International Journal of Language & Literature

The Technique of Blended Illusion in Brecht’s Caucasian Chalk Circle
Peter Yang

Abstract
This article draws on the cognitivist notion of blending to reexamine the theory of alienation effect as illusion and emotion destroyer in Brecht’s Epic Theater. The model established in this study illustrates the relationship between the blended illusion in Brecht’s theater and the spectators’ complex cognitive and emotional activities in the mental spaces. It shows that blending facilitated by the alienation effect through insertion of the conscious with the subconscious expands the spectators’ mental spaces for imagination and thus enhances illusion and emotion, instead of eliminating them. By dissecting the ‘anti-illusionist’ and alienating elements in Brecht’s The Caucasian Chalk Circle, such as prologue, Singer, his audience addresses, and his communication with characters such as Grusha and Governor, this study shows that the alienation effect serves indeed as an illusion and emotion intensifier. Brecht’s Chalk Circle play achieves enhanced illusionist and emotional effects by merging the ‘theatrical’ illusion with the dramatic one in theater, which in turn facilitates the blending in spectators’ mental spaces. This complex blending process in Brecht’s theater leads to spectators’ intensified identification with dramatis personae directly and through ‘theatrical’ mediation with the latter indirectly.

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