Nightfall Hotel: A Surrealist Romeo and Juliet

Author, Researcher, or Creator

Vassilki Rapti, Emerson CollegeFollow

Department

Visual and Media Arts

Author(s)

Vassilki Rapti (Editor and Translator), Nanos Valaoritis (Author)

Resource Type

Other

Publication, Publisher or Distributor

Somerset Hall Press

Publication Date

2018

Related Information

Review from Amazon.com “… [Valaoritis is] one of the most distinguished and enigmatic of modern Greek poets, full of Platonic wisdom. His originality of temperament is a most singular thing…”—Lawrence Durrell, author of The Alexandria Quartet “Valaoritis makes dialogue the center of his theatrical works. Absurdity transfigures the minds of the audience, who unwittingly become equal participants in the couple’s psycho-erotic drama.” —Lili White, director of Another Experiment by Women Film Festival “The magnificent writing in Nightfall Hotel guides the reader through an emotional and imagistic labyrinth.”—Lili Bita, actress and author of Fleshfire: Love Poems

Brief Description

Rapti lends her skills as a translator, editor, and critical analyzer in Nightfall Hotel: A Surrealist Romeo and Juliet by Nanos Valaoritis. This book tells the story of how a couple, locked together in a hotel room, spends their time with games and dreams. It contains the original play in French, an English translation, and a critical analysis. Valaoritis wrote Nightfall Hotel (L’hôtel de la nuit qui tombe) to expand on André Breton’s liberating surrealist use of language, after he was introduced to it by his friends Odysseas Elytis and Nikos Gatsos. The first staging of Night fall Hotel in Paris in 1959, confronts us with “mad love” (amour fou) and showcases the influence Surrealism to the Theatre of the Absurd.