The Expressionist Influence in Eugene O'Neill’s Plays

The main focus in this study is the unique individual reception of the Expressionism in some of Eugene O'Neill’s plays from the 1920s: "The Emperor Jones" (1920) and "The Hairy Ape" (1922). A strong source of influence is August Strindberg and his experiments at the Chamber Theater in Stockholm. This can be traced by pointing out common thematic and stylistic features in Strindberg's trilogy "The Road to Damascus" and O'Neill's "The Emperor Jones". Another major source of influence is the German Expressionist movement from the first quarter of the 20th century, especially some of the leading playwrights like Georg Kaiser and Ernst Toller. Yet another source of influence are the German Expressionistic films of R. Wiene, F. Lang and Murnau, which followed most of the principles of the avant-garde trend.

GEORGE KAISER’S WRITING IN THE RECEPTION OF YURI KLEN

The given article deals with Klen’s research of the German dramatist George Kaiser. The main parameters of artistic universe of this author are presented in the article. There are also outlined the methodological strategies of research the German dramatist’s creativity by Yuri Klen – a well-known Ukrainian literary critic. Georg Kaiser is one of the brightest representatives of theatrical and literary expressionism. His plays are the unique phenomenon in the 20th century drama. His expressionism appeared to be the special one and the global and scope of plots allowed scientists to call G. Kaiser a «new myth creator». Among world scientists, who comprehended the features of author manner of this sign artist for history of world drama, a main place belongs to the Ukrainian literary critic – Yuri Klen. In his scientific work there is the article «George Kaiser», which an author compositionally divides into seven parts. Its pre-condition is an original metaphorical lineation (vivid registration of which is adopted from astronomy), structural-semiotics assertion that every writer creation has a basic idea or favourite main image, that can be found in many writings of the author. However, in the Ukrainian literary critic’s opinion, it is not impossible to say it on the first sight about George of Kaiser because every work of this author has a new incarnate idea, new and unexpected development of a plot, new and original interpretation of that problem which has been solved in his previous works. In the article “George Kaiser” by Yuri Klen the biographic approach can be highlighted while analyzing creative works of the German dramatist. The Ukrainian literary critic also outlines the secrets of psychology of the German artist creation in expressionism manner. Expressionism drama is always drama of ideas; therefore acting persons of this drama are not individuals, but types which helps writer to lead the general action of the characters. Yuri Klen asserts transformation of images in dramas by George of Kaiser, their original reduction up to separate characters and allegories: his characters lost the outlines of people and become symbols of idea, super individual creatures, typical samples, and logic of acting can be sacrificed for the sake of the higher logic – logic of composition and dramatic construction. Few times a researcher accents on closeness an artistic world view of the German dramatist to cubism: characters mainly don’t have the names, but appear on the stage under the names: a «father», «multimillionaire», «black», «yellow» – they are structural formulas. Summarizing these the structural-semiotics searches, Yuri Klen marks once again that in George Kayiser’s works can be found: 1) central idea of man renewing which is peculiar for all his creative work; 2) leading motive of escape-chasing and 3) element of contingency which manages events, that is a case-shove which suddenly gives dynamic of action and sets fire before a man as a distant lighthouse – dream about renewal. It is also possible to assert that researches of expressionism by some authors whose creation correlates with expressionism views demonstrates complete maturity of Yuri Klen to be a serious literary critic armed by the newest methodological approaches to study literature as theoretician and practician of literature studies.

Strindberg, August (1849–1912)

August Strindberg is Sweden’s most important writer and one of the most influential dramatists of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Along with Henrik Ibsen, the Scandinavian dramatist with whom he is most often compared, Strindberg transformed modern Western theater, inspiring playwrights such as Georg Kaiser, Eugene O’Neill, Edward Albee, Sarah Kane, and Caryl Churchill as well as the film and theater director Ingmar Bergman. Strindberg’s plays span the naturalism of early European Modernism as well as Symbolism and Expressionism. His work in nondramatic genres and media includes novels, autobiography, journalism, poetry, essays, painting, and photography. Outside of Sweden Strindberg is known as a personality and a playwright who mined his own and others’ experiences for his art. The miseries of marriage are central to many of Strindberg’s plays, which underwent radical stylistic changes following a personal crisis in the mid-1890s. Strindberg’s experiments with alchemy and occultism during this period influenced his later works, which frequently represent dreams, states between life and death, and the transformability of matter. In the 21st century, Strindberg’s plays are mainstays of world drama.

Romanische Sprachgeschichte

Warum haben sich aus Latein die Sprachen Französisch, Italienisch und Spanisch entwickelt? Und wie verlief dieser Prozess? Das sind wichtige Fragen für Studenten der Romanistik und ihrer Einzelphilologien. Georg Kaiser beantwortet sie – übersichtlich und klar. Im Mittelpunkt steht die Entwicklung der romanischen Sprachen aus dem Vulgärlateinischen. Außerdem wird die Verbreitung dieser Sprachen in der ganzen Welt erklärt. Die Sprachgeschichte von Französisch, Italienisch und Spanisch wird anschaulich und fundiert erläutert. Lateinkenntnisse müssen die Leser aber nicht mitbringen.