The „Third Form“: Paradoxes and Controversis of the Tragicomical

This paper examines the history, genesis and status of the tragicomedy, a Baroque drama genre which has flourished in sixteenth-century Italy and appearance of which was from the very beginning accompanied by fierce polemics, ranging from great enthusiasm towards the tragicomedy to its intense contestation. Tragicomedy rose to great popularity among French playwrights in the 1630s, as well as on the stage – a popularity that would not be tarnished by numerous attempts of its discreditation mounted by advocates of Aristotelian poetics and dramaturgy, from which tragicomedy authors consciously sought to depart. The primary focus of this paper is the history of the tragicomedy and the reasons for the contestation of its generic status, as well as the relationship between tragicomedy and the canonical drama genres, tragedy and comedy, which draw legitimacy from antiquity and the great role models. Attempting to track the origin and the genesis of this debate, the author also examines the different perception of the notion of „tragicomical“, as one of the key points of divergence among its participants