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Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Foreword by Kathleen Cioffi
- Preface
- Acknowledgments
- List of Illustrations
- Introduction
- Part I Our Auschwitz: Grotowski's Akropolis
- Chapter 1 Jerzy Grotowski: A Very Short Introduction
- Chapter 2 Native Son: Grotowski in Poland
- Chapter 3 Grotowski: The Polish Context
- Chapter 4 Grotowski, the Messiah: Coming to America
- Chapter 5 The Making of an Aura
- Chapter 6 On Not Knowing Polish
- Chapter 7 “In Poland: That is to Say, Nowhere”
- Chapter 8 Akropolis/Necropolis
- Chapter 9 The Vision and the Symbol
- Chapter 10 “This Drama as Drama Cannot Be Staged”
- Chapter 11 Two National Sacrums
- Chapter 12 “Hollow Sneering Laughter”: Mourning the Columbuses
- Chapter 13 Against Heroics
- Chapter 14 Representing the Unrepresentable
- Chapter 15 Trip to the Museum
- Chapter 16 Bearing the Unbearable
- Chapter 17 The Living and the Dead
- Chapter 18 Jacob's Burden
- Chapter 19 The Final Descent
- Chapter 20 Textual Transpositions
- Chapter 21 Akropolis After Grotowski
- Part II Our Memory: Kantor's Dead Class
- Postscript
- Appendix
- Notes
- Bibliography
- Index
Chapter 3 - Grotowski: The Polish Context
from Part I - Our Auschwitz: Grotowski's Akropolis
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Foreword by Kathleen Cioffi
- Preface
- Acknowledgments
- List of Illustrations
- Introduction
- Part I Our Auschwitz: Grotowski's Akropolis
- Chapter 1 Jerzy Grotowski: A Very Short Introduction
- Chapter 2 Native Son: Grotowski in Poland
- Chapter 3 Grotowski: The Polish Context
- Chapter 4 Grotowski, the Messiah: Coming to America
- Chapter 5 The Making of an Aura
- Chapter 6 On Not Knowing Polish
- Chapter 7 “In Poland: That is to Say, Nowhere”
- Chapter 8 Akropolis/Necropolis
- Chapter 9 The Vision and the Symbol
- Chapter 10 “This Drama as Drama Cannot Be Staged”
- Chapter 11 Two National Sacrums
- Chapter 12 “Hollow Sneering Laughter”: Mourning the Columbuses
- Chapter 13 Against Heroics
- Chapter 14 Representing the Unrepresentable
- Chapter 15 Trip to the Museum
- Chapter 16 Bearing the Unbearable
- Chapter 17 The Living and the Dead
- Chapter 18 Jacob's Burden
- Chapter 19 The Final Descent
- Chapter 20 Textual Transpositions
- Chapter 21 Akropolis After Grotowski
- Part II Our Memory: Kantor's Dead Class
- Postscript
- Appendix
- Notes
- Bibliography
- Index
Summary
In 1969, in his review of Grotowski's production, Irving Wardle quotes Polish critic Boleslaw Taborski as saying that “Grotowski's company was little prized in its own country until it won its reputation abroad, that is: from spectators who knew not a word of Polish and were dependent for understanding on non-Polish speaking converts like Raymonde Temkine and Grotowski's own statements of intention in Towards A Poor Theatre.” Contrary to what Wardle suggests, however, Grotowski's fame abroad was never the basis for his purported recognition in Poland. On the contrary, the fact that Grotowski became a guru to America's flower-power generation actually contributed to marginalization of his work and his methods in Polish theatrical circles. This contradiction may seem bizarre at first, but praise for an Eastern European artist in the West, with a corresponding loss of prestige in his native country, was not unique to Grotowski. Czesław Miłosz, the Polish poet and writer who served as cultural attache of the communist People's Republic of Poland in Paris right after World War II, and who defected and received political asylum in France, is another example of how success in the West often diminished the status of the Eastern European artist in his homeland. In 1960, Miłosz emigrated to the USA, and shortly thereafter became an American citizen. After Miłosz's defection, he was branded a traitor and his books banned by the communist government.
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- Chapter
- Information
- The Post-traumatic Theatre of Grotowski and KantorHistory and Holocaust in 'Akropolis' and 'Dead Class', pp. 62 - 72Publisher: Anthem PressPrint publication year: 2012