Le dieu du carnage Andrea Jonsson
Contents
1. Manceuvre Une manceuvre qui intervient a quinze jours de la reddition des comptes etc Une tude entre guillemets Tu mets tude entre guillemets Tu n as qu a me citer Il sagit dune lamentable tentative de manipulation du cours du cours et de d stabilisation de mon client affirme maitre Reille avocat de la soci t Verenz Pharma A F P Reuter presse g n raliste press e sp cialis e tutti frutti raccroche 15 Alain s phone conversation punctuates the stage dialogue throughout the play Though he is not physically producing a written text his attention to how the words will be printed from speechmarks to his own signature are essential parts of the writing process It is both realistic and symbolic that the journal that published the study is Les Echos emphasizing the way language works in the play Writing becomes rewriting echoing the replacement and substitutions of words The echo becomes the bridge between spoken and written language and both contain an affective resonance that echoes the original shock just as arm cannot be entirely replaced by muni As arm echoes throughout the dialogue both the written and spoken word contain a resonance of the words that are replaced Communication in Carnage succeeds through a complex styling of the draft process creating a particular signature for each character that makes use of precision omission manipulation and reflection Stylized l2. Au centre une table basse couverte de livres d art At first the books are used as an icebreaker though the language they elicit from the women comes out in one word spurts Trying to make conversation while her husband talks rudely on the phone Annette leafs through the books Annette J adore Bacon aussi Cincinnati Romance Review 39 Fall 2015 58 73 REWRITING CONFLICT IN YASMINA REZA S LE DIEU DU CARNAGE 67 V ronique Ah oui Bacon Annette tournant les pages Cruaut et splendeur V ronique Chaos Equilibre Annette Oui 35 The books elicit unfinished thoughts ejections of clich d one word commentary The images in the art books and the words they elicit mirror the building tension in the room and the breakdown of civility The four adults are positioned around the table and Annette s nervous nausea eventually builds through the scene until she cannot control it anymore When she vomits it comes out as a violent projectile all over the books on the coffee table Annette vomit violemment Une gerbe brutale et catastrophique qu Alain re oit pour partie Les livres d art sur la table basse sont galement clabouss s 53 The words in the stage directions repeat the women s interpretive lexicon as though their conversation had continued brutale catastrophique 53 Though V ronique pretends to be sympathetic to Annette feeling sick she is mostly horror struck at the state of her vom
3. meditated intention in Ferdinand s act of brutality hard to swallow Just as the collision of the stick to the mouth causes lasting pain in Bruno V ronique s chosen word irreparably imperils potential civility in the relationship between the two families Giguere identifies the discussion around the word arm as the moment Reza inserts a tiny rupture in the fabric of the play stating that it is here the breach emerges as a seedling as the audience witnesses the first failure of language 125 However the focus on how the action is recreated in the written narrative demonstrates V ronique s desire to trigger a feeling of guilt and in that she is successful The word choice does indicate a breach in civility but not in language Giguere s suggestion that the audience be asked to reevaluate the relationship between language and truth is secondary to Reza drawing attention to how an event can be experienced differently through the rewriting process stressing style word choice substitution and omission Continually returning to her written version of the instigating event V ronique is more concerned with the perlocutionary effect produced by the document and wants the Reille to feel badly about their son s action more than she wants to simply record the event Even when she is not physically writing her choice of words leaves its mark in the discourse of the play In the same way she chose arm in her statement she
4. r alise r with a combative force In emphasizing the draft of writing Reza is showing how the written word contains a performative ephemerality that imitates the potential shock and cruelty of the performed utterance yet causes a lasting resonance by remaining written into the play s discourse In contrast to spontaneous improvisation the notion of the draft requires reflection oftentimes providing a filter for the choice of words or unveiling the cruelty resonant in each choice Each word in the written draft remains easily changed or rewritten and follows the rhythm and cadence of the improvised spoken word yet once shared the words themselves cannot disappear causing them to be fixed into the play s discourse in a way that imitates print Though V ronique is presented as wanting to solve the world s problems she is also attached to the production and transmission of the textual products as a bookseller The opening stage directions make direct reference to the functionality of the books as props that parallels Michel s profession selling s errures poign es de porte cuivre a souder et des articles de m nage casseroles po les 20 Words become highlighted in their materiality through the Houlli s professions emphasized by the stage props in their living room Reza writes Un salon Pas de r alisme Pas d l ments inutiles T The reader immediately knows that the objects on the table serve a purpose
