The study elucidates the relation of Tom Stoppard's play Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead to Hamlet on the one hand and to the Theatre of the Absurd on the other. The two plays chosen to represent the Theatre of the Absurd are Samuel Beckett1 s Waiting for Godot and Harold Pinter* s The Caretaker. Since Stoppard is admired as a master craftsman of language, the emphasis is on his use of language. The extent to which the use of the cliché characterizes the three absurd plays is examined. It is found that the language area covered by the term cliche is not clearly defined and that the term is not uniformly applied. The inquiry centres on finding features, such as repetition, music-hall passages and "ready-made" language, that could explain why the dialogue in the three plays might appear cliche-ridden and on comparing the three plays in respect of these features. 　 The study further draws parallels between Stoppard's play and Waiting for Godot in the use of various techniques, such as misunderstandings, anticlimax and afterthought. It is found that there is often a conscious adoption by Stoppard of Beckett's techniques. To clarify the relation of Stoppard's play to Hamlet various aspects of the two plays are studied. These aspects include changes introduced into stereotyped expressions, punning, the use of parody and the handling of two specific motives, madness and death. Parallels are found in spite of the fact that several centuries separate the two plays, not least in respect to style, technique and language. / digitalisering@umu

Izabela Laiblová Urban Dissertation "Václav Havel and Sławomir Mrożek - Theater of the Absurd behind the Iron Curtain" Abstract: Dissertation is devoted to the analysis of dramatic works of Václav Havel and Sławomir Mrożek in the context of the Theater of the Absurd, trying to answer the question whether it is possible to include plays of these East European writers into this literary movement. Dissertation discusses the impact of political, social and cultural situation on the entry of the Theater of the Absurd behind the Iron Curtain reflecting the perception of the trend in Czechoslovakia and Poland. It describes the key thematic areas of both authors' dramatic plays, such as the relationship between humans and the system, the individual and the group as well as type of dramatic characters. It focuses also on the language of Havel's and Mrożek's plays with its several characteristics, such as phraseology taken from the language of communist propaganda as well as combining different styles - official, administrative and others. The dissertation discusses the composition Havel's and Mrożek's with their significant differences, outlined by comparing the relationship "circle - funnel", respectively "circle - spiral". The research is focused mainly on early plays of both authors. In the case of Havel's plays...

This project charts the emergence of the Cuban Theatre of the Absurd, or teatro del absurdo, over the course of the 1940s, 50s, and 60s, its suppression by the revolutionary government, and its revival during the "Special Period" of the 1990s. Rather than understand the category as either an extension of the European Theatre of the Absurd, or as the invention of scholars intent on exporting such a schematic to Latin America, the Cuban teatro del absurdo should be recognized as a material phenomenon that evolved organically within the Havana theatre community, proposed a historically specific Cuban absurd as its object of representation, and assumed great ideological importance within the cultural and political landscape of the time. Its chief pioneer and practitioner was Virgilio Piñera, while José Triana and Antón Arrufat produced foundational absurdist works of the post-revolutionary period. Their plays and critical essays affirm the teatro del absurdo as a site of edification for audiences because of the anti-ideological nature of the works performed, and the authority these performances bestow on spectators as meaning creators. Because the teatro del absurdo opened conceptual space for difference in reception, while also operating as a cosmopolitan margin where European influences were incorporated within plays that spoke to the absurdity of Cuba's socio-political reality, it posed a threat to the univocal ideological control of the revolutionary government. The absurdo's resonance during the Special Period and within contemporary Cuban theatre is a testament to its enduring viability as a dynamic form that allows multiple truths and voices to be heard. Chapter one of the study explores the critical archive surrounding both the European Theatre of the Absurd and the Theatre of the Absurd in Latin America and Cuba. It argues that, rather than discard the category as imperfect or perpetuate a paradigm that privileges text over performance, critics should account for its unique ideological currency within the specific context of pre and post-revolutionary Cuba by tracking the material extension of the term and the works subsumed by it within Havana's theatre and performance archive. Chapter two investigates the historical basis of the Cuban absurdo, localizable in the concept of choteo, and maps the concept's valence in the context of 19th century teatro bufo as well as Piñera's early theatre of the 1940s and 50s. Chapter three considers the role of the teatro del absurdo in post-revolutionary Cuba by examining works by Piñera, Triana and Arrufat in conjunction with their critical essays of the time, in order to capture the political significance of the genre as a zone of dissidence and opposition to the total system of the revolution. Chapter four tracks the revival of the teatro del absurdo as a source of endurance during the privation of the Special Period of the 1990s. The re-emergence of voices like Piñera's signaled a return to a past of provocation and confrontation in order to generate a future in which space for difference would be preserved. / text

