Author: Zhou Wei (Associate Professor at Beijing Foreign Studies University)
Joen Forser is a famous contemporary Norwegian writer, poet and dramatist . According to statistics, as of 2018, he has published 28 scripts, 14 novels, and 9 poetry collections, and has won more than 40 awards in Norway and internationally. In 2010, he won the Ibsen International Art Award and was called "New Ibsen". His literary career began in novels. In 1983, his novel "Red and Black" was published. In 1992, he completed his dramatic debut "Someone is Coming", and later gradually became famous all over the world as a playwright. His works have been translated into more than 40 languages and are frequently performed around the world. French Le Monde called him " Beckett of the 21st century". His main works include "And We Will Never Be Separated" (1994), "Someone Will Come" (1996), "Guitar Man" (1999), "A Summer Day" (1999), "Autumn Dream" (1999), "Variations of Death" (2001) and "I Am the Wind" (2007).
Fother's dramatic works are known for their concise language. The characters in his plays often do not have specific names, and are usually given by him as "man", "woman", "he", "she", "friend", etc. This naming style implies that the experiences of the characters in the play are universal. From the perspective of the creative theme, the script mostly selects moments of daily life and explores the emotional journey of the characters. The content of the works is mostly about betrayal and loneliness in intimate relationships, tense intergenerational relationships, alienated interpersonal relationships, philosophical thinking about life and death, etc. Fosser's works are closely related to reality in terms of theme, have Ibsen's humanistic sentiment and social responsibility, and have the characteristics of absurd in language, but they are also transcendent.
Joen Foser profile picture
in " Doll House " Nara Decorate Christmas Tree (1904)
Ibsen profile picture
Beckett profile picture
Drama " Waiting for Godot " Stage photo
Discussion on gender relations
A major theme of Foser's works is thinking about gender relations. With the progress of modern civilization and the development of human subjectivity, people gradually got rid of the constraints of religion and traditional morality and enjoyed equal freedom in the relationship between the two genders. In Nordic countries, women's liberation movement began earlier and women enjoy equal access to education and work. This leads to the gender relationship not based on maintaining survival, but rather emphasizes the soul fit between lovers. But does an open gender relationship mean happiness and happiness? Fosser deeply explores this motif in his works. In "Someone is Coming" (showed in 1996), Foser presents the impact of external temptations on the inherent partner relationship. In "While We Will Never Be Separated", Foser analyzes jealousy, suspicion, anxiety, collapse and despair in the relationship between the two genders. "Variations of Death" focuses on the psychological trauma caused by unfortunate gender relationships to children.
Fother often explores the complexity and fragility of the relationship between the two genders through parallel love triangles, either light or dark. In "Someone is Coming", the hero and heroine - "he" and "she" have just bought an old house and plan to settle here. They repeatedly said that they like to live alone but were unwilling to be alone, but "we are alone." This statement can be seen as the voice of contemporary people: they like independence, but they cannot tolerate loneliness; they like to live alone, but they are unwilling to be "alone". This contradictory fantasy of life is quickly defeated by reality. The original owner of the house appeared, and the male protagonist immediately felt that the relationship between the two was threatened. "Someone is coming" is a line that the heroine keeps repeating, a subtext with rich meaning. In the second half of the play, the hero keeps repeating this sentence, expressing his uneasiness and fear. In this drama, "someone" can be transformed into the original owner of the house, or refer to any external temptation, which will pose a threat to their relationship. The show reveals fragile gender intimacy.The ending of the play is the male and female protagonists sitting side by side on a bench, full of uncertainty and tension, leaving the audience with endless space for thinking.
This tension between the gender relationship is reflected in "And We Will Never Separate" as the suspicion, self-blame and self-torture of the parties involved. The heroine - "She" fell into memories while waiting for her partner. In the hallucination, she saw the young man walking towards her and the man dating the girl. Women, men and girls form a clear love triangle. The man, girl and girl’s boyfriend form another invisible love triangle relationship. In the play, the woman repeatedly emphasizes that she is "strong, great and smart", but when facing the betrayal of a man, she seems very fragile and falls into unreasonable suspicion and self-doubt.
