Intertexte et métathéâtre dans les pièces d’inspiration tchékhovienne de Matéi Visniec / Intertext and metatheatre in Matéi Visniec’s plays inspired by A. P. Chekhov’s dramatic works

Abstract

Beyond their psychological realism and questionable symbolism, some of A. P. Chekhov’s plays also manifest a self-referential and metadramatic/ metadramaturgical component of implicit theatrical po(i)etics. This is an aspect rather ignored by Chekhov’s critics and linked to the crisis which, according to Peter Szondi, occurs in European drama around 1880. Matéi Visniec draws attention to it and exploits it in his own creation, in plays such as “La machine Tchékhov” [The Chekhov Machine], “Nina ou De la fragilité des mouettes empaillées” [Nina or About the Fragility of Stuffed Seagulls], in close connection with the postmodern preference for intertextual and self-referential writing.

Keywords

• intertextual
• poetics
• metatheatre
• visniec
• chekhov