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1	Beckett, Barthelme, and Vonnegut : finding hope in meaninglessness Britten, Alex M. 16 April 2012 (has links) This thesis is a study of the shifting philosophical trends in the works of Samuel Beckett, Donald Barthelme, and Kurt Vonnegut as representations of a greater shift from modernism to postmodernism. I have chosen to explore Beckett's plays Waiting for Godot and Krapp's Last Tape, Barthelme's short stories "Nothing: A Preliminary Account," "The New Music," and "Kierkegaard Unfair to Schlegal," and Vonnegut's book Timequake to see how each author seeks to find a new hope in the face of a collapsed causal system. This work is an examination of the form and content of each author's work as it pertains to their own philosophical standing and in relation to the other two authors' works. I argue that each author finds a different hope for humanity depending on their place among the philosophical trends during their time. / Graduation date: 2012 Barthelme Beckett Vonnegut Death of God Existentialist Modernism Postmodernism meaninglessness existentialism sublime humanism nothingness Kant Timequake Waiting for Godot Sixty Stories Krapp's Last Tape The New Music Kierkegaard Unfair to Schlegal Nothing: a Preliminary Account Palm Sunday structuralism Nietzsche humanist delight causal causality post-structuralism philosophical trends real symbolic semiotic Alex Britten Vonnegut, Kurt -- Philosophy Barthelme, Donald -- Philosophy Beckett, Samuel, 1906-1989 -- Philosophy Hope in literature

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Beckett, Barthelme, and Vonnegut : finding hope in meaninglessness