Another masterpiece by Forser, "Variations of Death" presents the psychological trauma caused by complex gender relationships to children. When a woman and a man were young, they ran for life. After their lives stabilized, the man had an affair, and the woman had to separate from him. However, the separation of parents obviously caused fatal trauma to their daughter's heart. The daughter was unable to untie the knot and eventually committed suicide. My daughter’s friend is a symbolic character. He is both a daughter's boyfriend and a symbol of death. The old woman and the young woman appeared on the stage at the same time. The old woman kept watching the young woman and the man, as if reflecting on her life. In this drama, the audience seems to be unable to determine the identity of his daughter’s friend. Is he his daughter’s boyfriend? Is he a symbol of death? All of this seems to be determined by the audience's reflection, and the playwright does not give a clear answer in the play.
inheritance of Ibsen's drama tradition
Commentary circles often compare Forser with another Norwegian dramatist Ibsen (1828-1906). Judging from the creative theme, Fosser follows Ibsen's attention to social issues. Ibsen is known as the "father of modern drama". His early creations featured the poetic drama of romanticism , and in the middle it was known as "social problem drama", and in the late work both realism and symbolism. His most famous works are realist dramas, such as " Social Pillar " (1877), "Doll House" (1879), " Ghosts " (1881) and " Public Enemy " (1883). These works criticize current problems, reflecting his keen observation of social problems, eager expectations for social progress and a strong sense of social responsibility.
Ibsen's most famous work "Doll House" discusses the relationship between the genders in the bourgeois family. When Nora said to Helmao, "First of all, I am a person, the same person as you - at least I want to learn to be a person," Helmao was shocked and tried to persuade Nora to give up the idea with religious beliefs, family responsibilities and moral concepts. Nora flatly refused this. Her departure represents the awakening of a generation of women and impacts traditional family and gender relations.
Fother's work continues Ibsen's attention to gender relations. Due to the changes of the times, Forser weakens his attention to traditional families in his works and turns to the exploration of partner or intimacy. In his works, female characters are basically free from the secular shackles of religion, morality and mother's responsibilities, and the single traditional family model is gradually replaced by a diverse lifestyle. So in the gender relationship in the new era, are men and women happier and happier? What difficulties do they face? Forser's play raises questions to us, but does not give a clear answer. From the above works, we can see that in this intimate relationship between the two genders, there are still betrayal, suspicion, boredom and despair. The harm caused by unfortunate gender relationships to children is obvious.
Fother's works also have similarities with Ibsen's later works in the use of images. In his late creations, Ibsen often used symbolism techniques. " Lady of the Sea " (1888) There is a male character who represents the mysterious power in this drama Johnston . The heroine Ailida met him in Girls' Generation and became fascinated by the sea since then.Even after marriage, she could not forget Johnston and often stared at the depths of the sea. The character "Friend" in Forser's "Variations of Death" has similarities with Johnston. It is unstable, but it has a fatal charm. Compared with Ibsen's works, the images of Forser are richer. The recurring images in Fosser's plays, such as the sea, windows, boats, and ancient wooden houses, are all inherent landform characteristics of Norway. Fosser's attention to real problems and the use of symbolic technique has a distinctive relationship with Ibsen's critical realism drama, and it is well deserved to be called "Contemporary Ibsen" or "New Ibsen".
transcends Beckett's creative style
In terms of language application, Fother's works are different from Beckett's works. Beckett (1906-1989) is considered a representative figure of absurd dramas. He was born in Ireland and later settled in France. During the Second World War , he participated in the French resistance movement. Beckett's early creation was mainly novels, and in 1948 he created the drama "Waiting for Godot". The drama was staged in Paris in 1953 and immediately caused controversy and sensation, but was soon regarded as a milestone work by critics. Beckett's other major drama works include "End" (1957) and "Happy Days" (1961). Beckett experienced World War II, despaired about European civilization and was full of concern for the future of mankind.
In "Waiting for Godot", Beckett questioned survival. He brought two homeless men to the stage, allowing them to consume their lives in endless waiting in a quarrel that cannot be communicated. Beckett abandoned the European drama tradition that focuses on plots since Aristotle and created a "anti-drama" creative technique. In his drama, there is no "retrospective" introduction to the story background, no delicate psychological portrayal of the characters, and the plot is nonlinear. He places the characters in a dilapidated or confined space, and the dialogue between characters is mostly unlogical, and its purpose is to arouse the audience's thinking. His drama is a kind of situational drama that values situations, not a good drama that values plot.
Beckett's language has always been called "poetic minimalist ". This is strongly reflected in "End", where Beckett places the four characters in the play - Ham, Klov, Neg and Nair in a bare room. Ham is blind and quadriplegic, and sits in a wheelchair all day long; Klov repeatedly said, "It's over, it's over", expressing his desire to leave the prison-like room. Neg and Nair are an old couple living in a trash can, spending their days in quarrels and memories. Ham and Chlov use short language to slightly change the same sentences, making the boring lines with a strong poetic and musicality.
