Contrary to the association conventionally made between realism and material positivism, one can ... more Contrary to the association conventionally made between realism and material positivism, one can see a kind of extra-material meaning in the objects and spaces of early realist plays. I am not suggesting that realist writers like Ibsen were really symbolists; indeed, I will draw on the writings of Maurice Maeterlinck to make important distinctions between realism and symbolism. Rather, I argue that early realist props and spatial relationships embody a double significance, the sense that “theatrical signs are at the same time physically real things” (Lehmann 102). While Lehmann uses the language of the “real” to describe the physicality of objects, I prefer terms like “concrete”, since “real”, as I will discuss, carries conflicted meanings.
Contrary to the association conventionally made between realism and material positivism, one can ... more Contrary to the association conventionally made between realism and material positivism, one can see a kind of extra-material meaning in the objects and spaces of early realist plays. I am not suggesting that realist writers like Ibsen were really symbolists; indeed, I will draw on the writings of Maurice Maeterlinck to make important distinctions between realism and symbolism. Rather, I argue that early realist props and spatial relationships embody a double significance, the sense that “theatrical signs are at the same time physically real things” (Lehmann 102). While Lehmann uses the language of the “real” to describe the physicality of objects, I prefer terms like “concrete”, since “real”, as I will discuss, carries conflicted meanings.
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