5. s words adding power to her statements Though he is apathetic and Cincinnati Romance Review 39 Fall 2015 58 73 68 ANDREA JONSSON ridiculous he is allied with his wife in the materiality of language and they work together to rectify the damage in way that is impossible when trying to pacify the Reille Michel Lisse bien lisse bien Tourne la page Tends la tends la bien 62 For both V ronique and Michel the books value is representational directly related to an affective memory In contrast to mass produced books these are more like works of art or spoken words irreplaceable and irreproducible The pages are compared to physical money as manipulable as bills ou repasser comme avec les billets 57 Annette who is a conseill re en gestion de patrimoine 18 is an expert in manipulating and securing fortunes however she is unable to understand the value V ronique places in these coffee table books Instead of containing text they are filled with images playing with the expression une image vaut mieux qu un longue discours and the rapport between interpretation social status and aesthetic taste Throughout the play words contain different values as displayed in how the four characters choose to rewrite the playground fight not in how they try to resolve it The coffee table books serve as a reminder that language is effective in the play because of the value singular words are given to those s
6. g ret s att nue au profit dune impression de profondeur et de clairvoyance 12 Reza s theatrical oeuvre therefore has drawn attention to a self referential textuality that mirrors the playwright s own relationship to language Recently Amanda Giguere has approached the analysis of Reza s oeuvre from a more theatrical standpoint as a response to the literary criticism Reza s plays have produced Giguere defines the device that unifies Reza s oeuvre as the breach and produces a study that treats each play as a different example of the rupture of expectations Though her analysis is thorough and effective Giguere s focus on the production of language as a theatrical device and not a literary device in Le dieu du carnage can be enhanced by looking at the emphasis on the writing process that structures orality action and conflict and serves as a paradigm for the relationship between playwright and play In this article I focus on the leitmotiv of the draft as a counterpoint to Giguere s breach to demonstrate that the point of convergence between the emphasis on the written word and dialogic conflict provides a condensed mode d emploi for reading how Reza s performative style has evolved to unveil the play between textuality and orality inherent in theatrical writing The definition of performative originates from J L Austin s 1962 How To Do Things with Words in which he writes that linguistic acts do not simply refl
7. s other plays I argue that in Le dieu du carnage analyzing language through the breach is incomplete because writing succeeds where the spoken word has fallen short and that the confrontational tone and dramatic tension throughout the play hinge on more than misunderstandings of speech While the original conflict remains unresolved language in Le diew du Carnage does not produce a failure in communication but is remarkably successful at igniting new conflict and singular words are reiterated to become successful self referential objects of escalating provocations and retaliations The characters read aloud dictate journalistic drafts manipulate and rewrite each other s speech so that in Le dieu du carnage the spoken word is uniquely built to highlight its successful counterpart in writing Writing and rewriting in this play distinguishes itself from speech through the leitmotiv of the draft I define the draft in Le dieu du carnage in three distinct but overlapping ways all with a focus on the process or document of writing within the play First the draft is an unfinished document that shows various stages of the writing process by overlapping omissions rewrites and substitutions Secondly the draft is a body of words conscripted and stylized to be used as weapons in verbal combat Finally the draft is a transaction a communicative proof of signature or bill of exchange Reza emphasizes writing in order to both charge the writte
8. Alain s speech containing the origins of the title of the play is broken into its nuts and bolts its meaning lost on the pettiness of how Alain pronounces the names of the weapons In an example of Ubersfeld s recognition of Reza s quasi monologue Alain speaks at length to his silent audience Alain V ronique moi je crois au dieu du carnage C est le seul qui gouverne sans partage depuis la nuit des temps Vous vous int ressez a Afrique n est ce pas Il se trouve que je reviens du Congo voyez vous La bas des gosses sont entrain s a tuer a Page de huit ans Dans leur vie d enfant ils peuvent tuer des centaines de gens a la machette au twelve au kalachnikov au grenade launcher alors comprenez que lorsque mon fils casse une dent m me deux un camarade avec une tige de bambou square de l Aspirant Dunant je sois moins dispos que vous a leffroi et a indignation V ronique Vous avez tort Annette accentuant l accent anglais Grenade launcher Alain Oui Cest comme a que a s appelle 98 99 In immediately picking apart his speech and ridiculing his pronunciation Annette counteracts Alain s eloquence but proves his belief in the god of carnage Cincinnati Romance Review 39 Fall 2015 58 73 72 ANDREA JONSSON Despite their disagreement Annette and Alain both realize that weapons and words are interchangeable and they become unified in their use of them In conclusion throughout the