Arthur Miller's Death of a Salesman, 1949, is traditionally viewed as a modern tragedy. Ample evidence in the text, however, suggests that Miller leans also toward the convention of the Theatre of the Absurd. Miller uses several techniques, including an absurdist handling of set, time and space, thought, action, and language to contribute to the larger absurdist "poetic image" of the death of a salesman. And the thematic interpretation of that image in terms of character and audience suggests the perpetuation of illusion, a common absurdist theme.Because Miller effectively combines the absurdist with the realistic elements of the drama, an absurdist reading of the play does not negate its readings as tragedy and social realism, but rather enhances those readings, providing an important additional perspective from which to view the play. An absurdist reading also establishes a definite tie between this important twentieth century playwright and the influential absurdist convention in theatre. / Department of English

I denna uppsats har kontaktytorna mellan det sublima och det absurda undersökts utifrån hur Lyotard och Camus definierar respektive begrepp. Uppsatsen har utgått från en forskningssituation där få jämförelser mellan dessa begrepp – som i sig kan te sig undflyende och vaga – verkar finnas. Syftet med undersökningen har således varit att låta nya perspektiv på de båda begreppen träda fram genom deras relation till varandra. Utifrån jämförelsen mellan det sublima och det absurda kan det konstateras att det tycks finnas klara kontaktytor mellan begreppen. Dessa kontaktytor har yttrat sig genom att begreppen delar likheter i följande avseenden: (1) de är båda negativa begrepp, (2) de innefattar liknande kritik mot rationalism, (3) båda begreppen innefattar moment av en för subjektet inledande känsla av hämmande som övergår i en stärkande känsla, (4) de påvisar distansen mellan subjektet och världen, (5) båda innefattar liknande anspråk på konsten som ett slags materialiserad form av deras egen innebörd. Utöver dessa direkta kopplingar uppmärksammades att det Camus kort beskriver som ”känslan av det absurda” kan ses som analogt med det sublima, vilket skulle kunna innebära att den absurda insikten, såsom Camus beskriver den är direkt kopplad till en sublim känsla. Alla dessa aspekter hänger förvisso samman, men det intressanta är att Lyotard och Camus skriver om dem på liknande vis i sina respektive texter. Relationen mellan begreppen kan således uttydas inte endast i generella, utan i specifika likheter.

L’objectif de cet essai est d’interroger l’absurde en tant que catégorie esthétique dans le théâtre Dada et pré-surréaliste français, entre 1916 et 1923, et ce dans trois textes : La Première aventure céleste de Monsieur Antipyrine, de Tristan Tzara (1916), S’il vous plaît, d’André Breton et Philippe Soupault (écrit en 1919) et Les Mystères de l’amour, de Roger Vitrac (écrit en 1923).L’absurde en tant que catégorie de théâtre a été notamment interrogé à la moitié du siècle dernier par le critique de théâtre britannique Martin Esslin, auteur de la conception d’un « théâtre de l’absurde », mise en place afin de caractériser et d’expliquer l’oeuvre des avant-gardes contemporaines. Cette contribution jouit à la fois d’une grande popularité et a été l’objet de vives critiques, qui la qualifient d’imprécise sinon vague. À ce titre, la présente thèse, afin de définir l’absurde, ne reprend pas les propositions de M. Esslin, mais s’efforce de procéder de manière indépendante. Dans la conclusion, elle effectue une comparaison avec la conception de cet auteur.La première section de cette thèse définit l’absurde en tant qu’une catégorie esthétique et de théâtre ; puis, elle s’intéresse à l’évolution de l’absurde esthétique (formulé comme tel ou intuitif) dans l’histoire du théâtre, notamment en France dans la période postclassique. La deuxième section étudie l’absurde dans le corpus concerné en examinant les structures narratives ainsi que discursives. / The aim of this doctoral dissertation is to analyze the absurd as an aesthetic category in French Dada and pre-surrealist theatre between 1916 and 1923, dealing with three texts : La Première aventure céleste de Monsieur Antipyrine by Tristan Tzara (1916), S’il vous plaît, by André Breton et Philippe Soupault (written in 1919) and Les Mystères de l’amour by Roger Vitrac (written in 1923).The absurd as a theatre and drama category was examined especially at the half of the last century by the British drama critic Martin Esslin, author of the conception of the ‘theatre of the absurd’, created in order to caracterize and explain the avant-garde theatre of the 1950´s. This contribution has reached both popularity and deep critics, being considered as poignant as well as imprecise and vague. Thus, this dissertation does not use M. Esslin´s propositions as its starting point, bur attempts to define the category of the absurd in drama and theatre independently. In the conclusion, it proceeds to a comparison with M. Esslin´s contribution.The first chapter of the thesis defines the absurd as an aesthetic and theatre category. Then, it observes the evolution of the aesthetic absurd (named as such or intuitive) in theatre history, before all in France of the post-classical period. The second part analyzes the absurd elements in my corpus, as regards narrative and also discursive structures.

