From Controversy to Eristic in the Work of Bernard-Marie Koltès: A Denunciatory Strategy

Abstract

The dialogues in the theater of B.-M. Koltès, defined as the ostentation of an argumentative dynamic, go beyond the framework of ethical argumentation and shift into sophistry and the eristic dialectic due to numerous “malfunctions”. The playwright subverts discursive categories and creates his own argumentative mode. However, beyond the stylistic issue, a true aesthetics emerges. By staging contentious relationships, Koltès stigmatizes an ideology that moves from the stage to reality, thereby allowing the representation of a contestatory speech and the denunciation of the manipulations of a sociopolitical system at its breaking point.