9. in contemporary French theatre Seen explicitly in this play Reza s readability and accessibility thus become qualified through Cincinnati Romance Review 39 Fall 2015 58 73 REWRITING CONFLICT IN YASMINA REZA S LE DIEU DU CARNAGE 73 an engagement with textual agency extending the reception of her plays to include a legitimate literary component that also enhances the stage performance WORKS CITED Austin J L How to do Things with Words The William James Lectures delivered at Harvard University in 1955 Ed J O Urmson Oxford Clarendon 1962 Web Barbedette Sarah Yasmina Reza La cl ou absence de cl des choses L Esprit Cr ateur 47 2 2007 60 70 Print Bouchetard Alice Yasmina Reza le miroir et le masque Paris L o Scheer 2011 Print El Gharbi Salah Yasmina Reza ou le th dtre des paradoxes Paris L Harmattan 2010 Print Giguere Amanda The God of Carnage and the Failure of Language 2006 2009 The Plays of Yasmina Reza on the English and American Stage Jefferson NC McFarland 2010 116 49 Print Gu noun Denis Avez vous lu Reza Une invitation philosophique Paris Albin Michel 2005 Print Hellerstein Nina Entretien avec Yasmina Reza French Review 75 5 April 2002 944 54 Web Isenberg Noah and Rob White Carnage and all A Discussion Fil Quarterly 65 3 Spring 2012 44 48 Web Karkowski Michael Yasmina Reza from Art to The God of Carnage Co
10. later uses the word d figur to describe her son s face this time standing by her chosen word V ronique Et Ferdinand qu est ce qu il dit Comment il vit la situation Annette Il ne parle pas beaucoup Il est d sempar je crois V ronique Il r alise qu il a d figur son camarade Cincinnati Romance Review 39 Fall 2015 58 73 66 ANDREA JONSSON Alain Non Non il ne r alise pas qu il a d figur son camarade Annette Mais pourquoi tu dis a Ferdinand r alise bien sur Alain Il r alise qu il a eu un comportement brutal il ne r alise pas qu il a d figur son camarade V ronique Vous n aimez pas le mot mais le mot est malheureusement juste Alain Mon fils n a pas d figur votre fils V ronique Votre fils a d figur notre fils Revenez ici cinq heures vous verrez sa bouche et ses dents 27 8 my emphasis Reza has stacked and repeated the dialogue to the point of being absurd and childlike Not only are single words repeated d figur r alise r entire phrases are parroted back and forth between Alain and V ronique This time instead of producing an actual written document the repetition of the performed utterance uses orality to imitate the permanence of print Mimicking the way children speak on the playground Alain quotes V ronique s exact phrase several times in order to cause her to hear the absurdity in her word choice simultaneously charging the words d figur
11. play the ephemerality of speech is contrasted with the permanence of print through documentation drafting and exaggerated affective reactions This demonstrates how Reza s relationship to language as a theatrical device relies on the tension between the written and the spoken and unveils the writing process of the playwright through diegetic writing in the play According to Austin theatrical discourse is inherently hollow and the move in Reza s plays toward unidirectional speech such as monologues soliloquies or fragmented overlapping utterances could point to a failure of communication as noted by Giguere However though the play s undulating climaxes and dips in tension build toward an ultimate failure to resolve the original conflict the conspicuous absence of the boys who brought their parents together demonstrates how language has been called upon to achieve different results They play does not center around the boys fight but rather how the event is rewritten and how the violence produced by the original event permeates the characters stylistic signatures throughout the drafting process Thinking about language as a portable but unfinished product contributes to how one reads dramatic writing by using the overlaps between speech and writing to bridge the ephemerality of speech and the perpetuity of print The signature becomes the way of ascribing and transferring value between the textual and the performative world In this wa
12. Loxley s Performativity 2007 in which he starts by outlining Austin s speech act theory Cincinnati Romance Review 39 Fall 2015 58 73 62 ANDREA JONSSON through This reminds the reader of the physical process of rewriting but also contains the violent teeth grating sound of a disque ray or scratched disc stuck on the same dissonant chord and playing in a loop Alain is the character who is most concerned with word choice at several times throughout the play focusing on one particular word taking it up again repeating it in order to draw attention to the word s effect In the first scene Alain simply repeats the word as a question lifting it out of the drafted declaration V ronique immediately understands that Alain has a problem with the violent objective the word arm contains Alain Arm V ronique Arm Vous n aimez pas arm qu est ce qu on met Michel muni dot muni d un baton a va Alain Muni oui Michel Muni d un baton V ronique corrigeant Muni 10 In taking issue with V ronique s choice of word Alain is inserting himself into the writing process and trying to destabilize the permanence of the written word that has affected him negatively Drafting calls into question word choice syntax style and omission but it also promotes charging words with the equivalent to a stick to the mouth Though we do not know why V ronique is writing up the declaration is it
