The Birth of Unconscious from the Spirit of Tragedy

Abstract

The article analyzes the theatrical discourse of the turn of the 20th century on the example of the work of Ibsen, Maeterlinck, and Chekhov, in order to trace the formation of the concept of the "unconscious" in the literature and drama of the era, as well as the emergence of psychoanalysis as distinct from its clinical concept. Such new expressive means as dream rhetoric, repressed memories, silence as an element of dialogue, and the play of signifiers, are all investigated. Relying on the psychoanalysis of Freud and Lacan, the author demonstrates that the theatrical reform carried out by the playwrights of "the new drama" introduces the Other into the dialogue as the addressee of the utterance.