The Play in the Sky of the Mind: Dialogue, ‘the Tchekov method’, and Between the Acts
‘The Play in the Sky of the Mind: Dialogue, ‘the Tchekov method’, and Between the Acts’ explores the way Woolf’s last novel develops and deepens a Chekhovian poetics of dialogue that first emerges in Jacob’s Room (1922). Woolf theorizes this poetics in a 1927 essay that poses Hemingway’s short stori...
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| Udgivet i: | URI:https://journals.openedition.org/ebc, |
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| Hovedforfatter: | |
| Format: | Article ou chapitre numérique |
| Sprog: | Anglais |
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Études britanniques contemporaines
2024
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| Online adgang: | Accès Université d'Orléans et IFPM Accès Université d'Orléans et IFPM |
| Summary: | ‘The Play in the Sky of the Mind: Dialogue, ‘the Tchekov method’, and Between the Acts’ explores the way Woolf’s last novel develops and deepens a Chekhovian poetics of dialogue that first emerges in Jacob’s Room (1922). Woolf theorizes this poetics in a 1927 essay that poses Hemingway’s short stories in light of the French and Russian masters: Chekhov, Merimee, Maupassant. There she describes ‘the Tchekov method’ in stories that ‘move slowly out of sight like clouds in the summer air, leaving a wake of meaning in our minds which gradually fades away’. Between the Acts uses this same metaphor for La Trobe’s experimental pageant on the eve of World War II as it weaves a greater music from the spectators’ voiced and unvoiced dialogue before, during, and between the acts and that of the actors onstage. This paper analyzes Woolf’s use of ‘the Tchekov method’ to capture a music beyond the reach of sound and considers its resonances for the future of a world at war. |
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