The state of siege

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The state of siege ( French: L'état de siège ) is a play in three parts by Albert Camus and Jean-Louis Barrault , which premiered in Paris in 1948 .

The drama came about under the influence of the German division of France in World War II . Camus shows the atrocities that tyrannical, misanthropic regimes entail, and above all identifies the bureaucracy as one of the most effective instruments of despotism .

people

  • the plague
  • the Secretary
  • Nada
  • Victoria
  • Diego
  • the judge (Victoria's father)
  • the governor
  • the alkali
  • the fisherman
  • Women and men of Cadiz

action

One day a comet in the sky throws the small Spanish city ​​of Cádiz into turmoil. A nihilistic drunk named Nada ( Spanish: nothing ) announces that something bad is about to happen. A herald proclaims that it is "the governor's order" that - under penalty of punishment - one may no longer speak about the comet. The allegorical figures plague and death , embodied by the person of the secretary, seize power in the city and establish a reign of terror. The city gates are closed, men and women separated. A gallows is set up and black stars are distributed. Almost all citizens submit to the new rulers, especially the drunkard Nada is ready to collaborate with them . Only the young doctor Diego resists. With the plague and death he negotiates the fate of the city and the fate of his love Victoria, the judge's daughter. He is offered freedom and love for himself, but he ultimately chooses the freedom of the city. For the price of his life he wins a victory. But the cowardly and corrupt governor is now seizing power again.

The location of the Spanish city of Cadiz is chosen as an example. On the one hand, the plague actually raged there in the past, on the other hand the city played an important role in the Spanish Revolution of 1823, which was put down with the Battle of Trocadero . Similar to some Republicans, the hero Diego does not give up the fight in this drama despite the sometimes hopeless situation.

reception

As Camus ironically remarks in his foreword to the German-language edition of Dramen (1959), the first performance of the play in Paris fell through with the critics entirely. A "sad" circumstance for Camus, since he "never ceased to regard the state of siege, despite all its inadequacies, as the work most like me".

expenditure

  • State of siege. Drama. Translation by Hans Helmut Hausser; Illustration by Wolfgang Znamenaček . Kurt Desch, Munich 1950 a. ö., last 1969 ISBN 3420041969 ; in it: Why did I write L'état de siège? .
  • In: Dramas , translated into German by Guido G. Meister, Rowohlt Verlag, Hamburg 1959.

filming

Radio plays

Operas

proof

  1. ^ The 1969 edition without the illustrations. - Camus briefly addresses the following in the comment: 1. The play is not an adaptation of the novel The Plague ; 2. It is a piece that combines all forms of dramatic expression: lyrical monologue, silent play, dialogue, farce, choir and collective theater; 3. He owes Jean-Louis Barrault thanks, with whom he actually wrote the piece together, but who does not want to have his name mentioned. P. 97
  2. ↑ ARD audio game database. Retrieved May 31, 2017 .