13. The Draft Rewriting Conflict in Yasmina Reza s Le dieu du carnage Andrea Jonsson Texas Tech University Abstract This article repositions Amanda Giguere s thesis that characters exist in a world where language fails arguing that the dramatic tension throughout Yasmina Reza s play Le dieu du carnage 2007 hinges on more than misunderstandings of speech and that writing succeeds where the spoken word has failed The draft defined in three distinct ways shows how Reza emphasizes writing in order to both charge the written word with an ephemeral perlocutionary quality and highlight how the spoken word can mimic print Keywords Reza drafting performance signature language he quintessential blockbuster dramaturge Yasmina Reza has understood the craft of intellectual accessibility in a consumer culture Currently the most often staged living French playwright her oeuvre is also notably readable particularly accessible to a broad public in textual form Reza exploits the contrast between mass popularity and intellectual substance in her two most successful plays Art 1994 and Le dieu du carnage 2007 Each of Reza s plays highlights a different style while containing a signature set of commonalities such as the play between tragedy and comedy the 90 minute playing time and a focus on small everyday struggles that serve as points of access into a discussion of more significant conflicts Le dieu du c
14. anguage becomes a way of appropriating discourse and manipulating its use Alain s attention to precision is his own style of manipulating previously composed language The article published in Les Echos that morning is disastrous for his client and could bring serious consequences for his firm and for him as well His manipulation of language is necessary to remove the authority of the original published statement Alain must question motive timing and scientific process in order to insert at least a seed of a doubt in the readership Feeling helpless at a distance he tries to return to his office several times only to remain at the Houlli s and speak his words over the phone and hear them dictated forcing an extra step into the writing process In V ronique s signature language becomes objectified as a bridge between writing and speaking V ronique sees language as an object a product of careful composition Throughout the play she emphasizes print as a necessary form that records and enhances the value of a memory Her relationship to language hinges on how effectively the physical representation of communication in print can stand in for action V ronique demonstrates how the draft evolves to become a conscription of language She strives to manipulate perpetuity into the oral communication of the afternoon and gives value to successful distribution and readership in her career as a writer and bookseller Her husband Michel s spe
15. arnage the single set play at the core of this article s analysis is centered around two couples and their intended civil meeting over clafoutis and coffee to discuss their eleven year old sons fight in the park which quickly transforms into a series of escalating verbal conflicts Though scholarship on Reza is limited scholars such as Anne Ubersfeld Alice Bouchetard Salah El Gharbi and Denis Gu noun have approached Reza s writing from a literary perspective in an attempt to discover what about Reza s writing has captivated The award winning play Le dieu du carnage was adapted into English both for London and Broadway productions in the first year after publication and was adapted by Reza and Roman Polanski into the 2011 film Carnage REWRITING CONFLICT IN YASMINA REZA S LE DIEU DU CARNAGE 59 audiences and caused her to be the only woman playwright to have won two Tony awards for Best Play Focus on Reza s relationship to writing and orality has been highlighted by Ubersfeld who maintains that Reza has created a new type of speech based on long monologues to silent observers onstage that likens a performative lecture El Gharbi reads Reza through the reception of her works analyzing her lisibilit and accessibility as markers of her success 14 Denis Gu noun states Je prenais avec P criture de Reza un plaisir de lecture Pai d cid Caller y voir de plus pr s ses textes tiennent a l analyse la l
16. ation of the value V ronique places in print Contrasting the incident with the textual object of the books Alain s portable becomes the representative object of the spoken word After the vomiting incident the Reille stay with the Houlli even though Annette is continually dry heaving into a bucket Annette s nausea prevents her from escaping the cause if it Alain is on his phone again still drafting the response to the Echos article Annette Je vis ca du matin au soir du matin au soir il est accroch a ce portable Nous avons une vie hach e par le portable Alain Heu Une seconde couvrant le t l phone Annette cest tr s important Annette C est toujours tr s important Ce qui se passe a distance est toujours plus important 94 As the conversation heats up the dialogue mirrors Annette s vie hach e by the portable 94 Alain s conversation punctuates the stage dialogue serving as a climactic counterpoint that builds throughout the scene Though Alain is talking to someone on the phone he remains a part of the stage dialogue still trying to control Annette and overlapping his responses to work in both conversations His ability to pass between conversations is exclusively because of his phone whose presence becomes a catalyst linking action with language at the hand of Annette Alain Vigilance Oui Annette c est absurde de boire dans ton tat Annette Quel tat Au contraire Cincinnat
