subject of despair and the will to survive in spite of that despair, in the face of an uncomprehending and, indeed, incomprehensible world. . 9.[r]
(1)DRAMA II
MODERN DRAMA
(2)SYNOPSIS
An Introduction to
1. Philosophical Background of Waiting for Godot
Theatre of Absurd Existentialism
The Paradox of Consciousness
2. Becket: Critical Analysis (Analytical Mapping)
Characters
(3)The Theatre of Absurd and
Samuel Beckett (19061989)
(4)Beckett is one of the most widely discussed and highly prized of twentieth century authors, inspiring a critical industry to rival that which has sprung up around James Joyce.
Samuel Beckett depicted on an Irish
commemorative coin celebrating the 100th Anniversary of his birth
(5) Of all the Englishlanguage modernists, Beckett's work
represents the most sustained attack on the realist
tradition.
He, more than anyone else, opened up the possibility of
drama and fiction that dispense with conventional plot
and the unities of place and time in order to focus on essential components of the human condition.
Writers like Václav Havel, John Banville, Aidan Higgins
and Harold Pinter have publicly stated their indebtedness to Beckett's example, but he has had a much wider influence on experimental writing since the 1950s, from the Beat generation to the happenings of the 1960s and beyond.
(6)Philosophical Background of
Waiting for Godot
1 Effects of World War II (62
million people killed [37.5 million in WWI];
2 12 million in concentration
camps ;
3 Atomic bomb and the promise of
annihilation)
(7)(No Exit by Sartre) absurd content but rational form or presentation
(No Exit by Sartre) absurd content but rational form or presentation
(8) The term "Theatre of the Absurd" was coined by Martin
Esslin in a book of the same name; Beckett and Godot were centerpieces of the book.
Esslin claimed these plays were the fulfillment of Albert
Camus's concept of "the absurd"; this is one reason Beckett is often falsely labeled as an existentialist.
The Theatre of the Abs urd and Samuel Beckett
(9) Though many of the themes are similar,
Beckett had little affinity for existentialism as a whole.
Broadly speaking, the plays deal with the
subject of despair and the will to survive in spite of that despair, in the face of an uncomprehending and, indeed, incomprehensible world.
(10) The words of Nell—one of the two characters in Endgame
who are trapped in ashbins, from which they occasionally
peek their heads to speak—can best summarize the themes of the plays of Beckett's middle period:
Nothing is funnier than unhappiness, I grant you that. Yes, yes, it's the most comical thing in the world. And we laugh, we laugh, with a will, in the beginning. But it's always the same thing. Yes,
it's like the funny story we have heard too often, we still find it funny, but we don't laugh any
more.