnosti [Psycho­analytic theory of personality]. Moscow: KSP, 1996. 248 p.
  4.  "Bogi pali, ostalas' nenavist'" [Gods fell, remained hatred]. Vedomosti, 2013, no. 136 (3398). 31 iyul.
  5.  Verbitskii V.A. Vtoraya studiya. Iz vospominanii. Ezhegodnik Moskovskogo Khudozhestvennogo teatra. 1946 [Second studio. Of memories. Yearbook of the Moscow Art Theatre. 1946]. Moscow: Iskusstvo, 1948. 648 p.
  6.  "Voennaya tsenzura o "Letopisi"[Military censorship about the Chronicle]. Letopis' [Chronicle], 1917, no. 2, p. 4.
  7.  Vygotskii L.S. Gastroli Vtoroi studii MKhAT [Military censorship about the Chronicle]. Nash ponedel'nik [Our Mon­day], 1923, no. 51, p. 3.
  8.  Vygotskii L.S. Gastroli E.V. Gel'tser [Tours Geltser]. Nash ponedel'nik [Our Monday], 1922, no. 3, p. 4.
  9.  Vygotskii L.S. Gastroli "Krasnogo Fakela". Sverchok na pechi — Sobaka na sene — Okean — Pobeda smerti smerti [Tours "Red Torch". Cricket on the Hearth — A dog in the manger — Ocean — Win death]. Nash ponedel'nik [Our Monday]. 1923, no. 39, p. 3.
  10.  Vygotskii L.S. Gastroli Utesova i Foreggera [Utesov and Foregger Tour]. Nash ponedel'nik [Our Monday], 1923, no. 46, p. 3; 1923, no. 47, p. 3.
  11.  Vygotskii L.S. Istoriya razvitiya vysshikh psikhich­eskikh funktsii [The history of development of higher mental functions]. Vygotskii. L.S. Sobr. soch.: v 6 t. T. 3. Problemy razvitiya psikhiki. Moscow: Pedagogika, 1983. 368 p.
  12.  Vygotskii L.S. Myshlenie i rech' [Thought and Speech]. Vygotskii. L.S. Sobr. soch.: v 6 t. T. 2. Problemy obshchei psikhologii [Problems of General Psychology]. Moscow: Pedagogika, 1982. 504 p.
  13.  Vygotskii L.S. Rets. na kn.: Andrei Belyi. Peterburg [Rev. of the book: Andrei Belii. Petersburg]. Letopis' [Chro­nicle], 1916, no.12, pp. 327—328.
  14.  Vygotskii L.S. Rets. na kn.: Vyacheslav Ivanov. Borozdy i mezhi [Rev. of the book: Vyacheslav Ivanov. Fur­rows and landmark]. Letopis' [Chronicle], 1916, no. 10, pp. 351—352.
  15.  Vygotskii L.S. Rets. na kn.: Merezhkovskii D. Budet radost' [Rev. of the book.: D. Merezhkovskii. Will be a joy]. Letopis' [Chronicle], 1917, no. 1, pp. 309—310.
  16. Vygotskii L.S. Rets. na predislovie i primechaniya N.L. Brodskogo k poeme I. Turgeneva "Pop" [Rev.: foreword and notes by Brodsky of poem Turgenev "Pop"]. Letopis' [Chronicle], 1917, no. 5—6, pp. 366—367.
  17. Vygotskii L.S. Teatral'nye zametki (Pis'mo iz Moskvy) [Theatre notes (Letter from Moscow)]. Granki v zhurnal "Letopis'' [Proofs in the journal "Chronicle"], 1917.
  18. Vygotskii L.S. Tragediya o Gamlete, printse datskom  U. Shekspira [The Tragedy of Hamlet , Prince of Danish by W. Shakespeare]. Vygotskii L.S. Psikhologiya iskusstva [Psy­chology of Art]. Moscow: Iskusstvo, 1968. 576 p.
  19.  Gippius Z.N. Zelenoe — aloe — beloe. Vrode poslesloviya [Green — aloe — white. Like an epilogue]. Birzhevye vedomosti [Stock statements]. 1916. 23.03. (utrennii vypusk).
  20.  Knebel' M.O., Luriya A.R. Puti i sredstva kodirovaniya smysla [Ways and means of encoding the meaning], Voprosy psikhologii [Questions of psychology], 1971, no. 4, pp. 77—83.
  21.  Komissarzhevskii F.F. Pisatel' i akter (Mysli) [Writer and actor (Thoughts)]. V sporakh o teatre: Sbornik statei [In the debate about the theater: Collected articles]. Moscow: Knigoizdatel'stvo pisatelei v Moskve, 1914. 199 p.
  22.  Koonen A. G. Stranitsy zhizni [Pages of life]. Moscow: Iskusstvo, 1985. 446 p.
  23.  Meierkhol'd Vs. E. Perepiska: 1896—1939 [Corres­pondence: 1896—1939]. Moscow: Iskusstvo, 1976. 464 p.
  24.  Nemirovich-Danchenko Vl. I. Izbrannye pis'ma [Selected Letters]: v 2 t. T. 2: 1910—1943. Moscow: Iskusstvo, 1979. 742 p.
  25. Nitsshe F. Rozhdenie tragedii, ili Ellinstvo i pessimizm [The Birth of Tragedy , or Hellenism and pessimism]. Nitsshe F. Sobr. soch. v 2 t. T. 1. Moscow: Mysl', 1990. 740 p. (In Russ.)
  26.  Sobkin V.S. K opredeleniyu ponyatiya "identifikat­siya" [By the definition of "identification"]. In Leontiev A.A. (ed.) Vidy i funktsii rechevoi deyatel'nosti [Types and functions of speech activity]. Moscow, 1977, pp. 115—122.
  27.  Solov'eva I.N. Khudozhestvennyi teatr: Zhizn' i prik­lyucheniya idei [Khudozhestvennyi Theatre: The Life and Adventures of ideas]. Moscow: Moskovskii Khudozhestvennyi teatr, 2007. 671 p.
  28.  Stanislavskii K.S. Sobranie sochinenii: v 9 t. T. 1. Moya zhizn' v iskusstve [My Life in Art]. Moscow: Iskusstvo, 1988. 622 p.
  29.  Tairov A. Ya. O teatre [About theater]. Moscow: VTO, 1970. 603 p.
  30.  Tugendkhol'd Ya. A. Pis'mo iz Moskvy [Letter from Moscow]. Apollon [Apollo], 1917, no. 1, pp. 72—74.
  31.  Khorni K. Nevroticheskaya lichnost' nashego vremeni. Novye puti v psikhoanalize [The Neurotic Personality of Our Time. New ways in psychoanalysis]. Saint-Petersburg: Piter, 2013. 304 p.
  32.  Chulkov G. N. Nashi sputniki [Our satellites]. Moscow: Publ. N.V. Vasil'eva, 1922. 199 p.

Information About the Authors

Vladimir S. Sobkin, Doctor of Psychology, Professor, Academician of the Russian Academy of Education, Head of the Center for Sociology of Education, Institute of Education Management, Center for Modern Problems of Modern Education at the Psychological Institute of the Russian Academy of Education, Moscow, Russia, ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2339-9080, e-mail: sobkin@mail.ru

Valeriya S. Mazanova, Post-Graduate Student of the Laboratory of Socio-Cultural Problems of Education, Institute of Sociology of Education RAO, Moscow, Russia, e-mail: valery.mazanova@gmail.com

Metrics

Views

Total: 2554
Previous month: 5
Current month: 1

Downloads

Total: 1088
Previous month: 2
Current month: 0