17. cality Vomiting provides the opportunity for Annette to express herself For both Annette and Alain the stylistic reflection at the center of the drafting process is seen in how they discover value in the spoken word While cleaning herself up in the bathroom Annette has had time to think about their children s fight She comes back and says Annette Je me suis dt une chose dans la salle de bain V ronique Oui Annette Nous sommes peut tre trop vite pass s sur Enfin je veux dire Michel Dites dites Annette Annette L insulte aussi est une agression 65 my emphasis The repetition of the words dire dit dites is not an accident in her revelation Annette having stayed apologetically silent on the subject of her son s aggression reveals that she does not believe he is to blame for the altercation Annette states what has come to the forefront of her thought namely that Bruno calling her son une balance is the reason Ferdinand retaliated with physical violence which fires up the conversation between the four adults once again 66 Ironically being called a balance or tattle tale means Ferdinand must have told someone about something Bruno did further complicating the origins of the fight Action and language are blurred once again into a process of rewriting the event through performative narration Annette strips off her mask of false pleasantness and begins voicing her true cruel thoughts Echoi
18. ech is clumsy and lacks reflection but serves as a foil to V ronique by highlighting the value of each individual part necessary Cincinnati Romance Review 39 Fall 2015 58 73 64 ANDREA JONSSON to compose a working apparatus V ronique s attention to detail in language is paralleled by Michel s profession selling de la quincaillerie d ameublement and they become allies through their shared view of the importance of life s tools 20 As a writer V ronique s attention to language as an object causes her to attempt to use writing not only to record history but also to conscript it to achieve progress Michel explains to the Reille Michel Moi je suis grossiste en articles m nagers V ronique est crivain et travaille mi temps dans une librairie d art et histoire Annette Ecrivain V ronique J ai particip a un ouvrage collectif sur la civilisation sab enne a partir des fouilles reprises la fin du conflit entre Ethiopie et Erythr e Et a pr sent je sors en janvier un livre sur la trag die du Darfour 16 V ronique is neither a stranger to the draft nor to conflict She demonstrates a fascination with conflict and by writing about it she is putting boots to the ground in the only way possible to her The document she drafts to reenact the boys playground fight is a condensed and more intimate version of the books she publishes Eager to use her writing to advance a cause V ronique continues ret
19. ect a world but that speech has the power to create a world The etymology of performance comes from the Greek to furnish forth to carry forward to bring into being 13 I maintain that the most effective performative moments in the play hinge on language in the written form Because most of the scholarship on Reza mentioned above focuses on plays published before Le dieu du carnage this article extends a literary analysis of Reza s most recent and widely staged play Though Reza is first and foremost a playwright her attention to the written word as a legitimate counterweight to the spoken word provides a productive bridge between the stage and performative writing as seen in her emphasis on the writing process Giguere writes that Le dieu du carnage is essentially about the failure of language the breach the rupture and the collapse of communication She compares it to previous plays in which the theme of the breach is more obvious a rupture in time space or reality Instead Reza has turned on her very building blocks the words she uses to construct her plays and what appears in Carnage is a breach of language The characters exist in a world where language fails Reza Cincinnati Romance Review 39 Fall 2015 58 73 60 ANDREA JONSSON has built a world in which words are inadequate sentences are slippery and language fails to achieve progress 121 Though I find Giguere s thesis useful in Reza
20. emble non 11 However from the very beginning the choice of the word arm sets in motion the momentum of the rupture in civility that builds throughout the play V ronique s writing then uttering the word arm is just as much of an instigator as the original act of violence that Cincinnati Romance Review 39 Fall 2015 58 73 REWRITING CONFLICT IN YASMINA REZA S LE DIEU DU CARNAGE 65 occurred offstage between the two eleven year old boys Though she removes and replaces the word arm with muni the original intention has been inscribed into the play s discourse Having written and then spoken the word has left a scar on the future proceedings of the afternoon As the conflict rises Alain brings the disagreement back to that original word V ronique Il n y a pas d origine Il y a un enfant de onze ans qui frappe Avec un baton Alain Arm d un baton Michel Nous avons retir ce mot Alain Vous Pavez retir parce que nous avons mis une objection Michel Nous l avons retir sans discuter Alain Un mot qui exclut d lib r ment lerreur la maladresse qui exclut Penfance 69 In her drafted statement V ronique emphasizes the consequence of the inciting incident the damage done to her son s mouth He has lost two teeth and in the process his nerves were exposed causing potentially permanent damage Bruno s facial damage is echoed in the exposed nerves of the Reille who find the idea of the pre
