A THEORY OF THE STAGE PLAY: A CONTRIBUTION TO THE LITERARY AESTHETICS OF ROMAN INGARDEN (POLAND)

The dissertation attempts to present a theory of the stage play based on the facts and presumptions found in the works of Roman Ingarden, particularly The Literary Work of Art and The Cognition of the Literary Work of Art.;Chapter Three follows Ingarden's pattern in approaching various artistic fields; that is, it first investigates the ontological basis of the stage play; then it considers the problem of its stratification, and finally it presents a discussion of concretizations. Thus, the stage play is an intentional object, and as such it is neither ideal nor real. Furthermore, in accordance with Ingarden's views, any psychologistic conceptions of the stage play are excluded, and consequently, the experiences of the author, director, performing actors, and audience are not identified with the stage play. The objects represented in the stage play, including the stage characters portrayed by actors, are considered as objects belonging only to the represented world of the play.;The structure of the stage play is certainly similar to the structure of the literary work of art, but there are also differences between these two intentional objects, which arise from the fact that the language in the stage play is closely connected to the other means of representation, e.g., the concrete aspects such as stage scenery and actors. This discussion of the essential structural elements of the stage play is meant to provide some insight into the possibilities of less subjective studies of the stage play, as well as to show that Ingarden's model of ontological investigation is applicable to various fields of art.;An introductory section, Chapter One, describes Ingarden's position in relation to his background in Husserl's phenomenology and in contemporary literary criticism. Chapter Two is devoted to Ingarden's theory of the literary work of art. This chapter provides a theoretical and methodological basis for the ontological description of the stage play in Chapter Three, particularly the description of the stage play as a stratified formation.