Metaphorical Images of Beckett and Müller on the Context of Rancière’s Idea of Image Crisis
According to Rancière, when examining contemporary discourses, the position of the image within the artwork is caught between two options. The first is a form of artistic creation in which reality no longer exists, only images; the second is, conversely, a form of artistic creation in which images can no longer be produced, and reality continuously presents itself anew. Rancière, who argues that the image falls into crisis when caught between these two options, also believes that this crisis emerges alongside the possibilities of overcoming it. According to Rancière, the possibility of overcoming the crisis lies in a new system of images called the metaphorical image. This study aims to discuss Rancière's concept of the image crisis together with the crisis of representation in theater, focusing on image creation in the late plays of Beckett and Müller in terms of crisis thinking and metaphorical image production.
Rancière’in İmge Krizi Düşüncesi Ekseninde Beckett ve Müller’in Metaforik İmgeleri
Rancière’e göre çağdaş söylemlere bakıldığında günümüz itibariyle imgenin sanat yapıtı içerisindeki konumu iki seçenek arasına sıkışmaktadır. İlki, artık gerçekliğin olmadığı, sadece imgelerin olduğu; ikincisi ise tam tersine artık imgelerin üretilemediği, kendini hiç durmadan yeniden sunan bir gerçekliğin olduğu sanat yapma biçimi. İmgenin bu iki seçenek arasına sıkıştığında krize girdiğini ifade eden Rancière, krizin aynı zamanda krizden çıkmanın olanaklarıyla birlikte belirdiğini düşünmektedir. Rancière’e göre, krizden çıkmanın olanağı, metaforik imge adını verdiği yeni bir imge düzeninde bulunabilir. Bu çalışma, Rancière’in imge krizi düşüncesini tiyatrodaki temsil kriziyle birlikte ele alarak, Beckett ve Müller’in son dönem oyunlarındaki imge yaratımını kriz düşüncesi ve metaforik imge üretimi dolayımında tartışmayı hedeflemektedir.
Jacques Rancière defines three major historical art regimes: the ethical regime of images, the representative regime, and the aesthetic regime. The ethical regime of images focuses on the relationship between art and truth, where art and truth are not entirely separate. In the representative regime, art begins to detach from the realm of truth, narrating what is possible within a fictional universe, guided by Aristotle’s rules in Poetics. The aesthetic regime, on the other hand, represents a fundamental departure from Aristotle’s schema of representation. Each of these art regimes generates its own forms of images.
According to Rancière, the images produced within the aesthetic regime of art—the dominant artistic paradigm of today—are in crisis. However, every crisis also carries the potential for its own resolution. Rancière proposes what he terms metaphorical images as an alternative form of image within the aesthetic regime and as a means of overcoming the crisis.
This study will explore Rancière’s concept of the image crisis alongside the crisis of representation in theater. It aims to examine image creation in the late plays of Samuel Beckett and Heiner Müller through the lenses of crisis thinking and metaphorical image production. Rancière discusses the crisis of the image in the aesthetic regime of art through two contemporary discourses. He argues that contemporary image creation is caught between two options: the first being that reality no longer exists, and only images remain. In this artistic world devoid of reality, images lose any clear reference point; the connection between the signifier and the signified is severed. As a result, images within the artwork emerge as fragmented accumulations, lacking intellectual depth or context.
The second discourse presents the opposite perspective: images have vanished, signaling the end of representation. Only pure reality remains, where art and life are inseparably intertwined. In this discourse, the manner in which an artwork presents itself blurs the line between performance and everyday life, making it difficult to distinguish whether an event in public space is a performative act or part of ordinary reality.
Rancière argues that images are not confined to these two extremes. An image in crisis can also serve as a means to alter our perspective. While Rancière primarily examined images within the aesthetic regime through literature, cinema, and visual arts, interpreting metaphorical images as a solution to crisis in cinema and sculpture, this study focuses on theater. Specifically, it investigates how Beckett and Müller positioned images within their late play texts.
Asserting that theater has undergone an image-centered transformation over the past century, this study analyzes the literary images in Beckett’s and Müller’s plays through Rancière’s concept of metaphorical images. In this context, the first part of the study establishes the connection between the crisis of representation and the crisis of the image, emphasizing the relationship between the historical avant-garde movement and these crises. The second part explores how Beckett’s and Müller’s plays depart from representational art and align with the aesthetic regime, analyzing the playwrights’ strategies both comparatively and in terms of their capacity to generate metaphorical images, with particular emphasis on their shared techniques.