21. er use of the word pidermique refers to the body and its signs the epidermal flush of anger or cold sweat of anxiety However she is also alluding to the surface masks and niceties that she finds impossible to stomach Once she has vomited and stripped herself of her mask Annette remains huddled over the cuvette vomiting bile unable to maintain her composure or politeness Annette s vomit becomes a leitmotiv throughout the play as the symbol for what links interpreting meaning to affective reaction At the beginning Annette is able through societal filtering to control which words she utters However she cannot Cincinnati Romance Review 39 Fall 2015 58 73 REWRITING CONFLICT IN YASMINA REZA S LE DIEU DU CARNAGE 69 control her feeling of nausea triggered by anxiety guilt tension and the build up of unspoken thoughts Her vomit brings her into the dialogue acting as symbol for reading ingesting digesting and speaking expelling In ruminating meaning she must ingest the words spoken to her digest them and expel a response Mirroring the eating of the clafoutis V ronique has baked Annette s body takes over the process of dialogue in a Rabelaisian exaggeration When her body can no longer hold back it forces Annette to insert herself into the dialogue by means of the mouth Unable to articulate her true feelings in words her body provides the opportunity with vomit charging speech with object and abject physi
22. for her own records Are the Houlli going to press charges Alain recognizes the power a single word can contain and the play becomes more about how the event is rewritten than about resolving the original conflict Alain a lawyer simultaneously spends the length of the play on the phone with his firm drafting a response to the allegations published in that day s newspaper accusing his client a pharmaceutical firm of knowingly having a dangerous and faulty drug on the market As a parallel motion to V ronique s performative drafting process Alain also begins by reading aloud though he reads to an unseen interlocutor the person he is speaking to on the phone a colleague named Maurice Alain Oui Maurice merci de me rappeler Bon dans Les Echos de ce matin je vous le lis Selon une tude publi e dans la revue britannique Lancet et reprise hier dans le F T deux chercheurs australiens auraient mis au jour les effets neurologiques de PAntril antihypertenseur des laboratoires Verenz Pharma allant de la baisse d audition a l ataxie 15 Away from the office Alain has to delegate the actual writing of the journalistic response to his colleagues who call him periodically to read him their drafts He then becomes the proofreader orally drafting by dictating over the phone Cincinnati Romance Review 39 Fall 2015 58 73 REWRITING CONFLICT IN YASMINA REZA S LE DIEU DU CARNAGE 63 Vas y Oui Pas proc d
23. i Romance Review 39 Fall 2015 58 73 REWRITING CONFLICT IN YASMINA REZA S LE DIEU DU CARNAGE 71 Alain C est int ressant cette notion porfable Oui non aucune interview avant la diffusion du communiqu V ronique Monsieur je vous somme d interrompre cette conversation prouvante Alain Surtout pas Les actionnaires s en foutront Rappelle lui la souverainet des actionnaires Annette se dirige vers Alain lui arrache le portable et apr s avoir bri vement cherch o le mettre le plonge dans le vase de tulipes 105 Having realized in the bathroom that words and violence are equalized Annette now takes silent action against the object of her irritation the portable In doing so she deprives Alain of the possibility of dictating his draft over the phone demonstrating how the realism of the stage objects acts more like an acoustic actor in the play the surroundings and props become mere objects to bounce words off of or to engulf a tense silence Here the role of silence is overturned by the recognition of the objectified and portable language The objects on stage are featured in the dialogue in the same way the objects incorporate the dialogue Each character uses citation as a destabilizing mockery a way of echoing words in order to rob them of their authority In focusing on the parts of speech themselves each character undermines the stylistic signature of the other Even the eloquence of
24. it covered books emphasizing the importance of the text s presence over the performative body While Annette and Alain clean up in the bathroom V ronique and Michel frantically try to clean off the books drench them in expensive perfume and then dry them so the pages do not get wrinkled The emphasis on the physicality of the books themselves dominates the scene and the value V ronique places in them is both tragic and ridiculous V ronique Ca va gondoler Michel On peut donner un coup de s choir et aplatir avec d autres livres par dessus Ou repasser comme avec les billets V ronique Oh la la la Annette Je vous le rach terai V ronique Il est introuvable Il est puis depuis longtemps Annette Je suis navr e V ronique C est une r dition qui a plus de vingt ans du catalogue de Yexposition de 53 a Londres 56 7 The books become like the play s currency physical representations of value in economic transactions The books on the coffee table are art books collections of images but the textual artifacts have taken on the proper nouns of well known family members Le Foujita Les Dolganes Le Kokoshka and Reza uses them as a foundation for her stage d cor 60 V ronique and Michel spend longer trying to salvage the books than they spend trying to assure that Annette is feeling better or whether Alain has something clean to wear Michel provides the action to accompany V ronique
