Literature of the Absurd

Literature of the Absurd

1. Introduction: Absurd literature is a genre of literature that explores the existential notion of the absurdity of human existence. It portrays characters and situations that highlight the meaninglessness, irrationality, and futility of life.

2. Key Definitions ideas:

Albert Camus defines the absurd as the tension created by humanity's need for meaning and the universe's refusal to provide any. We can find no evidence for the existence of God, so all we are left with is an indifferent universe where bad things happen without a higher purpose or justification.

Kierkegaard developed the idea of the absurd in his philosophy. For Kierkegaard, the absurd is the paradox of God being eternal and infinite, yet also being incarnated as the finite, human Jesus. Because the nature of God makes no sense, we cannot believe in God through reason. This means that to believe in God, one must take a leap of faith and make the choice to believe anyway.

3. Historical Overview: Key takeaways

• The Absurd is the tension created by humanity's need for meaning and the universe's refusal to provide any.

• Absurdism refers to literary works produced from the 1950s to the 1970s that present and explore the absurd nature of existence by being themselves absurd in form or plot, or both.

• The Absurdist movement in the 1950s-70s was influenced by the dramatist Alfred Jarry, the prose of Franz Kafka, as well as the artistic movements of Dadaism and Surrealism.

• The Danish 19th-century philosopher Søren Kierkegaard came up with the idea of the Absurd, but it was fully developed into a philosophy by Albert Camus in The Myth of Sisyphus. Camus thinks that in order to be happy in life we should embrace the Absurd and enjoy our lives anyway. The pursuit of meaning only leads to more suffering because there is no meaning to be found.

• The Theatre of the Absurd explored ideas of absurdity through unusual plots, characters, settings, dialogues, etc. Two key Absurdist dramatists are Samuel Becket, who wrote the influential playWaiting for Godot (1953), and Eugene Ionesco, who wrote The Chairs (1952).

 4. Characteristics of Literature of the Absurd

Absurdist literary works express the absurdity of life in aspects of plot, form, and more. Absurd literature, particularly in absurdist plays, are defined by the following unusual features:

• Unusual plots that do not follow conventional plot structures, or  entirely lack a plot. The plot is composed of futile events and disjointed actions to express the futility of life.  For example, Circular plot of Waiting for Godot. 

• Time is also distorted in Absurdist literature. It is often hard to pin down how much time has passed. For example, in Waiting for Godot, it is hinted that the two tramps have been waiting for Godot for fifty years.

• Unusual characters without backstories and defining characteristics, who often feel like stand-ins for all of humanity. Examples include The Old Man and The Old Woman from The Chairs and the mysterious Godot.

• Unusual dialogue and language are composed of clichés, nonsensical words, and repetitions, which make for disjointed and impersonal dialogues between characters. This comments on the difficulty of effectively communicating with one another.

• Unusual settings that reflect the theme of absurdity. For example, Beckett's Happy Days (1961) is set in a post-apocalyptic world, where a woman is submerged up to her shoulders in a desert.

• Comedy is often an element in Absurdist plays, as many are tragicomedies, containing comic elements like jokes and slapstick. Martin Esslin argues that the laughter that the Theatre of the Absurd evokes is freeing.

5. Notable writers and their works :

• Samuel Beckett: Waiting for Godot, Endgame, Krapp's Last Tape

• Albert Camus: The Stranger , The Myth of Sisyphus ,The Plague

• Eugène Ionesco: The Bald Soprano ,Rhinoceros, The Chairs

• Jean-Paul Sartre: No Exit, Nausea

• Franz Kafka: The Metamorphosis, The Trial, The Castle

• Jean Genet: The Balcony, The Maids, The Thief's Journal

• Harold Pinter:The Birthday Party, The Caretaker, The Homecoming

• Edward Albee: Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, The Zoo Story, Three Tall Women

6. Conclusion: Absurdism is the belief that the human condition is absurd because we can never find objective meaning in the world because there is no evidence of a higher power. The Absurd is this tension between our need for meaning and the lack of it. The philosophy of Absurdism, as developed by Albert Camus, also carries with it the belief that, because the human condition is so absurd, we should rebel against absurdity by abandoning the quest for meaning and just enjoying our lives.