Shapoval Mariana

Faction biodrama in Peter Shaffer’s dramatic works of literature

Section: Theory and methodology of modern biography

Abstract: The purpose of the publication is to investigate the tendency of blurring the documentary foundations of contemporary dramatic reconstructions of famous people’s biographies using examples from the work of a well-known British playwright and screenwriter Peter Shaffer. The novelty of the research lies in the fact that for the first time biographical drama in general and Peter Shafer’s work, in particular, are considered in the context of the a noticeable increasing popularity of faction genres in contemporary literature, art, and the media space. The general methods to conduct research were observation, analysis, synthesis, selection, and systematization of material. In addition, comparative historical, comparative-typological, intertextual, intermedial, mytho-critical, and biographical methodological approaches were used. Conclusions. Contemporary drama represents the biography of a famous figure and its contexts mainly in the form of "fаctions", as the intermedia polygenre formation, characterized by a hybrid mixing of fact and fiction, information and emotion, has recently begun to be called. This way of conveying the biography of a historical person to the recipient does not so much inform him as it shapes him, because turning into a work of art, a historical-biographical fact becomes overgrown with gossip, legends and stereotypes, and thus acquires a great emotional charge and symbolic meaning. The basic plot lines in Shaffer’s works are often the conflict of male characters, their confrontation, and competition, which is conveyed by the concept of "path to glory", the confrontation of twins, the motif of the "prodigal son", the motif of Cain and Abel, the theme of rebellion against parental control, etc. In the play "Amadeus", P. Shaffer showed himself to be a master of dramaturgical narrative; he was able to convey the story through action, resorting to the figure of the narrator character, auxiliary conditional characters, the introduction of an additional chronotope, skillful construction of the plot, the inclusion of symbolic images and traditional motifs in the text fabric. The intermedial citation of the musical texts of W. A. Mozart himself complements the factual base and makes it possible to make the play/film more realistic and authoritative, which will stimulate the process of identifying the recipients and their consolidation as a separate social group.

Keywords: fiction, biographical fiction, contemporary drama, intermediality, Peter Shaffer, faction, faction drama, narrative.

  Full-text PDF    https://doi.org/10.15407/ub.23.078     Citation

• Shapoval Mariana (National University of Kyiv Taras Shevchenko, Ukraine, Kyiv, [email protected]) ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6814-2644

Cite:
Shapoval Mariana (2022). Faction biodrama in Peter Shaffer’s dramatic works of literature. Biographistica Ukrainica, (23) 78-99. (In Ukrainan). https://doi.org/10.15407/ub.23.078

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