25. n word with an ephemeral perlocutionary quality and highlight how the spoken word can mimic writing by causing a lasting resonance seen in the very opening discussion of the word arm 10 The play s opening words are read aloud drawing attention to the composition of recreating a past act of violence through written narrative The beginning of the play finds the two couples Annette and Alain Reille and V ronique and Michel Houlli seated across from each other in the Houlli s living room They are in the process of listening to V ronique write up a declaration that resembles a police report or insurance claim V ronique Donc notre d claration Vous ferez la votre de votre cot Le 3 novembre a dix sept heures trente au square de PAspirant Dunant a la suite dune altercation verbale Ferdinand Reille onze ans arm dun baton a frapp au visage notre fils Bruno Houlli Les cons quences de cet acte sont outre la tum faction de la l vre sup rieure une brisure des deux incisives avec atteinte du nerf de Vincistve droite 10 my emphasis 2 Henceforth I will refer to Le dieu du carnage as Carnage throughout the article not to be confused with Roman Polanski s film 3 The definition and analysis of the draft in this article are mine and are unique to this play Cincinnati Romance Review 39 Fall 2015 58 73 REWRITING CONFLICT IN YASMINA REZA S LE DIEU DU CARNAGE 61 The declaration itself recog
26. ng the previous scene in which she vomited Annette begins to vomit words each statement more shocking than the last Annette Quoi Annette 4 Michel Vous pensez que mon fils est une balance Michel Je ne pense rien du tout Annette Alors si vous ne pensez rien ne dites rien Ne faites pas ces r flexions insinuantes V ronique Annette gardons notre calme Michel et moi nous efforgons tre conciliants et mod r s Cincinnati Romance Review 39 Fall 2015 58 73 70 ANDREA JONSSON Annette Pas si mod r s V ronique Ah bon Pourquoi Annette Mod r s en surface Alain Toutou il faut vraiment que j y aille Annette Sois lache vas y 67 Annette s time in the bathroom away from the group afforded her the possibility to reflect on the subject of the boys fight Having had time to collect her thoughts before she speaks choose her words and structure her utterance her reflective oral drafting process produces a surprising improvisatory and sharp spoken style She recognizes that her speech is a result of a thought process and the strength of an opinion that needs to be voiced This realization causes her to use language as a weapon for aggression Both written and spoken words have representatives among the stage props The coffee table books are fixed objects in the Houlli s home however their presence and physicality highlight the portability of the written word and provide a physical represent
27. nizes that words are the instigators to the act of violence a la suite dune altercation verbale 10 which escalates into an act of brutality resulting in permanent damage to Bruno s mouth The mouth remains a focal point throughout the play eating drinking vomiting and insults bring us back to the original instigating off stage event of the boys fight However the mouth as producer of a spontaneous idea is anticipated by writing at several key moments in the play Like Giguere Alice Bouchetard focuses on speech in Reza s oeuvre recognizing that the rhythm of Reza s dialogue mirrors the imperfections of the improvised spoken word a string of unfinished thoughts fragments interruptions and substitutions Yasmina Reza traite la langue comme un mat riau vivant et met en sc ne une langue parl e qui semble parfois s improviser sur sc ne Les personnages s interrompent cherchent leurs mots se reprennent corrigent au fur et a mesure leurs propos 37 However the written document V ronique is reading is far from improvised it is instead a previously composed statement that scaffolds the characters discourse This engagement between written and spoken language highlights how language can never produce a finished form free of possible edits omissions and rewrites and yet remains a successful and irreversible communicative transaction The performed written utterance of arm produces a sincere and spontaneou
28. ntemporary Review 291 1692 Spring 2009 75 87 Web Loxley James Performativity New York Routledge 2007 Print Reza Yasmina Art Paris Albin Michel 1994 Print Le dieu du carnage Paris Albin Michel 2007 Print Ubersfeld Anne Le quasi monologue dans le theatre contemporain Yasmina Reza Bernard Marie Kolt s Ezudes Th dtrales 19 2000 88 97 Web Cincinnati Romance Review 39 Fall 2015 58 73
