A Theory of Greek Tragedy ERCKHOVE by DERRICK DE K ERCKHOVE Director, McLuhan Program
Originally published in: Sub-Stance, no. 29, May 1981, pp. 23-36. Put in simple terms, my theory is that Greek theater was one of the developments of the phonetic alphabet specifically, and that its effect was to transform the sensory life of the Athenian community. The Greek stage projected the prototypes prototypes of Western man man as models for the acquis acquisiti ition on of privat privatee conscio consciousn usness ess.. The theatric theatrical al proces processes ses amplifie amplified d and extended to the non-literature members of the Athenian culture, some of the discreet effects which the phonetic alphabet generated among those who could already read and write. While they were attending stage productions illiterates might be deemed to develop their attention span, their concentration, their critical faculties and their capacity for abstraction, their their manipu manipulat lation ion of languag language, e, and even train train their their visual visual skills skills from periph periphera erall to centralized centralized and directional directional vision. vision. They might be encouraged encouraged for the first time time to define define and fragment experience in sequences and reorganize its patterns in a unified visual space. All these effects and others made the Greek culture what we think it has been, and were initially dependent upon the apprenticeship of the phonetic alphabet. Theater and the Alphabet: Prometheus Bound Though it has variously been considered as something between religious ritual and social entertainment or between folkloric pageant and the highest expression of Attic culture, Greek Greek tragedy tragedy was probably probably not an art form form primaril primarily. y. It is more likely likely that it was a technol technology ogy of change change which which arose arose at the point point of conjunct conjunction ion of severa severall previo previousl usly y unrela unrelated ted strain strains: s: the practi practice ce of sport sport compet competiti ition, on, the cultur cultural al polici policies es of a presti prestige ge orient oriented ed bureau bureaucra cracy, cy, the growth growth of litera literacy, cy, the bardic bardic tradit tradition ion and, and, as Gerald Gerald Else Else pointed out in his essay on The Origins and the Early Forms of Greek Tragedy, the need for Athens to develop a mark of distinction among other Greek states, and efface the memory of a previously unremarkable cultural background. Theater, as well as lyric and choral poetry, appear in the wake of a more fundamental innovation, the phonetic alphabet, the mother of all the muses as Aeschylus called it in his Promet Prometheus heus bound. bound. Indeed Indeed,, playwri playwritin ting g depended depended for its fulles fullestt developm development ent on the transcript transcription ion of the old oral epics into written written forms. forms. This is also a point which has been made made conv convin inci cingl ngly y by Gera Gerald ld Else Else,, but it needs needs to be take taken n a few few step stepss furt further her to understand some of the psychological implications pertaining to writing down an oral form. Transcribi Transcribing ng anything anything in any kind of writing involves a degree of abstracti abstraction on which tends to reproduce reproduce the signif signified ied experien experience ce in a somewha somewhatt desens desensori oriali alized zed mode. But the phonetic has this distinctive quality over all other scripts and alphabets: first, it represents not images, but sounds, and second, it represents all the sounds needed for the coding of oral oral commun communica icati tion. on. The major major proper property ty of the phonetic phonetic code is that that it demands demands (and consequently develops) the ability to analyze sequences and follow a linear linear mode. A point which ought to be made here but which can only be developed later is that the phonetic
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alphabet is also a strictly oriented code which is biologically determined from left to right. What I would like to emphasize here is that where other forms of scripts may establish a direct relationship between the signifier and the signified, the use of the Greek alphabet is predi predicat cated ed upon the mediat mediation ion of a mental mental combin combinati ation on of phoneme phonemess which which have no meaning by themselves. The phonetic is therefore far more abstract than any other alphabet and contrary to its closer cousins, the Hebraic and the Phoenician varieties, it does not rely on any contextual contextual evidence evidence for its decoding. decoding. All this is to say that that when a professional professional scribe or a literate bard wrote down an oral epic, he was unwittingly changing the nature of the information as well as the relationships of his body and mind to its content and delivery. He would be fragmenting the poem to process it through the alphabetic code, and the fragments of the story would appear as specific actions, roles and heroic or exemplary attitudes. In fact he was not writing writing down a story, he was representing sounds. sounds. And surely the sounds would be read aloud and retell the story, but in the meanwhile the information would have been completely abstracted from the storyteller even as he was writing it down. The nature of memory must have changed: you did not memorize sounds and images, you memorized a code which gave you instant and permanent access to those sounds and images. images. Eric Havelock Havelock has done invaluable invaluable research research in this field field and he explains in his Preface to Plato that whereas the performance of epic poetry would involve the whole body of the performer as well as the whole body of his audience without implying that there be a strict hierarchy of mental processes over physical ones, the act of writing knowledge down would liberate the memorizer from all mnemonic devices other than mental. This is one of the main aspects of what I call the desensorialization desensorialization of the Greek culture. Drama was thus borne out of the various physical techniques of memory evolved for the oral epic but which were broken broken loose and rearranged rearranged by the phonetic phonetic alphabet. alphabet. From the point point of view of communication, one could say that theater was to the oral epic what writing was to speech; it was a revolution revolution