The Cambridge introduction to theatre and literature of the absurd / Michael Y. Bennett.
Bennett, Michael Y., 1980- author.
2015
PN1861 .B43 2015 (Mapit)
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Title The Cambridge introduction to theatre and literature of the absurd / Michael Y. Bennett.
Author Bennett, Michael Y., 1980- author.
ISBN 9781107635517 (paperback)
1107635519 (paperback)
9781107053922 (hardcover)
1107053927 (hardcover)
Published Cambridge : Cambridge University Press, 2015.
Language English
Description x, 163 pages ; 24 cm.
Call Number PN1861 .B43 2015
Dewey Decimal Classification 809.2/04
Summary Michael Y. Bennett's accessible Introduction explains the complex, multidimensional nature of the works and writers associated with the absurd - a label placed upon a number of writers who revolted against traditional theatre and literature in both similar and widely different ways. Setting the movement in its historical, intellectual and cultural contexts, Bennett provides an in-depth overview of absurdism and its key figures in theatre and literature, from Samuel Beckett and Harold Pinter to Tom Stoppard. Chapters reveal the movement's origins, development and present-day influence upon popular culture around the world, employing the latest research to this often challenging area of study in a balanced and authoritative approach. Essential reading for students of literature and theatre, this book provides the necessary tools to interpret and develop the study of a movement associated with some of the twentieth century's greatest and most influential cultural figures.
Note Michael Y. Bennett's accessible Introduction explains the complex, multidimensional nature of the works and writers associated with the absurd - a label placed upon a number of writers who revolted against traditional theatre and literature in both similar and widely different ways. Setting the movement in its historical, intellectual and cultural contexts, Bennett provides an in-depth overview of absurdism and its key figures in theatre and literature, from Samuel Beckett and Harold Pinter to Tom Stoppard. Chapters reveal the movement's origins, development and present-day influence upon popular culture around the world, employing the latest research to this often challenging area of study in a balanced and authoritative approach. Essential reading for students of literature and theatre, this book provides the necessary tools to interpret and develop the study of a movement associated with some of the twentieth century's greatest and most influential cultural figures.
Bibliography, etc. Note Includes bibliographical references (pages 150-159) and index.
Series Cambridge introductions to literature.
Record Appears in On-Campus Resources > Books
All Resources
ch.1. Introduction: overview of the absurd
Martin Esslin's 'The theatre of the absurd'
Common conceptions of the absurd
Origins of the absurd: the Greeks through the nineteenth century
Origins of the absurd: expressionism, dadaism, surrealism, and other avant-garde movements of the early twentieth century
Philosophy of the absurd: or rather, philosophies of the absurd
Challenges to the notion of "absurd"
Absurd tragicomedy
ch. 2. Setting the stage
Alfred Jarry
Franz Kafka
OBERIU
Antonin Artaud
ch.3. The emergence of a "movement": the historical and intellectual contexts
Post-WWII Europe
Post-WWII United States
The existential front
The Camus=Sartre quarrel
The emergence of analytic philosophy
Why theatre? How the genre came to be the center of the "movement"
ch.4. Samuel Beckett
Waiting for Godot
Other plays
Fiction
Poetry
ch.5. Beckett's notable contemporaries
Edward Albee
Jean Genet
Eugene Ionesco
Harold Pinter
ch.6. The European and American wave of absurdism
Arthur Adamov
Fernando Arrabal
Amiri Baraka
Friedrich Dürrenmatt
Jack Gelber
Václav Havel
Adrienne Kennedy
Arthur Kopit
Slawomir Mrożek
Tadeusz Różewicz
Sam Shepard
N.F. Simpson
Tom Stoppard
ch.7. Post-absurdism?
The influence of the absurdist "movement"
Dramatic and theatrical conventions following the absurdist "movement"
(Later) female absurdists
The multicultural absurd?
Absurdism's legacy outside the theatre: fiction and poetry after the wake of the 1970s
Absurdism in pop culture
ch.8. Absurd criticism - Esslin
Esslin's contemporaries
The lull in absurd criticism
The resurgence of absurd criticism in the new millennium.

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