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Reassessing The Theatre Of The Absurd: Parabolic Drama And The Question Of Absurdity

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dc.contributor.advisorJenny S. Spencer
dc.contributor.advisorJames Freeman
dc.contributor.advisorDavid Lenson
dc.contributor.authorBennett, Michael Y
dc.contributor.departmentUniversity of Massachusetts - Amherst
dc.date2023-09-23T09:07:52.000
dc.date.accessioned2024-04-26T15:06:54Z
dc.date.available2014-06-04T00:00:00Z
dc.date.issued2009-05-01
dc.description.abstractEntitled “Reassessing the Theatre of the Absurd: Parabolic Drama and the Question of Absurdity,” my dissertation interrogates the conventional idea that the Theatre of the Absurd contemplates the purposelessness of life by re-examining some of the major plays of Beckett, Ionesco, Genet and Pinter. I suggest that the plays of the Theatre of the Absurd are, instead, ethical texts that contemplate how life can be made meaningful. I argue that Martin Esslin’s 1961 characterization of such work as “absurd” does not take into account a fully informed reading of Camus, and thus Esslin’s reading does not see the extent to which meaningfulness is fundamental to such cultural productions. Therefore, I push for a rereading of these plays and playwrights that allows for decidedly meaning-making conclusions. Using an up-to-date understanding of Camus’ philosophy as a theoretical frame, I engage with the long history of Theatre of the Absurd criticism, performance histories and reviews, the genre of the parable, philosophy and performance studies. My dissertation, ultimately, argues against a strictly absurd reading and, instead, positions such work within the larger realm of ethics (in the general vein of Camus).
dc.description.degreeDoctor of Philosophy (PhD)
dc.description.departmentEnglish and American Literature
dc.identifier.doihttps://doi.org/10.7275/5648991
dc.identifier.urihttps://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14394/16905
dc.relation.urlhttps://scholarworks.umass.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1075&context=dissertations_1&unstamped=1
dc.source.statuspublished
dc.subjectCommunication and the arts
dc.subjectLanguage
dc.subjectliterature and linguistics
dc.subjectAlbert Camus
dc.subjectEugene Ionesco
dc.subjectHarold Pinter
dc.subjectJean Genet
dc.subjectSamuel Beckett
dc.subjectTheatre of the Absurd
dc.subjectCamus
dc.subjectAlbert
dc.subjectIonesco
dc.subjectEugene
dc.subjectGenet
dc.subjectJean
dc.subjectBeckett
dc.subjectSamuel
dc.subjectComparative Literature
dc.subjectLiterature in English, British Isles
dc.subjectTheatre and Performance Studies
dc.titleReassessing The Theatre Of The Absurd: Parabolic Drama And The Question Of Absurdity
dc.typecampus
dc.typearticle
dc.typedissertation
digcom.contributor.authorBennett, Michael Y
digcom.date.embargo2014-06-04T00:00:00-07:00
digcom.identifierdissertations_1/76
digcom.identifier.contextkey5648991
digcom.identifier.submissionpathdissertations_1/76
dspace.entity.typePublication
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