Esta tese visa a esmiudar, a partir de uma abordagem marcadamente intratextual, a questão do humor e da alegria em Tutaméia: terceiras estórias de Guimarães Rosa. No primeiro capítulo, apresentam-se considerações mais teóricas e gerais sobre o tema, que aparece, em Rosa, matizado pelas sombras da angústia, da dormência, do trágico; ambos, alegria e humor, espontam de uma hermenêutica inteiramente varada pela consciência do absurdo. No segundo capítulo, discute-se a relação entranhada da própria forma lacunar da obra com esse espírito intransparente, ao mesmo tempo melancólico e venturoso, que a constitui. No último capítulo, interpreta-se o prefácio Aletria e hermenêutica, esquadrinhando os artifícios de composição de parte de suas anedotas, e trazendo à luz a fabulação paradoxal, chistosa e sublime do texto. / This thesis aims to go through, from a markedly intratextual approach, the matter of humour and joy in Tutaméia: third stories by Guimarães Rosa. In the first chapter, rather theoretical and general considerations are presented on the theme that appears, in Rosa, tinted by the shadows of anguish, of dormancy, of the tragic; both, joy and humour altogether, emerging from a hermeneutic which is entirely transpassed by the awareness of the absurd. In the second chapter, is discussed the deeply rooted relationship of the lacunal form itself of this Rosas work with the opaque spirit that constitutes it, melancholic and blissful at the same time. In the last chapter, the preface Aletria and hermeneutics is interpreted, scrutinizing the composition artifices of part of its anecdotes, and bringing some light to the texts paradoxical fabulation, witty and sublime.

