Dissertation committee:
Δημήτρης Αγγελάτος, Καθηγητής Νεοελληνικής Φιλολογίας και Θεωρίας της Λογοτεχνίας Τμήμα Φιλολογίας, Τομέας Νεοελληνικής Φιλολογίας, EKΠΑ
Prof. Dr. Johannes Ungelenk, General and Comparative Literature, Institute for Arts and Media, University of Potsdam
Θανάσης Αγάθος, Αναπληρωτής Καθηγητής Νεοελληνικής Φιλολογίας Τμήμα Φιλολογίας, Τομέας Νεοελληνικής Φιλολογίας, ΕΚΠΑ
Πέγκυ Καρπούζου, Αναπληρώτρια Καθηγήτρια Θεωρία της Λογοτεχνίας, Τμήμα Φιλολογίας, Τομέας Νεοελληνικής Φιλολογίας, ΕΚΠΑ
Prof. Dr. Andreas Köstler, History of Art, Institute for Arts and Media, University of Potsdam
Prof. Dr. Heiko Christians, Media culture history, Institute for Arts and Media, University of Potsdam
Prof. Dr. Dirk Wiemann, English literature, Department of English and American Studies, University of Potsdam
Summary:
The research field of this dissertation is intermediality. It is primarily focused on examples of the convergence between text and image, and specifically the subcategory known as staged intermediality, a descriptive term which, although present in some related studies, has not yet been systematically explored. Staged intermediality involves intermedial phenomena in which two different media come into contact and constitute a singular unified medium. In those phenomena only one medium is visible, which imitates and stages another one on its medial plateau. However, this visibility does not imply dominance of the visible medium over the invisible one. The role of the foreign medium, situated within a single medial body, is not parasitic but complementary, defining a relationship of coexistence and symbiosis. The intermedial boundaries in the phenomenon of staged intermediality are not clear, since the entanglement between text and image is invisible. The medium that stages another one and the one being itself staged function as multiplicities, converging on the medial plateau and shaping a rhizomatic structure. Consequently, the medium constitutes an open field of possibilities and tensions, where medial convergences adhere to the logic of “as if”. A literary figure, for instance, displays itself as if it was an image, or a visual detail begins to narrate, in the way words do, or even falls silent. The respective medium takes on the role of the mime, while the object of the imitation is the modes of representation, which initially belong to the foreign medium. Therefore, the aim of this thesis is to shape an approach to such examples of staged intermediality. In this context three exemplary aesthetic categories –artsemblance (a new term introduced in this thesis), Stimmung and negation– will be redefined to function as both methodological tools and interpretive keys for the analysis and interpretation of such instances. The specificity of this research lies in the character of its genre, as the dissertation takes the form of a theatrical play, a drama, following the pyramid-like structure proposed by Gustav Freytag in his work Technique of the Drama (Die Technik des Dramas, 1863). The work is structured by five acts: exposition (beginning of the action), situation (rising action), peripeteia (climax), falling action, and exodus (destruction/resolution). The media of literature and painting form the chorus of the drama, coordinating motion and voice to narrate the fate of the central characters. It is precisely this coordination that enables intermediality. Central heroes of the drama are the three aesthetic categories, serving as levers to mobilize the plot and open up new routes for intermedial mapping. The choice of staging this work as a theatrical play is connected to a specific goal: it constitutes a methodological proposal and a strategic escape from the labyrinthine epistemological nature that normally accompanies intermediality.
