واتسلاو

by Sławomir Mrożek, داود دانشور (Translator)

واتسلاو (۱۹۷۰) از نظر اهمیت و اعتبار هم‌ردیف شاهکاری چون تانگو قرار می‌گیرد. در واتسلاو، مروژک تاریخ را تراژدی- کمدی در نظر می‌گیرد؛ تصویر فشرده و شاعرانه‌ای که اکنون به همه‌ی جهانیان تعلق دارد و نه صرفا به لهستان. در عین حال در این نمایش‌نامه‌ی مروژک برای اولین‌بار به موضوع مهاجرت و تبعید می‌پردازد.

Genres: Plays, Poland

166 pages, Paperback

First published February 10, 1972

About the author

Sławomir Mrożek (born June 29, 1930, died August 15, 2013) was a Polish dramatist and writer.

Mrożek joined the Polish United Workers' Party during the reign of Stalinism in the People's Republic of Poland, and made a living as a political journalist.

In the late 1950s Mrożek begun writing plays. His first play, "Policja" (The Police), was published in 1958. Mrożek emigrated to France in 1963 and then further to Mexico. He traveled in France, England, Italy, Yugoslavia and other European countries. In 1996 he returned to Poland and settled in Kraków.

His first full-length play "Tango" (1964) – a family saga – is still along with "The Emigrants" (a bitter and ironic portrait of two Polish emigrants in Paris) his best-known work, and continue to be performed throughout the world. Director Andrzej Wajda made a theatre production of "The Emigrants" in 1975 at the Teatr Stary in Kraków. In 2006 Mrożek released his autobiography called "Baltazar".

Mrożek's works belong to the genre of Theatre of the Absurd, intended to shock the audience with non-realistic elements, political and historic references, distortion and parody.

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Controversy

An illustration by Daniel Mróz for Mrożek's book „Słoń” ('The Elephant'), 1957

In 1953, during the reign of Stalinism in Poland, Mrożek was one of several signatories of an open letter to Polish authorities participating in defamation of Catholic priests from Kraków, three of whom were condemned to death (but never executed) by the communist government after being groundlessly accused of treason.

Reviews

[Dream.M · Rating 4 out of 5]

این نمایشنامه رو به شدت دوست داشتم ، بعد مدتها میتونم بگم یک نمایشنامه نمادین، تمیز، امروزی و چیزی که مطابق سلیقه ام باشه رو خوندم. لحن تند و تلخ و طنزش رو با آثار مک دونا مقایسه میکنم تا یجوری معیار علاقه تعیین کرده باشم.
اگر کسی این نمایشنامه رو خوند، پیشنهاد میکنم مقاله انتهای کتاب رو هم بخونه چون خیلی جامع و کامل درباره مورژک و این نمایشنامه توضیح داده شده.
....
ریویوو این کتاب هم حاصل همخوانی با سعید بود♡

[Melika Gohari · Rating 4 out of 5]

احساس میکنم خیلی وقت بود که یه نمایشنامه اینقدر بهم نچسبیده بود. کلی خندیدم و کلی ذهنم درگیر شد. واقعا کیف کردم.

[Shakiba · Rating 5 out of 5]

نمایشنامه‌ی بسیار زیبایی بود. مروژک در همه‌ی نمایشنامه‌هاش خالقِ دنیای تمثیلی و به شدت سیاسیِ خاص خودش هست و ازین نظر میشه گفت نمایشنامه نویسیه که صدا و امضای خاص خودش رو داره. مقاله‌ی پایانی کتاب هم مقاله‌ی خوبی بود.
از متن کتاب:

واتسلاو: تو تجربه نداری. یادم است زمانی حتی مرده‌ها هم می‌ترسیدند، چون نمی‌دانستند که مرده‌اند یا هنوز زنده‌اند. پدرم با ترس من را به وجود آورد. مادرم با ترس‌ولرز من را زایید. لحظه‌ای که متولد شدم، قیل و قال کردم برگردم به شکم مادرم، چنگ انداختم و خواستم بگذارد برگردم تو. اما او نمی‌خواست من را برگرداند، چون پناه دادن به گناهکاران مجازاتِ سختی داشت. وقتی کوچک بودم، گاهی به جای پستان مادرم شمشیر دستم می‌دادند و بعد وقتی مادرم پستانش را به دهان من می‌گذاشت می‌ترسیدم، فکر می‌کردم شمشیر است. آن‌ها من را به مدرسه فرستادند و من با درجه‌ی دکترای ترس فارغ‌التحصیل شدم. و حالا یک نصیحت به تو می‌کنم. بترس پسرک، بترس.

صفحه‌ی ۳۶ و ۳۷

[shauna · Rating 2 out of 5]

Satirical, in a way where you can't quite determine what it's criticizing. Closest similarity would be the Broadway Shrek, if it was R-rated and the writer of the screenplay was drunk. Not unenjoyable to read, though.

[Stephen Rowland · Rating 5 out of 5]

Out of the 10 Mrożek plays I've read, this is the best.