of sensory sensory relationshi relationships ps pertaining pertaining to the major modes of transmitt transmitting ing and exchanging information on a personal and a social level. Oral poetry, the alphabet and theater were all different aspects of what the Greeks called mimesis, but I suspect that the alphabet introduced an important change to the traditional traditional notion of mimesis. It is possible possible to surmise that where the mimetic practices ascribed by Plato to epic poetry were age old conventions conventions of re-enactmen re-enactment, t, the new, coded, conventions conventions of mimesis mimesis were uniformly uniformly geared geared toward towardss imitat imitation ion proper. proper. In simple simplerr terms, terms, theater theater would would presen presentt models models of experience to spectators which were removed from the action, where the traditional epic performance would still involve its audience very closely in a ritual remaking of the action. Havelock Havelock even refers to almost pathologica pathologicall forms of identificati identification. on. It is important important to remember however that initially theater must have exerted a very powerful manipulation of its public public�s sensor sensory y projec projecti tions ons.. One of the most interes interestin ting g insigh insights ts of classi classical cal scholarship into the nature of chorus dancing is H.C. Baldry�s opinion that it probably �was the sort of physical reaction to the play which the audience might have shown if they had risen from their seats� (The Greek Greek Tragic Theatre Theatre,, London C & W, 1974.). This is likely but ultimately the theatrical situation led to a repression of all sensorial responses to the action action on the stage. stage. Charle Charless R. Beye reminds reminds us that heavy fines fines and sometim sometimes es ejection from the theater were imposed on those who created disturbances during the daylong performances. Civilization, as Voltaire said it many times, begins with just just this kind of repression. repression. In the beginning the tragic tragic dramas did not so much process information information as they orchestrat orchestrated ed sensory stimulati stimulations. ons. It is probably that the experience experience of theatrical theatrical perfor performan mances ces,, even even for the short short durati duration on of their their occurr occurrenc encee during during the year, year, would would 2
introd introduce uce a new bias in the relati relations onship hipss betwee between n body body and mind. mind. As the public was exposed to highly involved actions based on common knowledge and yet prevented from responding physically by the seating arrangement and the distance between the orchestra and itself, the need to control and convert physical impulses into mental ones must have arisen. arisen. However the the highly volatil volatilee and emotional public public of Athens would would not �think out� the plays with the clear mind and the quick and ready judgement of our present day thea theate terr crit critic ics, s, but but expe experi rien ence ce them them thro throug ugh h a maze maze of phys physic ical al and and emot emotio iona nall contradictions that could not be resolved through the mere exercise of one�s rational faculties. faculties. Under those circumst circumstances ances the danceforms danceforms of the actors and the chorus would help to relieve the tensions and frustrations by providing a surrogate involvement through a skillful balancing of music, dance, song and speech. If the spectacle of tragedy led progressively to a process of intellectualization and body control, then the figure of Aeschylus� Prometheus tied and bound to his rock is the very image of the spectator bound to to his uncomfortable seat in in the theater rows. Prometheus is the archetypal figure of Western man, repressed, long-winded, uptight, narcissistic and morbidly intellectual. intellectual. He is the Woody Allen Allen of Greek Greek tragedy. He is the actor who does not move, move, let alone alone dance dance.. The The titl titlee of the play and the elabo elabora rate te enactm enactment ent of Prometheus� binding in the very first scene indicate that this immobilization of the central figure figure should should be granted granted the utmost utmost attenti attention. on. As an emblem emblem of muscul muscular ar control, control, Prometheus Prometheus can only respond respond by speech to environmenta environmentall sensory stimul stimulations ations.. Thus divorced divorced from action, this speech is the closest theatrical theatrical approximati approximation on of thought. thought. The first speech of Prometheus is in fact a monologue and it expresses in thought-like patterns the tensions and frustrations frustrations endured through the physical repression. repression. The last words reveal a surprising frailty in the Titan: �The air whirs whirs with the light rush rush of pinions. pinions. Whatever Whatever approaches is fraught with alarm for me� (Line 125-6). If, in true Greek mythological tradition, the nature of the punishment fits Prometheus� crime, then the correlation between his paralysis and his previous intellectual enterprises in saving mankind from the wrath of Zeus must appear under a new light: one can only use one�s brain at the expense of one�s abili ability ty to be acti active vely ly invol involve ved d in daily daily life life.. Narcissus� involvement involvement with with a mental image also also resulted resulted in paralysis. paralysis. However However the metamorphosis which strikes Prometheus does not result in death but in an epistemological revolu revolutio tion. n. Later Later in the play, play, Prome Promethe theus us claims claims to have invented invented �grammaton grammaton te syntheseis�, the assembling assembling (or synthesis) synthesis) of letters. letters. With the science science of numbers, the alphabet alphabet is the master technology technology and Prometheus Prometheus the master master technician. technician. It might not be too much of an exaggeration to say that under the guise of Prometheus, Aeschylus put the alphabet alphabet and most of its revolutionizi revolutionizing ng effects on the stage. More important important than the figure is the new ground of its operation. Among all the arts and sciences sciences that Prometheus enumera enumerates tes as conseque consequence ncess of his invent invention ions, s, there there are two conspi conspicuo cuous us omissi omissions ons:: Geography and History. The reason they are not listed listed is that both will will be demonstrated in action through the figure of Io. Theater and Space: Io Unbound As the writing of tragedy turned into abstraction the concrete knowledge of oral poetry, it
