Weston, Jessie (1850–1928)

Jessie Laidlay Weston was a British independent scholar and folklorist best known for her influential study From Ritual to Romance (1920), which sought to trace the Christian grail legend, specifically the story of the Fisher King, back to pre-Christian origins. Her analysis draws from Sir James Frazer’s comparative study of religion, The Golden Bough (1890), and its claim that modern religion evolved from older fertility cults and their rites of the dying god/king. The ‘Cambridge Ritualists’, who also took much inspiration from Frazer, likewise influenced Weston—particularly the work of Jane Ellen Harrison—with their theories of ritual practice and their shared belief that ritual preceded myth, with storytelling always an explanation of older rites.

VIENO SPEKTAKLIO ISTORIJA („NUSIAUBTOS ŠALIES“ CHRONOLOGIJA IR TOPOGRAFIJA)

Tai filosofinis pasakojimas apie Gintaro Varno spektaklį „Nusiaubta šalis“ ir jo istorinį-literatūrinį kontekstą. Pagrindinė spektaklio tema įvardijama kaip Dievo vieta istorijoje. Tekste vartojami „vertikalaus laiko“ ir „istorijos spirale“ įvaizdžiai, būdingi viduramžių menui. Šalia pastebėjimų apie viduramžių teatro specifiką ir jos atspindėjimą spektaklyje tekste vartojamos H. Bergsono, G. Bachelard’o, G. Deleuze’o, P. Ricoeuro įžvalgos į laiko problematiką bei J. Derrida religijos filosofijos intarpai. Spektakliui būdingas virtualus laikų ir vietų daugybiškumas, skirtingų laikų sutraukimas vienoje trukmėje primena Bergsono „filosofinio laiko“ koncepciją. Paradigmos metonimiškumas leidžia traktuoti šį spektaklį kaip sakramentinį teatrą, kuriame performatyvumas bei papildomumo principas sukuria Realaus Buvimo efektą.Pagrindiniai žodžiai: teatras, istorija, vaizdas, laikas, vieta, Realus Buvimas.THE HISTORY OF ONE SPECTACLE (CHRONOLOGY AND TOPOGRAPHY OF „THE DESTROYED LAND“)Marija Oniščik SummaryThe text tells a story of „The Destroyed Land“ – the spectacle by Gintaras Varnas, considered as a spiral journey through time and places, paradigmatically showing the historical view of how the spectacle was born and performed, what literary images from Arthurian cycle gave rise to its plot and setting, what the historical and mythological import lies in the beginning of Grail legend, and what the sacramental meaning follows from it. The philosophical purpose of the text is to investigate the problem of time as it is presented in the spectacle together with treatment of place. It is argued that in the spectacle, there is a medieval view of history as „vertical“ time, presented paradigmatically as a whole, which reminds us of the Bergsonian conception of time with its instantaneous multiplicity. It is also proximate to medieval notion of aeviternity in Thomas Aquinas, as the mean between time and eternity, in which the succession of time treated as the changeableness of place, is compatible with being simultaneously whole. The text also analyses those features of the spectacle, which make it very similar to the medieval theatre with its simplicity of staging originated from liturgical drama. It is stated that here one has a sacred theatre, which has not a referential but a performative function to create a real world akin to the sacramental Real Presence, represented by the image of Grail. From the philosophical point of view, the religious longing for Grail can be treated as Derridian messianicity.Keywords: theatre, history. image, time, place, Real Presence.

The Grail Quest as Illumination

Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, a popular motion picture, offers a modem version of a Quest for the Holy Grail. Although this grail legend is new, a survey of medieval through nineteenth-century stories of heroic quests for a grail reveals that grail legends have always differed from each other in significant ways. The grail itself has been identified in some legends as a cup or chalice, and in others as a dish, platter, book, stone, or, possibly, a reliquary. Also profoundly different are the ways in which legends describe the purposes effects of a quest for the grail. What these diverse legends have in common, however, is their association of a quest for the grail with a hero's attempt to reverse the evils that endanger a particular society. This essay traces various grail legends to determine how these popular tales, including the film version, present man's quest for transcendence, and moral and spiritual renewal.