Performing Shakespeare’s Words: Textual Authority in Light of the Theory of Indeterminacy

Jacek Mydla

doi:10.18778/2083-8530.17.04

Authors

Jacek Mydla University of Silesia, Poland

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.18778/2083-8530.17.04

Keywords:

indeterminacy, concretization (textual and theatrical), spoken action, social mimesis

Abstract

On the basis of Roman Ingarden’s conceptions of indeterminacy and concretization and the notion of spoken action, Jacek Mydla constructs the idea of textual authority in Shakespeare’s drama. The text is regarded as the primary source of meaning which determines theatrical representation. When reading a play actively, the reader fills out areas of indeterminacy in an attempt to build a faithful imaginary representation of the action. The thus reconstructed social mimesis can then be transferred onto the stage. Mydla argues for the precedence of textual over theatrical concretizations of Shakespeare.

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Author Biography

Jacek Mydla, University of Silesia, Poland

Jacek Mydla is Assistant Professor of English at the Institute of English Cultures and Literatures, University of Silesia, Poland. He has published on Shakespeare (Spectres of Shakespeare (2009), The Shakespearean Tide (2012)), philosophy, the Gothic and the supernatural, and narrative theory. He is presently completing a monograph on the ghost stories of M.R. James.

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