ABSTRACT
Whoever wishes to evaluate the classical heritage of modern drama is confronted from the beginning with the problem of defining notions which are either deliciously imprecise or archaic. This all too attractive opportunity tempts us to unravel the ambiguities attached to every one of these terms and to test their paradoxical meanings and semantic richness. For it is only by playing on these words, using the negative dialectic dear to Theodor W.Adorno, that we can unblock certain contradictions and shake up some old habits. Each of these notions recalls its opposite, or at least a corrective or a different point of view that relativizes its meaning.
