Peer Gynt by Henrik Ibsen, and: To the Third Empire: Ibsen's Early Drama by Brian Johnston (review)

Abstract

Book Reviews replace all other approaches, but rather a methodological reflection on the creation, interrelation and reception of signs; (7) the aesthetics of theatre which compares panicular plays and productions to a theoretical norm or cultural model and attempts to situate them in the evolution of artistic forms. Such a vast project may seem extremely ambitious and almost impossible to achieve, and Patrice Pavis admits that his work has raised a most urgent and thorny problem: reconciling a structural view of theatrical concepts with precise references to the history of theatre. Having used and consulted this dictionary for the past two months. I find it exciting and rewarding, no doubt because, like many other students of theatre, I am trying painfully to steer my own course between our hermeneutic and critical tradition founded on history and interpretation - which I highly respect - and the more recent field of structural research based on concepts derived from linguistics, conununication theories, proxemics, and post-Freudian philosophy - which I find most stimulating. On the whole, Pavis's dictionary exemplifies a rigorous, scientific approach to drama and theatre, and makes ample use of semiology, while showing a remarkable awareness of history and dramaturgic interpretation. In its treatment ofsemiologic concepts, it is both cautious and eclectic, borrowing notions from a great variety of sources: Peirce, the Russian Fonnalists, the Prague Circle, and the more recent Italian, French, English, and American research developments. One of the great qualities of this dictionary is that it never dissociates dramatic texts from the practice of theatre, and even gives priority to modes of staging and concepts of production. Among the many theorists of the stage whose ideas are often discussed - Maud, Bentley, Grotowski, Meyerbold, Stanislavski , etc. - one notices the importance granted to Brecht, whose influence is acknowledged in many aspects of contemporary stage practices. Pavis's Dictionnaire du theatre, which contains an up-to-date bibliography (twentythree pages), a systematic index, and a French-English-Gennan lexicon, is an important reference tool for theatre specialists, but its typographical standard - it has some regrettable errors and oversights - may be disappointing to serious scholars. JEANNETTE LAILLOU SAVONA, TRINITY COLLEGE, UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO HENRIK IBSEN . Peer Gym. Translated and Introduced by Rolf Fjelde. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press 1980. pp. xxviii, 297. BRIAN JOHNSTON. To the Third Empire:Ibsen's Early Drama. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press 1980. pp. xix, 328. John Northam, paraphrasing Marvell, sees translation "as a labour of love begotten by despair upon impossibility." Only the translator himself will know how often he despaired as he wrestled with the implications and nuances of Peer Gym, Ibsen's most complex, rewarding, and beloved text. But a labour of love it was, surely, for Rolf Fjelde. And the result is impressive enough to restore our faith in the possibility ofgreat translation. Only a man ofProfessor Fjelde's enthusiasm, scholarship, and sensitivity to both English and Norwegian poetry could have brought it off with such grace. What, briefly, does the Second Edition ofthe Fjelde translation offer us? First, we get Book Reviews 565 handsome, well-printed volumes (hard-cover and paperback) instead of the earlier, flimsy Signet Classic (1964) with the hideous troll-like Gyot on the cover! The new edition gives us a clean, accurate text, too; if there are any misprints, I have not discovered them. The original "Foreword," perhaps the best introduction to the play in English, has been retained with only a few minor changes in wording. In the interests of clarity. precision, and theatricality. the translation itselfhas also been modified in many small ways. Part of "Appendix r' deals instructively with the problems of translating Peer Gym. Taking his cue from Emily Dickinson, Fjelde often uses free rhythms and slant rhymes, thus making possible a rich range of sounds and eliminating the jingle of moon-June rhymes and the archaisms, syncope and stilted inversions familiar to readers of the old Archer translations. Look at this from Peer's account of his ride on the buck, as rendered by Fjelde: I could see ice floes crack and shatter On the shore, without a sound to hear. Only the imps of swimming senses Came singing. swirling. weaving dances In rings around...