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also made it available available for innovation innovation and adaptation. adaptation. Fragmented Fragmented segments segments of common lore lore gave rise to interp interpret retati ations ons and counte counteri rinte nterpr rpreta etatio tions. ns. The old sagas sagas lost their character of inviolability to become objects of intellectual speculations. speculations. Beginning as it did alongside with the recitations of epics in competitions organized by the Pisistratids, tragedy started out as a manipulation of the powerful sensory involvement of the audience which was was used used to the the perf perfor orma manc ncee of epic epics. s. Late Laterr trag traged edy y evol evolve ved d as a mani manipu pula lati tion on of representations because the governing principles and lines of force of the medium used for its creation led naturally to a mediation. mediation. I believe that this process from unmediated unmediated action to mediated representation is the essence of the theatrical phenomenon and that its most important effect was to change the nature of space and time in the experience of the theater public. The theater of Dyonisius at Athens was one of the the first matrices matrices of Western visual space. space. It was also the place where where knowledge knowledge and experienc experiencee would would be proces processed sed as narrative and history. The �Theatron� is both the place �to see� and the place �from where one can see�. In terms of the sensory life of the archaic Greek community, the major shift effected by the combination of theater and the alphabet was to play down the audio-tactile involvement and promote a new sensorial synthesis synthesis under the governing of the eye. In 1935, F. M. Cornford wrot wrotee an arti articl clee on �the Invent Invention ion of Space Space� which which he attrib attribute utess �to the the Gree Greek k philosophers of the three centuries between Thales and Euclid� (p. 217). This perceptive essay essay might have received received more attentio attention, n, especi especiall ally y coming coming from such a renowne renowned d scholar, if Cornford had not limited his investigation to science and philosophy, but he does make one point very clear. clear. On textual evidence evidence he feels that he can ascertain ascertain the fact that the notion of infinite space was just as baffling to common sense in 5th century Athens as that of relativity still still is to us today. What is more is that that he detects a growing confusion of terms between physical space and geometrical space which is purely theoretical. The point I would like to make here is that the theater of Athens was a place where under the gaze of the public, practical, physical space and a theoretical one, that of the stage, coincided. coincided. Assuming Assuming that the spectators spectators were were gradually gradually being deprived deprived of a direct direct and imme immedi diat atee sens sensor ory y invol involve veme ment nt with with the the acti action on,, and that that thei theirr resp respon onse se was was bein being g rech rechann annel elle led d in a visu visual ally ly domi domina nant nt synt synthe hesi sis, s, then then it foll follow owss that that thei theirr ordi ordina nary ry environmental references were being gradually emptied of their content and that a new spatial spatial condition condition was being created for them. It was a neutral, abstract abstract container container for a programmed experience, a spectacle. It seems possible that the role of the theater was to educate the Athenian public at large to the new sensoria sensoriall synth synthesi esiss of fixed fixed visual visual space. space. Just Just as the phoneti phoneticc alphab alphabet et is a technique which converts all the sensory inputs of oral speech into a single visual sequence, the theatrical performance is a process which assimilates all the sensory inputs of ordinary oral communication into into a sequential and causally oriented spectacle. The apprenticeship of literacy demanded the assimilation of new modes of learning and new methods of classifying information. information. The real difficulty was probably to internalize internalize coherent models for organizing the information which was being generated by the abstracting power of the code. The need for for a container and a classifying classifying procedure must have been paramount. It is possible that the simple fact of learning to read and write would provide the literate segment of the Attic community with such models at least in embryonic forms, but how 4
would those who could neither read nor write be expected to assimilate and mentally integr integrate ate the radica radicall changes changes in the supers superstru tructu ctures res of the polit politica icall and bureauc bureaucrat ratic ic organizations of Athens? How could they be led, for for instance, to accept the daring daring reforms of Kleisthenes at the end of the 6th century, reforms which would transform the space of Athens Athens from from the closeclose-kni knitt allegi allegiance ancess of the phratr phratries ies into into the artifi artificial cial geometr geometrica icall divisions divisions of municipalitie municipalities? s? To accept this desacralizing desacralizing of the homeland, homeland, the population population must have been prepared somehow to substitute a sense of space which was governed by organic relationships with one which posited space as a given, absolute dimension of experience. In Solon�s time, Ge, mother Earth, was still a divine being, �a mother to the Olympian gods�. Not quite quite a century century later later it became real real estate. estate. It was was a move from from fullness to emptiness, emptiness, from presence to absence. absence. For such a change to be internalized by a population population which was 95% illiterate, illiterate, there must have been a full-scale full-scale model available. available. I suggest that the whole theatrical set-up in the city was that model. Theater is, par excellence, a necessary stage of exteriorization for the new visual synthesis foster fostered ed by the phoneti phoneticc alphab alphabet. et. It is the project projection ion and the extensi extension on of a proper property ty