In this drama, Beckett frequently uses the stage prompt "short quiet scene". This technique has a dual purpose, one is to let the audience think about the plot instead of immersing themselves in the performance. The second is to allow the actors to separate their body movements and lines through constant pauses to avoid excessive emotional investment. Beckett opposes the "experiential" performance model that actors are too emotional and attaches importance to psychological experience. He is known for his rigorous performances, and usually requires actors to perform meticulously according to stage prompts, to be meticulously detailed in the tone and the subtle changes in the body movements. Beckett's play deliberately blurs the historical and historical background of the works and sets his own works as works of universal significance. But this approach also makes some of his works obscure and difficult to understand. The characters are a combination of abstract concepts, such as in "End", where Ham represents control and Chlov represents anti-control.
Compared with Beckett's works, Forser implements this "poetic minimalism" to the extreme. All his drama works have no punctuation throughout, and the dialogues are arranged in short lines of poetry, with concise and lifelike language. But his drama is not obscure, but is full of imagination. This is mainly due to the large amount of subtext in the work. In most of the plays, his stage presents the real scenery of Norway, with beautiful fjords, unpredictable seas, mottled old houses, etc. His room is concrete and full of life.His characters will also despair and reflect on life. This kind of thinking is a reflection on life difficulties, reflects human subjectivity and has positive significance. He also often uses stage prompts such as "quiet scene" and "short pause" in the play, but he is different from Beckett in handling "pause" and "quiet scene". The concise lines of Forser contain rich philosophy and meanings, which are what we usually call subtext. In "Someone is Coming", quiet scenes often mean a change in the character's mood. When the heroine faced the sea, "But I didn't expect / came here / this will be like this /... (She lowered her head, quiet scene) The sea is so big / I didn't expect / it will be like this / I think what I originally imagined was completely different." With a few words, plus the stage prompts of "quiet scene", the heroine's disappointed mood was vividly described. These subtexts make Foser's drama have a little color of psychological realism, leaving the audience with endless space for thinking and opportunities for second creation.
Fother's concise language and creative techniques that highlight situations are similar to Beckett's style, but they are very different in subject matter. Forser's plays are closely related to reality, while Beckett's works are full of philosophy, and some of them are obscure. Forser’s thinking about life and death is based on real-life scenarios. He often uses paradoxical lines, such as in "Someone is coming", the heroine often says "You and I are lonely two people". In "Variations of Death", the daughter says to her friend: "We are so close/so far away/each each other"; the friend goes on to say: "We are both far away from each other/each each other." This conversation vividly explains "the farthest distance in the world is the distance between you and me", and interprets the alienation and loneliness between people. These lines in the aphorism appropriately illustrate the spiritual dilemma of contemporary people and the dilemma in gender relations.
Compared with Ibsen and Beckett, Forser has richer artistic methods. He borrowed the techniques of free switching between film shots and juxtaposition of time and space, allowing two actors to play the young and old age of the same character, allowing them to appear on the stage at the same time and examine themselves as bystanders. This creative technique can allow the audience to reflect on different experiences at different stages of life. In addition, in many of Fother's works, the ending is open-ended. In "Someone is Coming", the heroine sits side by side on the bench with the man after she comes on the stage, but whether they are truly reconciled leaves the audience with questions. In "And We Will Never Be Separated", when the heroine finally faces the reality that a man falls in love with others, it is unclear what attitude she will adopt. In "Variations of Death", by the end, the audience also seems unable to determine whether the daughter's friend is a symbol of death. Forser asked the question but gave no answer.
Fuser's insight and thinking on contemporary gender relations show the author's deep humanistic care and compassion. In the process of exploring the topic of gender, Forser analyzed the dilemma of gender relations and used this to explore the relationship between gender relations and individual spiritual growth and social progress. Fosser's language is full of poetry, simple but not simple, but contains a paradoxical philosophy. In addition, he also used the creative skills of stream of consciousness monologue, free switching of time and space and juxtaposition of time and space to intertwine and intertwine. The frequent pauses and quiet scenes in the play just rightly arouse the audience's thinking. His attention to contemporary issues impacts the audience's hearts, and his exploration of gender relations gives his works the power to penetrate the hearts of the people. His reference and transcendence of the artistic means of his predecessors has made his works highly artistic charm.
"Guangming Daily" (13th edition, September 8, 2022)
Source: Guangming.com - "Guangming Daily"
