Az Eszterházy Károly Tanárképző Főiskola Tudományos Közleményei. 2002. Vol. 8. Eger Journal of American Studies.(Acta Academiae Paedagogicae Agriensis : Nova series ; Tom. 28)

Studies - Mária Kurdi: "Hold like rich garners the full-ripen'd grain." On the Scholarly Heritage of Péter Egri (1932-2002)

Notably, Modern Games incorporates the first extended discussion of several aspects of Stoppard's dramatic work by a Hungarian scholar. Later plays like Travesties (1974), Dog's Hamlet (1976), and Cahoot's Macbeth (1978) are also examined in the book, the author finding in them other echoes of Shakespeare which contribute, in a variety of ways, to the artistic effect of disruption and ironizing. In addition to the thoughtfully defined inquiry into the exciting spectrum of the modes of treating Renaissance texts in the twentieth century, Modern Games draws attention to cultural and theatrical selfreference producing layers of fictionality in Stoppard and his contemporaries, which destabilize fixed meanings and provoke a number of new questions. Regarding Egri's method, intertextual parallels are identified by him in order to facilitate the differentiation between the dramatic strategies involved. In his interpretation Rosencrantz and Guildenstern invite comparison with doubled figures in Gogol, Dürrenmatt and, of course, Beckett, to negotiate the politics of the theatrical reconstruction of identity problems. The relationship of doubles is seen as basically complementary in Stoppard's play with clear resemblance to how Vladimir and Estragon are linked, already pinpointed by Martin Esslin (46). At the same time, Egri's analysis highlights that psychological pairs (for instance the ones in certain relevant plays of O'Neill and Brian Friel), do differ from the personality patterning both Beckett and Stoppard operate with, in that they serve the process of internal characterization. Branching out from its original vantage point, thus the argument in this section gains wider theoretical implications by connnecting itself to the current international discussion about the ideologically as well as dramaturgically elusive boundaries of the conventionally used category of the dramatic character. The significance of Modern Games in the very oeuvre of Egri and for scholarship in general is underscored by its enthusiastic reception abroad. In Theatre Research International Thomas F. Connolly, understandably, concentrates on the sections dealing with drama. The beginning of his review strikes a note by referring to the sophistication of Egri's analysis, and considers it necessary to remark that "superficially it would seem to be a postmodernist scholarly discourse. This is not the case, however, since Peter Egri's readings are far too 30