exclusi exclusive ve to the eye, that precise precisely ly of synth synthesi esis. s. No other sense sense can arrest arrest space to coordinate all sensory stimulations stimulations in a permanent and coherent order. The position of the spectator contributed presumably in educating him to a specialized use of his eyes, that of centralized and sustained visual aiming, by opposition to peripheral vision which is more involved involved in a collaborati collaboration on with the other senses to gather and process process information. information. He would also benefit from the spontaneous development of his attention span and exercise growing powers of concentration, all things which are natural to those who can read, but remarkably difficult to achieve by those who can�t. The consequence of this education to visual synthesis was that the neutral space of the stage could be projected beyond the confines of the theater and that the new spatial concept or model could be applied to to daily life. life. Hence the confusion among the the Atomist philosophers philosophers between their notion of the geometrical Void and their experience of physical space which they soon posited posited as infinite in principle. principle. It may be to the experience experience of theater that they owed the inspiration for a synthesis:
� geometrical space itself may be compared to the outline of a country revealed for the first first time to the coordinatin coordinating g geographer. geographer. It was not realized realized from the first first that the figures figures employed employed in the scattered scattered theorems theorems demanded a space of infinite infinite extent. If we suppose this discovery to date from about the middle of the fifth century, then, since the theorems seemed to be established beyond doubt, we can understand why the space they implied was accepted by the atomists as the framework of reality (�The Invention of Space,� in: Essays in Honour of Gilbert Murray, London, Allen & Unwin, 1936). Cornford Cornford makes no reference reference either to the senses or to theater in his essay, a fact which is all all the the more more surp surpri risi sing ng that that it is to Corn Cornfo ford rd that that we owe owe the the bril brilli lian antt insi insight ght that that Thucydides may have borrowed from the art of dramatic composition his principles for writi writing ng Histor History. y. It is indeed indeed possible possible that the princi principle pless of causalit causality y were were applied applied to narratives on the stage before anywhere else if only because the space of the stage provided the dramatist with a unified and permanent field of references for the linear development of an action. 5
If all this is true then one can begin to understand why Aeschylus held such fascination for the evocation of territorial space in all his plays, as witness the lengthy recount of the travels of Xerxes� armies in the Persians, the foretelling of Io�s errance around the Aegean in Prometheus Bound, or the detailed itinerary of the �lampados to sumbolon�, the beacon message, a system of telecommunications invented by Queen Clytemnestra to obtain early distant warning signal about the war at Troy. Could this peculiar fondness for mental spatialization indicate that something new was in store for the public to experience, namely the emotion of geography? Io seems to erupt on the stage stage of Prometheus Bound for no other reason than to prompt the shackled shackled god to give a public lecture lecture on the geography of the Mediterranean world. But his is precisely precisely what makes her appearance so relevant to the full didactic implications of the play: Io will be used to demonstrate a way to control space in the physical world. world. In stark contrast contrast to Prometheus, Prometheus, Io is the figure of mobility; mobility; also a victim of physical and sensorial aggression, the cow-girl is driven to frenzy by the sting of the gadfly. The complementarity of Io to Prometheus Prometheus must have been more evident on the stage than on paper. Io�s problem is is to regain control of her motion in space. The technique proposed to that effect by the benefactor of the human race it to learn to chart one�s course in a space which can be made reliable and permanent by recourse to geography: �en eggraphou su mnemosin deltois phrenon�, says Prometheus: �Engrave it on the writing tablets of your mind� (line (line 789). I will resis resistt the urge to strum strum the etymological chords on the word phrenon, only to point out that this very explicit metaphor again makes an essential correlation between the alphabet and the spatialized organization and classification of knowledge and experience. Theater and Consciousness: The Creatures of Prometheus So far, I have tried to suggest that the theatrical performance has loosened the spectator from the bonds of his sensory involvement with the environment by immobilizing him at a certain distance from the action, and by manipulating his emotions (which I deem to be the extens extension ionss of his sensory sensory respon responses ses)) so as to introd introduce uce a relati relative ve object objectivi ivity ty in his relationsh relationship ip with the action. The theatrical theatrical setting may also have reshaped reshaped the pattern pattern of his perceptions perceptions in a sensorial synthesi synthesiss governed by vision. vision. These changes changes would lead in time to a new, more intimate development. Initially a process of exteriorization for a new way of being-in-the-world, the experience of theater would lead to a stage of internalization and assimilation of a mode of consciousness which was already available to the literate members of the community. Theater enabled spectators to subject the content of their experience to the analytic powers of the eye. Similes Similes of social interacti interaction on were played out in front of them on a symbolical symbolical plane. This was a sort of education to the literate literate imagination. Images of experience were tried out before they were actually lived. The stage could be conceived as a rehearsal area for many prototypes of experiences, attitudes, emotions and mental processes which were incarnated by the actors or the chorus and would become become the basis for the Western Western way of life. The stage and all its contents contents would eventually be interiorized individually by each spectator and become what we call
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�consciousness�.
