Elfriede Jelinek dal teatro postmoderno alla post-drammaturgia

This paper treats the evolution of the theatrical work of Elfriede Jelinek, from its early postmodern traits to its later post-dramatic tendency. Typical postmodern methods like intertextuality and deconstruction play an important role even in Jelinek’s late work. Though written for the theatre, these works look like narrative prose and wholly abolish dramatic figures and actions. For this reason, scholars speak in this instance of a “postdramatic drama”. However, these Textflächen (textual panels), as Jelinek calls them, carry a musical flow of voices and counter-voices in which the actual protagonist is language: Jelinek’s distinctive language, a melting pot of intertextual and intermedial quotations. Renowned stage directors have undertaken to unfold Jeklinek’s panels by extrapolating their dramatic substance, and isolating dramatic dialogues and action. Thus the director becomes a co-author.