The Absurdity Of The "other" Perspective

Eugène Ionesco’s theatre has written a page of glory for the French theatre in the1950s and1960s, and then exerts an important influence on the world. Its reception inChina has witnessed several periods marked by different characteristics since the1960s.This thesis involves researching the reception of Eugène Ionesco’s theatre in Chinafrom three principal forms of the literature reception, to wit the critique, the staging,the Chinese dramatic creation on text and stage under his influence. Eugène Ionesco’stheatre is perceived in China above all else in the general notion of ‘the other’, inother words, in heterogeneous culture’s reception, which is accompanied throughoutall the process by the construction of the self’s cultural identity. So the research isbegun from a recurring reflection in the reception of ‘the other’ and the constitution of‘the self’.The Chinese traditional conception of ‘the other’ and the alterity constructed inmodern times influence always the perception of heterogeneous cultures, while herevolution since the foundation of People’s Republic of China has a profound effect onreception of occidental art and literature, it reflects at the same time thetransformation of cultural and psychological structure and the transition of Chinesesociety. The signification of ‘the other’ from bourgeois art in the1960s to westernmodern thought in the1980s is always contrary to ‘the self’. Under thisself-centeredness, his value is denied in the years of ideological confrontation,whereas approved in the atmosphere of ‘learning from the Occident’ in the New Era(epoch after Mao). Nevertheless the occidental modernism is received as an organicwhole so much that its intrinsic contradiction and divergence are neglected. Theempathy of the absurd’s sentiment with ‘the other’ is engendered only when thehuman self is reawakened in Chinese contemporary cultural conscience.From critique of capitalist decadence to consecration of classic, the literalinterpretation of Eugène Ionesco’s theatre passed by the process of rejection, refusal,distinction and identification of ‘the other’. Due to an incomplete lecture, it is focusedon several key words and sphere preconceived like ‘school’ of occidental theatre ofthe absurd; although Eugène Ionesco’s political conscience aspect remains still a‘blind point’.The critique considerably influenced the scenic realisation of Eugène Ionesco’stheatre in China, in which the ‘absurd’ became also an unavoidable term. This practiceexperienced two condensed periods:‘collective experimentation’ in academies in the end of1980s and the beginning of the1990s, and ‘assured boarding’ to the nationaltheatre and other theatres in the beginning of the new century. No matter in thecountry’s restoration after the disastrous years of the Grand Cultural Revolution or inthe context of the globalization, these creations which are not numerous conveyalready the will to construct the Chinese own cultural identity. Compared with theinitiative French creation and other French representative staging, they revealparticularities of ‘sinicization’ by practicing methods such as ‘dissolve the absurd’ oradd Chinese elements, and so on.As for the creation dramatic on text and stage, it wobbles between two poles whichare borrowing from ‘the other’ and return to ‘the self’ since the New Era under theinspiration of occidental modern art and literature. The appearance of the Chinesetheatre of the absurd seems to attain the equilibrium. Instead of referring to the wholeoccidental theatre of the absurd, but to Eugène Ionesco’s theatre, this theatredemonstrates similar characteristics.The reception of Eugène Ionesco’s theatre, a specific case of reception of the other’sculture, retraces in reality the way of the cultural identity’s re-establishment incontemporary China, which is far from being terminated, and in which EugèneIonesco’s esprit of the absurd would be indispensable to today’s Chinese society.