The Cuttlefish
by StanisławIgnacy Witkiewicz
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At a glance:
- Author: StanisławIgnacy Witkiewicz
- First Published: 1923
- Type of Plot: Surrealist
- Time of Work: The 1920’s
- Setting: Unspecified
- Characters: Paul Rockoffer, The Statue, Alice D’or, Julius II, Ella, Grumpus, Hyrcan IV, Two Matrons, Two Old Gentlemen
- Genres: Drama, Surrealist literature
- Subjects: Values, Power, personal or social, Murder or homicide, Art or artists, 1920's, Rulers, Existentialism, Humanism, Popes or papacy
The Play
The Cuttlefish, a one-act play, opens in a black-walled room with narrow, emerald-green designs. A light behind the red-curtained window at the center of the stage goes on or off during sections of the dialogue. On a black pedestal Alice d’Or, the statue, lies on her stomach leaning her head on her arms. She is voluptuous and dressed in a tight-fitting dress resembling alligator skin. Paul Rockoffer, dressed in mourning, paces back and forth clutching his head while expressing the isolation and futility of his existence as an artist. He calls on God, knowing...
(The entire page is 2825 words.)
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