Tóth Zsolt: Bestial parts of ourselves: a comparative analysis of Adrienne Kennedy's The owl answers and Peter Shaffer's Equus. In: Papers in English and American studies : Tomus XXV. - Distinguished Szeged student papers 2020, (25). pp. 217-237. (2020)
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Abstract
The animal and the human share a long and intricate relationship in the history of art and philosophy. Many arguments have been proposed in Western critical thinking in order to establish a power relation in which the animal and the human occupy the inferior and superior position respectively. In the first part of my paper, I map various proposals that had been made along the lines of language use and I examine the implications these had concerning the status of the animal in Western culture and the emergence of the human Self. With the advent of postmodernity, these previously heavily institutionalized aspects of culture come to the fore and are rigorously problematized. Thanks to the growing concern regarding the human subjugation of animals, the first animal rights discourses are formulated. At the same time, the human Self which used to be conceptualized as a homogeneous, transparent, and definite entity was now revealed by postsemiotics and deconstruction to be socially constructed and performative in nature. In the second part of my investigation, I examine the ways in which these phenomena manifest themselves in two Anglo-American plays, namely Adrienne Kennedy’s The Owl Answers and Peter Shaffer’s Equus. Via the comparative analysis of the dramatic texts and theatrical adaptations of the two plays, I illustrate how the theatre and especially the theatre of Adrienne Kennedy, which uses corporeal modes of signification extensively beside linguistic ones, is more capable to achieve the egalitarian representation of animals and humans.
| Item Type: | Book Section |
|---|---|
| Journal or Publication Title: | Papers in English and American studies : Tomus XXV. - Distinguished Szeged student papers 2020 |
| Date: | 2020 |
| Volume: | 25 |
| ISSN: | 0230-2780 |
| ISBN: | 978-963-315-428-1 |
| Page Range: | pp. 217-237 |
| Series Name: | Acta Universitatis Szegediensis de Attila József nominatae : papers in english and american studies |
| Language: | English |
| Contributors: | Contribution Name UNSPECIFIED Shaffer Peter UNSPECIFIED Kennedy Adrienne |
| Publisher: | JATEPress |
| Place of Publication: | Szeged |
| Related URLs: | https://acta.bibl.u-szeged.hu/86283/ |
| Uncontrolled Keywords: | Irodalomtudomány - összehasonlító, Angol irodalom története - 20-21. sz., Műelemzés - angol, Színházművészet |
| Additional Information: | Bibliogr.: p. 236-237. ; ill. ; összefoglalás angol nyelven |
| Subjects: | 06. Humanities 06. Humanities > 06.02. Languages and Literature 06. Humanities > 06.04. Arts (arts, history of arts, performing arts, music) |
| Date Deposited: | 2025. Mar. 21. 15:16 |
| Last Modified: | 2025. Mar. 21. 15:16 |
| URI: | http://acta.bibl.u-szeged.hu/id/eprint/86804 |
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