"Narrative Foiled in Bergman's "The Seventh Seal

In spite of the long strides narrative theory has taken in the past twenty-five years, for the most part it has advanced without casting so much as a backwards glance at its straggling companion, theory of the drama. But unlike contemporary theory, early literary theory often defined or characterized narrative in opposition to drama. G&rard Genette, who has sketched the early history of the opposition in Frontibres du recit,1 points out that of the two manners of poetic imitation (mimesis), narrative (diegesis) and dramatic representation, Aristotle preferred the latter because it is a stronger and more direct mode of imitation. Plato elevated narrative over drama, but for the same reason: narrative is less directly imitative and therefore less illusionistic than drama, less given to impersonation and deception.2 Unlike recent theory, many narratives of the past two hundred years do themselves glance, whether querulously, critically, admiringly, condescendingly, or nostalgically, in the direction of drama. For instance, novels often express nostalgia for the cultural conditions from which the theatre emerges, which are very different from those in which the novel and the film have thrived. In the more than two centuries in which the novel has eclipsed drama, narratives have often used drama as their foil, to help them understand the theoretical presuppositions behind their own activity. One such narrative is Ingmar Bergman's The Seventh Seal. Narrative is the ghost the knight has been pursuing during the long years of the Crusade and still pursues through his plague-ridden homeland. The primitive theatre of Jof, Mia, and Skat serves as a foil for both the knight's and film's narrative projects, as a means of clarifying the underlying premises and goals of and obstacles to narrative. This contrast has important ramifications for the film's understanding of itself, since film has roots in and allegiances with both theatre and the novel. Bergman's own work for the theatre throughout his career as a filmmaker is well known. We might regard his film - which is based upon a play - as an essay exploring many of the essential differences between the two mediums in which its author

Art · Literature · Narrative · Seal (emblem · Visual arts · Kierkegaardian Philosophy and Influence · Literature and Cultural Memory · Poetry Analysis and Criticism

• Capítulo 3. Visiones románticas tardías de Europa

  Open Access•Ruth Gutiérrez Delgado•Espejo de Monografías de…•2022

  Add to list

• Board Games in Ancient Fiction

  Open Access•Ioannis M Konstantakos•Board Game Studies Journal•2022

  Add to list