Artaud, Guénon e il simbolismo del teatro

This article proposes a comparison between the views expressed by Artaud and Guénon as to the metaphysical status of theatre and representation. The direct exchange of letters between the two is closely examined, along with the two major texts in which each of them formulated his ideas regarding the nature of theatre (La Mise en scène et la Métaphysique and Le Symbolisme du Théâtre). Artaud conceives of theatre as a human expression of cosmic forces through which principles operate. When this premise is transposed onto the stage, however, it reveals its inadequacy with respect to the forms of human representation. Guénon treats this divergence as the result of a poorly formulated problem: theatre itself is a symbol of the illusion that regulates the analogical relation between principles and phenomenal reality. It is therefore not a question of recomposing the two planes, but of recognising the distance that necessarily separates them and allows a representation to become possible.