[ریچارد · Rating 1 out of 5]

دو سه صفحه اولش جالب بود، طوری که با خودم گفتم شاید اشتباه می کردم این همه وقت که انقدر نمایشنامه‌ نخواندم

[Jason · Rating 3 out of 5]

From what i can tell, this is about a man shipwrecked on an island of aristocrats. He is found by a rich couple who take him to be an aristocrat as well, so they don't want to give him work. So even though he is in social standing, he has nothing to eat. He implores them to let him work, but they won't. So, he assures them he is an animal, but they already have so many animals.... Finally, he convinces them he's a bear (and they don't have any bears), so they take him on. He joins the legion of other men who have had to take up the identity of animals; for instance, a quail and a sassafras. Because he's a bear and higher on the animal hierarchy, by default, he is made the boss of these other animals. These characters have an existential argument about social equilibrium:

Quail: my foot hurts.
Vatzlav: Who cares?
Quail: Don't say that, boss. If all men are equal, my foot's as good as yours.
Sassafras: You've got to be nice to us because we're "the people."
Vatzlav: What makes you so smart all of a sudden?
Sassafras: It was in the paper.

Alongside this, a character named The Genius invents justice in the guise of a female named Justine to be raped by Reason as a secret sideshow attraction. Meanwhile, the son of the adopting aristocratic couple (Bobbie) exposes them as a bunch of vampires bleeding the (voluntary) town dry. The town is being invaded by a power-seeking general whose barbaric inventiveness comes from his need to depose the proletariat from any power, raping the powerless in the name of the martyred mummified Genius' pointed finger (I forget who killed Genius, or if he killed himself). And on top of all this, blind uncle Oedipus spins around his yarns of morality:

Oedipus: the law is the law. Because i had eyes and I acted like a blind man, I was made blind. Now i'm the guardian of the law.
Bobbie: what's the good of the law?
Oedipus: to safeguard morality.
Bobbie: what's the good of morality?
Oedipus: Our morality is the basis of our civilization.
Bobbie: But supposing it were the other way around. Suppose our civilization is the basis of our morality.
Oedipus: our morality would be a necessity, hence all the more justified.
Bobbie: Then it's moral for my father to drink the blood of the people in broad daylight. If that's morality, the civilization it's based on should rot. No, the morality such a civilization is based on should rot. Or, damn it, let them both rot.
Oedipus: What's that you're saying, madam...Is that your voice?
Bobbie: no, it's mine.
Oedipus: Oh. Then it's a voice that resembles another as a mother's voice resembles a child's.
Bobbie: Tell me how you sinned.
Oedipus: I killed my father and committed incest with my mother.
Bobbie: Good for you.

The idea of this play is to clusterfuck symbols of the powerless man, our savage animal nature, the socialist struggle and banality all into one tight little pinata that bursts at the seam with every hit. It is madness, pure madness. Although, i've seen it better (e.g. see my review of Titus Andronicus by Shakespeare),

General Barbaro (to the Soldiers): Boy, take care of this senior citizen. Teach him the realities of life...Let's go boys, I want to see teamwork!
Oedipus: What does this mean?
General Barbaro: It means they're going to screw you.
Oedipus: I am Oedipus Rex!
General Barbaro: We don't care if you're Santa Claus. With God's help we've fucked better people than you. Haven't we, boys?
Soldiers: Hooray!
General Barbaro: See? Don't worry. They'll fix you up.
Oedipus: Violate me? Me? An old man?
General Barbaro: That's the way it is, chum.
Oedipus: Will the heavens not take pity? Will the sun not go out and darkness fall upon the earth?....Between you and me, what pleasure...
General Barbaro: Who said anything about pleasure? Take a look at yourself. We're doing it for the glory of the flag and to demonstrate our virility which shrinks from nothing, not even from you. We fear no sacrifice. So you were a king? An exemplar? A VIP? Good. I'm glad you're not some poor bastard. A venerable patriarch? That's perfect. Today my soldiers are going to screw you. A hero of art and culture? They'll screw the culture and art out of you. A guardian of the law? the conscience of mankind? A good stiff cock up your ass will knock that out of you. Show you who's running things around here. We'll screw you with tears in our eyes, but we'll screw you. Right, boys?
Soldiers: Hooray!

[Ali Ashouri]

واتسلاو از آن نمایشنامه‌هایی است که دوست دارم اجرای آن را ببینم! اگر روزی، جایی دیدید که دارند نمایشی بر اساس آن اجرا می‌کنند، بروید و ببینید. مرا هم خبر کنید. می‌ارزد.
اسلاومیر مروژک داستان برده‌ای را می‌گوید که بر اثر حادثه‌ای آزاد می‌شود و با شخصیت‌هایی برخورد می‌کند و ادامهٔ ماجرا...
نویسنده می‌خواهد به نقد سیاست بپردازد و داستانش را آمیخته به طنز می‌کند تا خواندنی شود. اگر بخواهیم به کاوش در تئاتر لهستان بپردازیم، این نوع نمایشنامه‌ها را زیاد خواهیم دید. وقتی که پای نقد سیاست و جامعه وسط بیاید، این نگرانی وجود دارد که داستان شعارزده و سطحی از آب در بیاید. مرژوک نمایشنامه‌ای را نوشته که در حد وسط است؛ نه آن‌قدر خوب و نه آن‌قدر بد. نمایشنامه‌ای که می‌توانم دوستش داشته باشم.