On the Zero Viewpoint in Drama

Abstract

The author discusses the question of the so-called zero viewpoint in the context of the presence of epic elements in the dramatic text. Using the category of perspective in her study, she observes that one of the characteristic features of drama is the intersection of dramatic background and the protagonist’s perspective. Contrary to the traditionally accepted view, the author argues that it is natural for drama to position the addressee not simply outside or inside the dramatic microcosm but at the point of a permanent intersection of these two lines. It is this moment of overlap between the extra- and intra-textual perspectives that she defines as the zero viewpoint. The variety of solutions by means of which this perspective can be achieved is demonstrated on excerpts she analyses from Bolesław Leśmian’s The Possessed Fiddler, Tadeusz Różewicz’s The Trap, and Marian Pankowski’s Camping Rough.