Autobiographical Performance: Father-Son Relationship in John Mortimer’s A Voyage Round My Father
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.31185/lark.Vol3.Iss51.3121Keywords:
Keywords: Autobperformanceiographical , self-Rev, father-son relationship, personal life, memoir, self- referential, John Mortimer, A Voyage Round My fatherAbstract
Autobiographical performance is a form of drama where the playwright uses his own life story as a source for his work, and he/ she blends truth and fiction to form a personal catharsis or a political appeal. The aim of this paper is to examine the notion of Autobiographical Performance, especially in relation to the theme of father-son relationship. Many writers, throughout the history of literature, pay a significant attention to familial relationships, and some modern writers use their own life as a row material for their writing to present this issue. This usage has different aims and modes which are either a therapeutic method or an art form. The English playwright, John Mortimer, is much influenced by his father, and in his play, A Voyage Round my Father, he uses the form of autobiographical performance. He writes a biography about his father and he focuses on his relationship with him. The present study tries to answer these questions: What is meant by Autobiographical Performance? What are the modes of this form? And What is the difference between these two modes (Autobiographical Performance and Self-Rev)? This study focuses on the Autobiographical Performance, and it also refers to Self-Rev to distinguish between the two modes.
References
References
Abboston, S. C. W. (2003). Thematic guide to modern drama. Greenwood Press.
Anderson, R. (1995). I Never Sang For My Father. Dramatists play Service INC.
Bown, L. & Gawthorpe, A. (2014). Masterclass writing plays: How to create realistic and
compelling drama and get your work performed. Teach Yourself.
Bryer, J. R. & Harting, M. C. (2010). The facts on file companion to American drama.
University Press of America.
Emunah, R. (2015). Self-revelatory performance. A form of drama therapy and theatre.
Drama therapy review, 1 (1), 71-85. https://doi:org/10.1386/dtr.1.1.71-1
Dokter, D. & Gerise, A. (2016). A retrospective study of autobiographical performance
during dramatherapy training. In S. Pendzik, R. Emunah & D.R. Johnson (Eds.) The self
in performance: Autobiographical, self-revelatory, and auto ethnographic forms of
therapeutic theatre. Palgrave Macmillan.
Fleig, A. (2019). 3.8 Autobiography and drama / theatre. In M. Wagner-Egelhaaf (Ed.)
Handbook of autobiography/autofiction (pp.497-502). Walter de Gruyter GmbH &
Co KG.
George, K. (2006). Winter’s tales: Reflections on the novelistic stage. Newark: University
of Delaware Press.
Grove, V. (2007). A voyage round John Mortimer. Penguin Books.
Hager, A., (2009). Encyclopedia of British writers 18 century. General Editor.
Heddon, D. (2008). Autobiography and performance. Palgrave Macmillan.
Hillier-Graves, T. (2021). Pepper corn: His life & Locomotives. Pen& Sword Transport.
Krafft, R. & O’Doherty, B. (Eds.). (1991). The arts on television 1976-1990: Fifteen years
of cultural programming. Media arts/ film, radio/ television program. National
Endowment for the Arts.
Mortimer, J. (2001). A Voyage Round My Father. Oberon Books Ltd.
Pendzik, S., Emunah, R. & Johnson, D. R. (2016). The self in performance: Context,
definition, directions. In S. Pendzik, R. Emunah & D. R.Johnson (Eds.). The self in
performance: Autobiographical, self-revelatory, and auto ethnographic forms of
therapeutic theatre. Palgrave Macmillan.
Russell-Jones, G., (2016). Conchie: What my father didn’t do in the war. Lion Books.
Schwalm, H. (2019). 3.9 Autobiography. Autobiographical forms and genres. In M.
Wagner-Egelhaaf (Ed.) Handbook of autobiography/autofiction (pp.503-520). Walter de
Gruyter GmbH & Co KG..
Stilovsky & Schrodinger. (2020). The power of words: Classics. Author House.
Stringer, J. & Sutherland, J. (1996). The Oxford companion to twentieth-century literature
in English. Oxford University Press.
Wagner-Egelhaaf, M. (Ed). (2019). Handbook of autobiography/autofiction. Walter de
Gruyter GmbH & Co KG.
Walker, J. (1994). Reading genres across cultures. The example of autobiography. In L.
Lawal (Ed.), Reading world literature: Theory, history, practice (pp.203-236). University
of Texas Press.
Downloads
Published
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2023 Asst. Lect. Alaa Radhi Makki
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