Clas Classi sical cal schol scholar arss like like R.B. Onians Onians and A.W. A.W.H. H. Adkins Adkins have established quite convincingly that the image of man such as it can be deduced from Homer and later later texts texts of Archai Archaicc Greece Greece does does not present present clear clear outlin outlines es or limita limitati tions ons,, that that perceptions are diffuse and that the seat of the decision-making processes is difficult to locate. locate. Earlier Earlier texts have no word to designate designate the single single body, and all sensations sensations are deemed deemed to occur occur somewher somewheree in the midriff midriff,, from from the liver to the upper upper thorax. thorax. Early Early medi medica call text textss reve reveal al that that up unti untill the the begi beginn nnin ing g of the the 6th 6th cent centur ury, y, the the brai brain, n, or claim that the use of �egkephalos,� was assumed to be a cooling system. Is it possible to claim the alphabet as it enabled the writer to control and appropriate language first anchored a sense of self among among literate literate people? It does seem plausible plausible in that the textual textual evidence from the 6th century onward traces an apparent parallel course between the developments of alpha alphabe beti tizat zatio ion n and and an irre irreve vers rsib ible le rede redefi fini niti tion on of the the body body,, the the brai brain, n, and the the registered the first traumas traumas of selfhood and the the god Eros, � psuche� or soul. Lyric poetry registered a later creation of Greek mythology, may have been invented only to account for the complications introduced by a personalized and rationalized version of libido. I realize that I am runnin running g a precip precipit itous ous course course through through what consti constitut tutes es today today the concern concernss of an arduous and scattered scholarship, but assuming that this general direction is legitimate, then I would like to suggest that the role of the actor on the stage was primarily to project a detached, personalized and homogeneous image of the human body for the benefit of clarifying the public�s opinion about itself. itself. One might object that nothing prevented the traditional bard to project just that image, but I would answer that only the distance afford afforded ed by the theatr theatrica icall setti setting ng would would make make such such a projec projecti tion on exempl exemplary ary and thus thus successful. successful. It is the separation separation of the function function of the eye from the other senses senses which liberates the imagination at the theater and which sustains a durable image of personhood. Jacques Lacan never realized, in his famous essay on the mirror state in the formation of the self (Lacan, J. �Le Stade du miroir �, in Ecrits, Paris, Seuil, 1970), that he was being trapped into the literate bias of Western Western humanism. He failed to notice that the self he was referring to was exclusively the product of a visual selection among many other possible sensory sensory relationship relationships. s. Theater Theater does indeed function function in a complex way analogous analogous to the mirror state (Shakespeare said it first) in that it presents the visual and kinetic aspects of the single single body as autonom autonomous ous from the environm environment ent,, and then, then, by the way of analog analogy y internalizes that image as a source of subjectivity. subjectivity. The limits of the individual individual can only be define defined d and remain remain stable stable inasmu inasmuch ch as his perceptio perceptions ns other other than than visual visual confirm confirm his permanent separateness from the environment. Introjecting, by analogy, analogy, the situation of the actor on the stage, the spectator begins to conceive himself as contained in the larger, unlimited space of the world. This is the very nature nature of theatricality; it is a permanent and I believe believe exclusive feature feature of Western consciousnes consciousness. s. Regarding Regarding itself as an object which can move freely upon and within a stable space, the image of the body is an intrasubjective representation which is programmed in real and symbolic actions, social attitudes, and memory memory processing. processing. In other words a sort of imaginar imaginary y �self � predominantly visual in its representations will begin to invade a perpetual montage of experiences played and replay replayed ed before before and after after the actual actual intera interacti ction on with with the environ environmen mentt and with with other other persons. Here again we meet Prometheus, �the one who thinks ahead� as opposed to his brother Epimetheus, �the one who thinks back.� Were it not for this brother the case made here for the meaning of those names might appear specious, but it seems evident that etymologic etymologically ally at least these these words are not opposed but complementa complementary. ry. They could be
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interpreted as �forward� and � backward� projections and they refer to techniques of proce processi ssing ng inform informati ation on rather rather than than to the common common accepta acceptance nce as � prudence� and �folly.� In Aeschylus� play the contrast between archaic man and the new technological creature of Prometheus is made in no uncertain un certain terms: In the beginning, they saw without seeing, they heard without hearing and they spent their long life like shapes in a dream d ream in confusion and without purpose (lines 447-449). Then Then foll follows ows the the enume enumera rati tion on of the the mech mechan anema emata ta and and techn techne, e, the the inven inventi tion onss and and techniques which Prometheus taught taught mankind to help it it help itself. Chief among them are of course the alphabet alphabet and the science science of numbers. In effect what what Prometheus Prometheus claims claims to have done is to promote man from an undifferentiated to a highly defined state of being. Every technology that he describes brings a new definition to man�s relationship with the envir environ onme ment nt and a new patt patter ern n of acti activi vity ty,, a new new sour source ce of auto autono nomy my and and cont contro