The Blind
Encyclopedia
The Blind also known as The Sightless, is a play that was written in 1890
by the Belgian playwright Maurice Maeterlinck
. It is an intense one-act play, which was one of the pieces mentioned in a list of Maeterlinck’s most characteristic plays. This list was highlighted in the speech given to honour Maeterlinck with the Nobel Prize
in 1911. The play was originally written in French
later to be translated into several different languages, such as English
and German
. The piece is not only a study of human condition in general but it appears to confront its reader with the effect of hope on the latter.
Unlike most other theatrical pieces The Blind does not introduce its readers to readily shaped characters, but twelve de-personalised beings. These beings were not provided with names but titles describing their general condition, for instance the eldest blind man. This method of writing gives an audience, or theatre professional an opportunity to read between the lines and interpret the piece according to personal desire. Maeterlinck has since been considered as the founder of a new type of dramatic writing, Symbolism
. Parallels have often been drawn with Samuel Beckett
’s Waiting for Godot
, which was produced in the mid 20th century and appears to construct a similar world of waiting and hoping, which is evident in The Blind.
The Sightless, translated by Laurence Alma Tadema (1895?)
Three Pre-Surrealist Plays: The Blind, Ubu the King, the Mammaries of Tiresias translated by Maya Slater (1997)
the Richard Hovey translation
Laurence Alma Tadema translation
an adaptation of Tadema
http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/literature/laureates/1911/press.html
1890 in literature
The year 1890 in literature involved some significant new books.-Events:* Bram Stoker begins work on Dracula.*Arthur Morrison joins the staff of the Evening Globe newspaper.-New books:*Rolf Boldrewood - The Squatter's Dream...
by the Belgian playwright Maurice Maeterlinck
Maurice Maeterlinck
Maurice Polydore Marie Bernard Maeterlinck, also called Comte Maeterlinck from 1932, was a Belgian playwright, poet, and essayist who wrote in French. He was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1911. The main themes in his work are death and the meaning of life...
. It is an intense one-act play, which was one of the pieces mentioned in a list of Maeterlinck’s most characteristic plays. This list was highlighted in the speech given to honour Maeterlinck with the Nobel Prize
Nobel Prize
The Nobel Prizes are annual international awards bestowed by Scandinavian committees in recognition of cultural and scientific advances. The will of the Swedish chemist Alfred Nobel, the inventor of dynamite, established the prizes in 1895...
in 1911. The play was originally written in French
French language
French is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...
later to be translated into several different languages, such as English
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
and German
German language
German is a West Germanic language, related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. With an estimated 90 – 98 million native speakers, German is one of the world's major languages and is the most widely-spoken first language in the European Union....
. The piece is not only a study of human condition in general but it appears to confront its reader with the effect of hope on the latter.
Unlike most other theatrical pieces The Blind does not introduce its readers to readily shaped characters, but twelve de-personalised beings. These beings were not provided with names but titles describing their general condition, for instance the eldest blind man. This method of writing gives an audience, or theatre professional an opportunity to read between the lines and interpret the piece according to personal desire. Maeterlinck has since been considered as the founder of a new type of dramatic writing, Symbolism
Symbolism (arts)
Symbolism was a late nineteenth-century art movement of French, Russian and Belgian origin in poetry and other arts. In literature, the style had its beginnings with the publication Les Fleurs du mal by Charles Baudelaire...
. Parallels have often been drawn with Samuel Beckett
Samuel Beckett
Samuel Barclay Beckett was an Irish avant-garde novelist, playwright, theatre director, and poet. He wrote both in English and French. His work offers a bleak, tragicomic outlook on human nature, often coupled with black comedy and gallows humour.Beckett is widely regarded as among the most...
’s Waiting for Godot
Waiting for Godot
Waiting for Godot is an absurdist play by Samuel Beckett, in which two characters, Vladimir and Estragon, wait endlessly and in vain for someone named Godot to arrive. Godot's absence, as well as numerous other aspects of the play, have led to many different interpretations since the play's...
, which was produced in the mid 20th century and appears to construct a similar world of waiting and hoping, which is evident in The Blind.
Translations and sources
The Blind, translated by Richard Hovey (1894?)The Sightless, translated by Laurence Alma Tadema (1895?)
Three Pre-Surrealist Plays: The Blind, Ubu the King, the Mammaries of Tiresias translated by Maya Slater (1997)
the Richard Hovey translation
Laurence Alma Tadema translation
an adaptation of Tadema
http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/literature/laureates/1911/press.html