O desenvolvimento deste trabalho pautou-se em obras artísticas, engajadas politicamente, pertencentes ao macrossistema de Literaturas de língua portuguesa, a saber, uma Moçambicana: Um Rio chamado Tempo, uma Casa chamada Terra, de Mia Couto, e outra brasileira, Sombras de Reis Barbudos, de J.J. Veiga. A partir desse comparativismo entre os dois contextos, chegou-se a uma idéia do que é o fantástico contemporâneo, e procurou-se aprofundar o estudo sócio-cultural ressaltado nos conteúdos das duas obras. A temática \"opressão\" permitiu estudar as relações de poder e submissão entre as personagens das duas obras. Esta temática perpassou a análise crítico-literária fundamentando, filosoficamente, a atuação das personagens, reflexos muitas vezes da situação histórica vivenciada pelos autores. Semanticamente variada e polêmica, a palavra \"opressão\" prestou-se, nesta abordagem, a uma interpretação de possibilidade de um estudo sócio-cultural do momento em que as obras foram escritas, seguindo a linha filosófica desenvolvida pelo pensador alemão Sigmund Freud, no que se refere à interpretação do duplo. A pesquisa serviu-se de teóricos como Todorov, Caillois e Bessière, para a abordagem do gênero fantástico presente nas duas obras. Pelo fato de ter-se pesquisado toda a produção literária dos dois autores, sentiu-se a necessidade de citar outras obras, o que ajudou a estabelecer um diálogo entre as narrativas selecionadas e as demais obras dos dois escritores. Ao estudar as narrativas dos autores, pensou-se que fosse necessário uma inserção na história recente dos dois países cujo levantamento vem inserido nos anexos. Por não esquecer o contexto sócio-cultural da elaboração dos dois textos, é que a pesquisa espelha as circunstâncias históricas da época da criação das mesmas, sem deixar, contudo de perceber que a literatura vai além desse simples espelhar do real, pois a obra literária, além de dialogar com o mundo em que está inserida, dialoga com tempos e espaços outros que não os da realidade. A escolha desse tema se deu também pela indagação de ordem teórica, o que justifica a escolha do corpus, apresentado para estudo. / The development of this work is guided into artwork, politically engaged, belonging to the macrosystem of Literatures in English, namely, a Mozambican: A River called Tempo, a house call Earth, Mia Couto, and another Brazilian, Shadows of Kings Barbuda, from J.J. Veiga. From this comparative between the two contexts, it was an idea of what is the great contemporary, and tried to deepen the socio-cultural study highlighted in the contents of the two works. The theme oppression permitted to study the relationships of power and submission between the characters of the two works. This thematic been present throughout the literary-critical analysis reasons, philosophically, the actions of the characters, often reflected the historical situation experienced by the authors. Semantically varied and controversy, the word oppression is provided in this approach, the possibility of an interpretation of a study of socio-cultural moment in which the works were written, following the philosophical line developed by the German thinker Sigmund Freud, in refers to the interpretation of the double. The research was theoretical served as Todorov, Caillois and Bessière to the approach of gender in this fantastic two works. Because of having to be searched throughout the literature of the two authors, felt the need to quote other works, which helped to establish a dialogue between the narratives and other selected works of the two writers. By studying the narratives of the authors, it was thought it was a necessary insertion in the recent history of two countries whose survey is inserted in the annexes. Why not forget the socio-cultural context of the preparation of the two texts, is that the survey reflects the historical circumstances at the time of their creation, while, however, understand that the literature that goes beyond simple mirror of reality, because the literary work In addition to dialogue with the world around them, and argue with times and places other than the reality. The choice of this theme is also gave the theoretical question of order, hence the choice of the body, submitted for study

Trata-se de um ensaio teórico que propõe a aproximação entre a psicologia e a Filosofia do Absurdo de Albert Camus. Como condição de possibilidade para essa aproximação, são problematizadas as noções de ética e política, além da materialização dessas duas na noção proposta aqui de dissidenz, isto é, a dissidência propriamente absurda. É apresentada a possibilidade de recolocar como especificidade dessa psicologia não mais suas técnicas, referenciais, conteúdos ou métodos, mas, em lugar disso, priorizar a própria dimensão ética como meio e fim dessa psicologia. Ao invés da pretensão de buscar fundamentos no estreito âmbito da ciência ou mesmo na amplidão da filosofia, sugere-se como possibilidade para essa atuação o ocupar-se com a condução de si diante da condição humana perspectivada desde o absurdo. Para tanto, são propostos fundamentos e pressupostos éticos, políticos, ontológicos e epistemológicos derivados da Filosofia do Absurdo. Essa psicologia – intitulada neste trabalho de Psicologia Absurda – tem seu estatuto deslocado, passando agora a se afirmar como uma práxis filosófica que enseja o cuidado de si e dos outros mediado não mais por regras ou inclinações a priori, mas tão somente pelo poder ser derivado do movimento poético do próprio viver, este potencializado pela absurdidade constitutiva do ethos absurdo desenvolvido aqui. / This is a theoretical essay that proposes the approximation between psychology and philosophy of the Absurd of Albert Camus. As a possible condition for this approach are problematize the notions of ethics and politics, beyond the materialization of these two on the notion proposed here dissidenz, ie properly absurd dissent. It presented the possibility of replacing as specificity of psychology no longer their techniques, references, content or methods, but instead prioritize the very ethical dimension as a means and end of that psychology. Instead of pretense of seeking foundations in the narrow realm of science or even philosophy of spaciousness, it is suggested as a possibility for that role the mind with the driving itself on the human condition envisaged from the absurd. To this end, they propose fundamentals and ethical assumptions, political, ontological and epistemological derivatives Absurd Philosophy. This psychology – titled this work Absurda Psychology – have their displaced status, and will now be stated as a philosophical practice which entails care of themselves and others mediated not by rules or priori inclinations, but only by the power be derived the poetic movement's own life, this powered by the constituent absurdity nonsense ethos developed here.

Thesis (M.A.)--State University of New York at New Paltz, 2007. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 129-135). Online version available via the SUNY New Paltz Sojourner Truth Library : http://hdl.handle.net/1951/37396.