rol. l. Elsewhere, Prometheus says that he delivered men from the fear of death and that he difficult to determine determine exactly what is � placed blind hopes within them� (line 252). It is difficult meant by tuphlas elpidas, the blind hopes in question, but whatever they were, they were placed in the people, en autois, which indicates that mankind has also been endowed with a semblance of interiority. Prometheus� own interiority is demonstated on the stage so to speak, as it is constituted around a secret which he holds against Zeus, his oppressor. Zeus is the total consciousness of the universe and he has access everywhere all the time except in one single place, the mind of Prometheus. In a way one can interpret the the whole play as the dramatization of the various processes which make up a separate identity and define it. The figure of Prometheus and that of his creatures are developed under the eyes of the Athenian public as a physical condensation cond ensation or an allegory of psychological differentiation. Theater and the Brain: Prometheus against Zeus It is worth while to note at this point that the first undeniable reference to a fixed, mental space in Greek epistemology is a mnemonic device invented by the poet Simonides of Keos sometime sometime in the middle of the fifth fifth century. This man who was well acquaint acquainted ed with the theater at Athens for having won there several literary competitions is credited with having taught a new art of memory memory founded founded on the commonplace, commonplace, the topos koinos. koinos. Before Before it became an abstraction under the pen of Aristotle, the commonplace was actually a place, or rather rather an idea idea of an actual actual place. place. What What Simoni Simonides des recomme recommended nded to his pupils pupils was to imagine imagine a room or some other clearly clearly defined and permanent area and to set in its various various parts the things and the notions that they wanted to remember in the order that they would requir requiree at the moment moment of recall. recall. I would like like to refer refer those those who wish wish to pursue pursue this this investigation further to Frances Yates� remarkable book on The Art of Memory (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, Press, 1966). They will find there what Cicero had to say about this invention and they may be just as surprised as I was to discover once again in Cicero�s comme comment ntss a clos closee asso associ ciat atio ion n betwe between en writ writin ing, g, the the prim primac acy y of visi vision on and and ment mental al spatialization.
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It seems obvious to me that Simonides lifted the idea of the commonplace straight out of the theater. He may have been the first first Greek thinker to conceptualize the interiorization interiorization of a visual space patterned upon the model presented to all Athenians by the stage, and to use it as the framewor framework k of memory, memory, reflecti reflection on and mental mental informat information ion processi processing. ng. His invention was recorded officially and revered for centuries, which means that at the time it was truly truly new yet welcomed welcomed in a highly highly fertile fertile ground. What should should be stressed stressed here however is that Simonides had not only invented an art of memory, but also an art of forgetting. Indeed his commonplace was a neutral space capable of being filled or emptied at will just like like a theater. theater. The conclusion conclusion that I take the liberty liberty to jump to is that in less than a hundred years the practice of a theater had introduced in Athens a fundamental change in the nature of one of the most essential psychological functions: from being a configuration of complex relationships involving the whole body, memory had become a container, a mental box to store and classify representations representations and abstractions. And this is only the surface of other deep, unsuspected psychological revolutions which fermented in a society in rapid transition. The combin combined ed effect effectss of the alphab alphabet et and the theate theaterr isolat isolated, ed, redefi redefined ned,, vertic verticali alized, zed, centralized and lateralized the human body. Of these effects, only the last one needs further explo explora rati tion on in this this paper. paper. The The other other are all quite quite eviden evidentt in the upri upright ght figur figuree of Prometheus, isolated at the confines of the universe, redefined by repression and the careful application of his bonds, verticalized by his position, but also by the predominance of his mental activities over any other, centralized around a secret which is equated with his identity and finally lateralized, but this is only an assumption, by his recourse to the alphabet. This is the most uncharted course of my research and I can only propose to state it without even pretending to substantiate it here. The reason I feel compelled to speak about it at all is that it ties in directly with the development of memory as a container and that it is so far the best explanation I have found for the mysterious nature of tragedy. Though it is not the time nor the place to do it here, it is relatively easy to establish that the pract practice ice of the phoneti phoneticc alphab alphabet et could could promot promotee the neurolo neurologic gical al activi activiti ties es of the left left hemisphere of the brain and consequently over a certain period of time engage a gradual shift shift of dominance from the right to the left. The study of Greek epigraphy epigraphy shows in fact that such a shift may have occurred on a cultural scale in Athens first and in the rest of Greece later. The earliest samples of public inscriptions inscriptions in Attica show that the orientation orientation of the script followed the pattern provided by the Semitic model which the Greeks adopted and to which which afte afterr seve severa rall stag stages es of deve develo lopm pment ent they added added vowel vowels. s. Thos Thosee early early inscripti inscriptions ons were generally generally written from right right to left. Then, around the 6th century century B.C., foll follow owss a peri period od when when a curi curiou ouss thin thing g occur occurre red: d: a new new styl stylee of writ writin ing g call called ed the the boustrophedon appeared and it was written both ways from top to bottom. It is interesting interesting to note that all the letters letters were inverted regularly regularly according to the direction of the line. This means that the eye could follow both orientations just as easily as a dyslexic child can read what a normal reader considers to be an inverted script. Towards the beginning of the 5th century another change marks the orientation of the the script. It is called the stoichedon stoichedon style and it posits that all letters must be equidistant and be patterned along a strict vertical line. This brings an end to the boustrophedon and forces the engraver to choose a single 9
