The chimerical world in Bertolt Brecht's drama "The Vision of Simona Mashar" and in Leon Feuchtwanger's novel "Simon"

Abstract

The article analyzes the creation of a "chimerical" world in Bertolt Brecht'sdrama "The Vision of Simon Mashar" and Leon Feuchtwanger's novel "Simon"."Irrational", "improbable", "fictional", "unusual" – there are characteristics thatunderlie the concept of "chimerical". Extraordinary metamorphoses with characters who become in a dreamacquire the features of historical characters, who are promised to act this wayand not otherwise, a shift in time and space - the main characteristics of21"chimerical" prose or drama. Bertolt Brecht's play „The Vision of SimoneMashar”and Leon Feithwanger’s novel “Simon” is the story of Jeanne d’Arc, whoprompted the protagonist Simone to perform feats in the name of her nativeFrance, against the German invaders. Brecht created his play in direct contactwith Feuchtwanger, but as a result the authors published two different worksthat have different conceptual meanings, but the main idea of the both works is- the struggle of the French against the German occupiers. The motif of a book andthe motif of a dream are of great importance in two works, which help to connectthe fictional and the real chronotope. It is from the book that Simon learns thestory of Jeanne d’Arc. In the dream, Simon imitates the features of Jeanne d'Arcand fights. Like Jeanne d'Arc, Simon is executed by her compatriots. The workswere written during the Second World War, so the great importance is played byhistorical studies- the idea and prerequisites for the creation of the work. It isresearched how chimericaly is realized in epic drama and realistic psychologicalnovel, and how it is related to the "V-effect" in Brecht's dramas.