theatre-of-the-absurd

1、I. Definition a term coined by the critic Martin Esslin around 1960 to describe the work of a number of playwrights, mostly written in the 1950s and 1960s.Its roots can be found in the allegorical morality plays of the Middle Ages and allegorical religious dramas of baroque Spain; the nonsense liter

2、ature of writers like Lewis Carroll; the dream plays of Strindberg and the dream novels of James Joyce and Franz Kafka, the grotesque drama of Alfred Jarry; and the frantic farces of Georges Feydeau. Its direct forerunners were the Dada movement and the surrealism of the 1920s and 30s. II. Chief Pla

3、ywrights Samuel Beckett, Arthur Adamov, Eugene Ionesco, Jean Genet, Harold Pinter, Edward Albee. III Thematic Concern: The main belief of these playwrights is the absurdity of human existence. In an essay on Kafka, Ionesco defined his understanding of the term Absurd as follows: “Absurd is that whic

4、h is devoid of purpose. Cut off from his religious, metaphysical, and transcendental roots, man is lost; all his actions become senseless, absurd, useless”IV Artistic Features: 1. a perfect integration between form and content the difference with existentialist theatre, works of Sartre and CamusThey

5、 present their sense of the irrationality of the human condition in the form of lucid and logically constructed reasoning. Sartre chooses to present his ideas in plays based on carefully drawn characters who speak with beautiful phrasing and argumentative brilliance. Instead of resorting to consciou

6、s effort to overcome and resolve the problems of human condition, they assume a highly unusual, innovative form, which resorts mainly to human instinct and intuition. 2. intimate and personal intuition of the human situation V Other Artistic Features1. A Lyrical Theatre of Situation and Images conce

7、rned with the presentation of one individuals basic situation Traditionaldramatic conflicts, clashes of personalities and powers Absurdresorts heavily on concrete images as the vehicles of its signification 2. Archetypal Characters Traditionalthe audience usually identifies with the main character i

8、n a play, and accepts automatically his point of view, sees the world in which he moves with his eyes, feel his emotions. Absurdthe audience is confronted with characters whose motives and actions remain largely incomprehensible. Most characters here are presented as types instead of individuals, as

9、 images, which is part of a situation, instead of integral human beings. 3. Language as Clichs and Images language has become a vehicle of conventionalized, stereotyped, meaningless exchanges 4. Circular Structure Many of the plays of the Absurd theatre have a circular structure, ending exactly as they began; others progress merely by a growing intensification of the initial situation. 5. An Intellectual Theatre It crates a vacuum between the play and the audience. it will always confront the spect