direction of writing so that he can properly align all the vertical sections of the letters which have one. one. At the very end end of the Vth centur century, y, in 403 to be precise precise,, the reform reform and the homogenization of the many varieties of scripts lead to the adoption of the Ionian alphabet and to a defini definitiv tivee orient orientati ation on of the writin writing g from from left to right. right. This This is the only rule established by a bureaucracy that has not been changed or broken for 2500 years. Assuming that all that precedes is as clear-cut as I make it sound, then the various stages of development of Greek epigraphy which follow closely the times and the place of the theater in Greece may indicate that there was some correlation between this unique invention of Athens and an early shift of hemispheric dominance in the Athenian society at large. Though popular exploitation exploitation of the theme has somewhat tarnished tarnished its reputation reputation I believe believe that among all things that have been said about the specialization of the hemispheres of the brain, one of the safest to work on is the hypothesis that left hemispheric dominance is one of the specific specific character characterist istics ics of the Western Western mind. Regardi Regarding ng this this questi question on prudent prudent specul speculati ations ons from from author authorize ized d quarter quarterss have venture ventured d the hypoth hypothesi esiss that that central centralize ized, d, analytical, classifying and causal processing of information also indicate a left hemispheric dominance. In other words, there is a possibility possibility that what I call memory memory as container the development of which I attribute to the frequentation of theater, could be associated with this shift of dominance from the right to the left hemisphere. hemisphere. I cannot afford to quote here too much evidence for such a complex matter but here is an interesting statement made by Professor R. Fisher in his essay on the Cartography of Inner Space, presenting a theme which might once again bring b ring together theater, the self and writing: The separateness of subject and object during the daily routine levels of arousal (in the Istate) has been elaborated in our customary, rational Aristotelian logic and language � a two-valued (either-or, true-or-false) logic that discounts the creative interaction between observer (subject) and observed (object). (object). This separateness separateness of subject and object � is a reflection of the relative independence of cortical interpretation from subcortical activity and reflec reflects ts a predom predomina inantl ntly y ration rational al left-h left-hemi emisph spheri eric, c, analyt analytical ical,, time-b time-bound ound,, and objective ideation (in Hallucinations, Behavior, Experience and Theory, R.K. Siegel & L.J. West ed., Wiley, New York, 1975, pp. 220- 221). This process of separation between subject and object which Havelock calls the separation of the the knowe knowerr from from the the known, known, was was init initia iate ted d by the the phone phoneti ticc alph alphabe abet, t, and and then then considerabl considerably y amplified amplified and accelerated accelerated by the invention of the theater. The yearly weeklong attendance to stage performances also extended to the non-literate Athenians some of the effects effects of this this metamorp metamorphosi hosis. s. Becaus Becausee this this new stance stance in relati relation on to the total total environment implied a radical change of attitudes and beliefs, it is quite probable that the metamorphosis did not strike everyone at the same time, in the same way, or to the same extent. Moreover, since this revolution revolution affected the most intimate structures of the public psychological make-up, it seems reasonable to assume that the great majority of this public underwent several crises of perception which warranted some powerful ordering principle. This is where tragedy comes in. Theater Theater initiates initiates and intensifies intensifies a crisis of perceptions perceptions in its public. This in turn finds its expression in tragedy which always always presents a conflict as its basic structure. This conflict is not primarily of a religious, moral or political nature, it is the result of the violent 10
juxta juxtapos posit ition ion of two unreconc unreconcile iled d sensor sensorial ial synthe syntheses ses.. It is the expressi expression on of the contradiction between a right and a left-hemispheric left-hemispheric predominance. It is also its its solution. The resistance opposed by Prometheus to Zeus is the basis of the tragedy of Aeschylus. There is not need to prove that. But this resistance resistance is also the nucleus nucleus of the fundamental duality. duality. In his resistance resistance Prometheus Prometheus builds his own identity identity as separate from the world and, at the same time, separates humanity from Zeus. Zeus. It is this portion of his domain taken away from his all-encompassing power that holds the sovereign god in check. Conversely Prom Promet etheu heuss is immo immobi bili lize zed, d, a punis punishm hmen entt whic which h at firs firstt does doesn n�t seem seem altoge altogethe ther r appropriate since the Titan Titan did not use force but cunning in his rebellion. rebellion. One would think that Zeus might have been wiser to make Prometheus mad, but that he cannot do because he has absolutely no control over that area of himself, Prometheus� mind, once this enclo enclosu sure