Paul Claudel's L'Annonce Faite á Marie: A Process of Visionary Revision

The successive versions of L'Annonce faite à Marie reveal Paul Claudel's difficult search for effective dramatic representation of elusive spiritual forces. The early versions reflecting the weaknesses of French Symbolist theatre are marred by a conflict between lyrical text and dramatic action. However, consultation with the theatre directors, Auré lien Lugné-Poë (1911–1912) and Charles Dullin (1940), eventually enabled Claudel to bridge the gap between the language of literary expression on the one hand and the language of the theatrical event on the other. As a result, the final version of L'Annonce faite à Marie (1948) is characterized by an inherent theatrical energy representative of the spiritual forces that fuel both Claudel's aesthetic and religious visions.