论契诃夫戏剧艺术的秘密

On the Secret of Chekhov’s Art in Play Writing

契诃夫研究界普遍承认契诃夫创造了戏剧的“新形式”。但“新形式”的本质与形态长久以来未能得到清楚的说明。其实,契诃夫戏剧的“新形式”的实质就是“写状态”。自亚里士多德以来,写行动(以至写冲突),是主导戏剧创作的概念。这意味着戏剧呈现为一个有严密因果链条的故事,“写状态”却意味着戏剧可以是一种生活状态的平面展现。“写状态”在戏剧史上有迹可寻,其理论可以追溯到梅特林克的《日常生活中的悲剧》一文,而荒诞派戏剧则提供了最完备充分的实践例证。“新形式”在契诃夫戏剧中经历了发展的过程,其丰富的样态可以归结为四个特点:(创作的基础概念)写状态、(场景)日常化、(描写手法)小说化、(笔触)精准化。

Although scholars of Chekhov studies generally recognize that he creates a “new form” of play, its essence and form have not yet been clearly explained for a long time. The secret of Chekhov’s plays is “depicting states”. Ever since Aristotle, depicting actions(and thus depicting conflicts) has been dominant inplay creation, which means that the play is presented as a story with a complete chain of cause and effect. However, “depicting states” means that the play can be a plain display of a state of life. Theoretically, “depicting states”can be traced back to Maeterlinck’s essay “Tragedy in Daily Life”, and the theatre of the absurd provides it with the most complete and sufficient practical examples. The “new form” has experienced development in Chekhov’s play writing, and its rich patterns can be summarized with four characteristics: depicting states(as the basic concept of creation), routinization(of scenes), fictionalization(of depicting techniques), and precision(of depiction).