re has has come come into into exis existe tenc nce. e. Ulti Ultima mate tely ly ther theree will will be, be, a long long time time hence hence,, a reconciliation between Zeus and Prometheus, that is a fruitful collaboration of the two hemis hemisphe phere ress on a new new basis basis.. All All the the late laterr tril trilogi ogies es of Aeschy Aeschylu luss are are trag traged edie iess of reconciliation. This is not so for the the drama of Sophocles or Euripides. Euripides. There are reasons for that too. Tragedy: From Prometheus to Oedipus Tragedy then arises from the need to resolve the problems generated by a state of latent collec collectiv tivee schizo schizophr phreni enia. a. Its basic basic princi principle ple of operat operation ion is quite simple: simple: traged tragedy y is a system of communication which manipulates the sensory projections of its public in order to translate translate them into meaning. meaning. These sensory sensory projections projections are what we call emotions emotions and they extend all the way down to center stage where they are picked up and processed by dancing, dancing, music, singing, singing, and speech. speech. This energy energy is fed back to the public in the shape shape of meaning. Thus tragedy is like the alphabet which inspired it, a process of fragmentation which translat translates es the senses into into meaning and throws the knower knower out of the known. This process soon develops previously inexistent critical faculties which in turn promote the activities of the left hemisphere of the brain, which in turn facilitate the subject �s access to a visual synthesis of the environment, which in turn intensifies the separation between object and subject, and so on. James Joyce said somewhere that that the mirror was the the fastest system rotating without wheels. For For the the sake sake of purel purely y lite litera rary ry studi studies es,, I have have iden identi tifi fied ed or inven invente ted d four four stage stagess of metamorphosis which can illustrate in a rudimentary way the whole spectrum of tragedy�s appeara appearance nce,, develop developmen mentt and extincti extinction. on. Each Each stage stage underl underline iness a specif specific ic patter pattern n of identity build-up. The first stage is that of singularization: a critical element is discovered in a community and expelled or destroyed. The established established order recovers its its unquestioned unquestioned domination. Such dramas tend to appear highly religious in nature n ature because religion is the most comprehensive expression of a social order in archaic societies and it lends itself well to channel nonrational rational modes of perception. perception. The anomic element element appears to be the victim victim of a terrible terrible misfortune, or some curse originating in some seemingly benign offense or mistake, a slip of attention or a moment of absence. The Original Sin or Laius� legitimate desire to have a child belong to that category. 11
Stage two is the formation of private identity: the anomic element is stronger, more durable, and it incarnates a new order which is validated by its confrontation with the establishment. It is the stage of compromise. compromise. The anomic element is granted the right to survive survive as long as it submits submits to the old regime. regime. Most of Aeschylus Aeschylus and Pierre Pierre Corneille Corneille�s plays belong to this category, Aeschylus being by far the most daring of the two. Stage three is the favourite among literary critics, it is that of crisis. crisis. It is also the high point of the metamorphosis, the moment of arrest and tenuous equilibrium before the balance tips definitely to the other side. side. At this point the conflict conflict cannot be divided into two opposing figure figures, s, it must must be seated seated within within the hero hero himsel himself. f. The need for a chorus chorus is markedly markedly lessened lessened and refined matters matters of personal psychology psychology begin to surface. surface. Madness Madness strikes everywhere, which is in keeping with the fact that the public is entering the most intense phase of schizophrenia. Sophocles, Racine and Shakespeare have all cultivated this stage. Precisely because of the intensity of the crisis, it later appears as the most aesthetically pleasing stage. The last stage is that of resolution. resolution. The basic framework and structure of the the tragic plot are undermined undermined by rational argumentati argumentation. on. The old order is ridiculed ridiculed or denied flatly, flatly, which are the only ways to deal with it since the authenticity authenticity of a perceptual perceptual synthesis synthesis can never be refuted refuted by reason. reason. Democracy Democracy and the human dimension dimension are victorious victoriously ly protected protected against against the last shreds shreds and superstitio superstitions ns of bygone rules. rules. It is the era of Euripides Euripides and Voltaire. One exception to this casual survey is Euripides� Bacchae. The exact situation of that play deserves further study and has not yet been accounted for. Theater must then be considered not only as a form of art or entertainment but as one of the main bearings of the Western experience which, in my opinion has been wholly dependent upon the invention invention of the phonetic alphabet. alphabet. If theater theater today is a dying genre, genre, it is not because it cannot face the competition with other forms of popular entertainment, it is because because radio, radio, television television and other oral media of communicati communication on are challenging challenging literacy, literacy, which supports and nourishes theater. Simultaneously we are witnessing increasing threats threats to what I call the Western experience, namely the personal use of one�s body and mind in a space which is supposed to be infinite and a time which is supposed to be irreversible. The previous hypotheses on a theory of Greek theater have attempted to establish some of the structural interrelationships between phonetic literacy, the development of theater and Western man. Article copyright � 1981 by Derrick de Kerckhove
Copyright � 2002, The McLuhan Program in Culture and Technology
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