29. peaking them The reproduced paintings elicit different reactions from the two women that ultimately contribute to their signature styles throughout the play Alluding to her blockbuster play from 1994 Art Reza is again drawing attention to how the value we place in objects is a subjective process yet contains the power to produce real societal shifts In Art Serge has bought a white painting for 200 000 francs and the price he paid remains the driving force of the dialogue throughout the play In Carnage the intention behind a chosen word charges it with power while simultaneously fracturing its meaning The books value becomes a fluctuating subjective measurement Here instead of a painting the coffee table books are representations of already produced works they are not the works themselves They become reprinted indications of the commodification of art Annette s signature is seen primarily through her speech and body language becoming apparent after she has had time to be able to reflect upon the degradation of civility that has made her nauseous Annette recognizes the effort V ronique has gone to and at first refuses to continue the aggression praising the Houlli for their graciousness Annette Si Bruno avait cass deux dents a Ferdinand est ce qu on n aurait pas eu Alain et moi une r action plus pidermique 27 Annette believes her hypothetical reaction would have been quicker to anger and less cordial H
30. s response from the Reille and removes what Austin calls the hollowness of theatrical performatives 22 The idea of the elicited affective response adds a unique element to Austin s theory of locution illocution and perlocution With locution Austin means that by saying a word I invoke the capacity of the sounds uttered both to stand for the idea and to mark out the relevance of why these sounds were uttered 18 The illocutionary dimension of the act denotes the kind of act I was accomplishing or attempting to accomplish in saying these words warning threatening and so on 18 It is in the perlocutionary dimension that the creation of emotion and the successful communicative transaction becomes important If illocution denotes the function performed im saying something then perlocution denotes the effect I produced by issuing the utterance 18 For the Reille the word arm produces a stronger reaction because it is being drafted into the document V ronique is writing and thus claims a more permanent position in the dialogue Writing in Carnage is drafted from different directions forever deferring a finished product or sole contributor As V ronique is reading Alain Reille interrupts to take issue with her choice of the word arm 10 The Reille s last name already contains the sonic allusion to rayer the verb that means to scratch out or draw a line The following quotes are taken from James
31. urning to the words in her statement Giguere writes instead of focusing on the purpose of the written statement V ronique seems mote concerned with turning the boys fight into a teachable moment 122 Aware that the draft is not a resolution to the conflict but only an unstable response V ronique uses writing both in her occupation and in this situation as a mother recording violence inflicted on her son to counteract a feeling of helplessness and distance As Michel says mockingly Elle se d ploie pour la paix et la stabilit du monde 100 Her words become conscripted to act in the absence of action Both V ronique and Alain emphasize the minute parts of speech in their drafts but to very different ends Language for V ronique contains an almost sacred power that rivals the brutality of violence or the calm of pacification However though she tries to use her writing to solidify her civility and mask of politeness V ronique s choice of words ends up causing the facade to come crumbling down around her Giguere considers that each of the characters return to the offstage inciting incident of the playground fight to progressively reveal more of their individual savagery 118 V ronique has invited the parents of the boy who attacked her son into her home to make peace because she believes as she says On ne gagne rien a s installer dans une logique passionnelle il existe encore un art de vivre ens
32. y style as seen in the various overlapping drafts becomes a process of textual marking unique to each character s signature Reading the play with a focus on the leitmotiv of the draft shows how language does function productively in the play Temporary alliances and moments of constructive communication are produced because of how the characters see language work in parallel ways Alain s rewriting of arm is not only a breach in civility but also an acknowledgement to V ronique that they must rewrite the event together Words which contain the possibility to shock and incite violence cannot be transferred effectively without attention to the textually stylistic structure they are drafted into whether uttered or written In this play the strong focus on writing shows how communication becomes a transaction with traceable origins and an ability to affect and elicit actions Language is not only a tool however objectified it is to V ronique and Michel nor is it entirely a weapon as seen by Annette and Alain It is an agreement to catry out a linguistic transaction and engage with another character s style and composition technique Though the leitmotiv of the draft is specific to this play Reza s focus on the link between diegetic writing and theatrical writing can be extended as a unifying characteristic of how she deals with conflict in her other plays while opening up the dialogue of the evolution of the sh dtre de la parole
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