No description available.

This thesis examines the process of bringing Small Box with a Revolver from pre-writing to production at Southern Illinois University in March 2021, and my own growth in that process. I drew inspiration from the general societal behavior during the pandemic and other crises of 2020, as well as absurdist plays like Ionesco’s Rhinoceros and Beckett’s Waiting for Godot. The play was written to my stylistic preference of writing dark comedies about social issues.Chapter One examines where I began and how I developed the plot, characters and stylistic choices. Chapter Two examines the writing process, including initial peer and faculty feedback to the script. Chapter Three looks at the unique pre-production process in trying to bring Small Box with a Revolver to the stage, virtually. Chapter Four details the production itself, what I learned, and what further work I would like to do on the script. Chapter Five details my evaluation of my process throughout the MFA program as a playwright and professional, as well as my final considerations. Also included, is the production script.

No description available.

<p>Uppsatsen ingår i kursen Skapande svenska C, 30 hp, inom ämnet Litteraturvetenskap vid Umeå universitet</p>

No description available.

Even though parallels between the philosophy of Albert Camus and The Big Lebowski have been drawn repeatedly, a sustained enquiry into several possible dimensions of the matter is yet to have been conducted.This dissertation makes an attempt to conduct the aforementioned enquiry in some detail. In doing this, the study will try to analytically compare Camusian philosophy and Dudeism and bring out the similarities between them. This does not imply that there are no differences between the two; but the focus of this study is the similarities and not the differences. Dudeism, for the purpose of this study, will not be restricted to The Dude and the literature written on The Dude and Dudeism. It will also be expanded to accommodate certain other parts of the larger discourse of Ethan and Joel Coen’s filmography as well as a few other parts of The Big Lebowski itself. It is crucial, however, to “draw a line in the sand” (Walter, The Big Lebowski) at the very outset. In embarking on a comparative analysis between Camusian philosophy and Dudeism, this study does not intend to propose that one of them is influenced by the other and “what-have-you” ("The Editorial Preface" 12). Instead, it simply attempts to point out some of the discursive elements that they share with each other as well as with several of the sub-discourses they comprise of. The analysis in the dissertation that follows is split into three major chapters: 1. ‘Well, I’ll tell you what I’m blathering about’: An analytical frame of reference. 2. ‘You can’t be worried about that shit, life goes on, man’: Life, Death and Absurdity in Camus and Dudeism. 3. ‘Somebody this square community won’t give a shit about’: Camus’ Absurd Man and Dudeism The first chapter, “‘Well, I’ll tell you what I’m blathering about’: An analytical frame of reference”, provides an analytical framework for the discussions that follow in the rest of the dissertation. It is further divided into three sections. The first section lays out a basic understanding of a few fundamental ideas of Dudeism for the readers. The second section discusses a few important aspects of the philosophy of Albert Camus. The third section briefly establishes the connections between Dudeism and the philosophy of Camus which are examined in greater detail later in the study. The second chapter, “‘You can’t be worried about that shit, life goes on, man’: Life, Death and Absurdity in Camus and Dudeism” looks at Camus’ takes on Life, Death and Absurdity while also pointing out the parallels they seem to strike with Dudeism. The chapter is further divided into four sections. The first section examines strands of Camusian thought, especially the Absurd in the other films of Ethan and Joel Coen before establishing a connection to The Big Lebowski. The second section explores the attitudes towards Death in Camusian philosophy and Dudeism. The third section compares the ideologies of Life in the works of Camus and Dudeism. The fourth and final section explores parallels between Camus’ novel The Stranger and The Stranger: the cowboy narrator of The Big Lebowski. The third chapter picks up on the Camusian trope of the Absurd Man and its relation to Happiness in both: the works of Camus as well as the discourses of Dudeism. It comprises of three sections. The first section explores the notion of Alienation in Camusian philosophy and Dudeism and looks at how it eventually leads to the trope of the Absurd Man in Camus. The second section explores Camus’ creation of the Absurd Man through the Cycle of the Absurd and looks at how it fits into Dudeism. The third and final section delves into a comparison of the Absurd Man’s quest for Happiness in Camus and Dudeism. / M.A. Honours with Research in English

N/A

This essay examines The Myth of Sisyphus (1942), The Plague (1947), and The Rebel (1951). I have chosen these three works in an effort to triangulate Camus' intellectual development, his persistent interest in literature, and the historical background against which these take place. Sisyphus and The Rebel are Camus' two major philosophical essays. The former belongs to Camus' "First Cycle" of writing, in which he focused on the concept of "the Absurd"; the latter belongs to Camus' "Second Cycle", in which he focused on the theme of "revolt." Camus wrote The Myth of Sisyphus during the Nazi occupation of Paris, an event which he witnessed and experienced and which also served as the inspiration for his novel The Plague. Though the two books are connected by this event, thematically The Plague belongs to Camus' Second Cycle. For this reason, it serves as an illuminating work, demonstrating the importance of fiction to Camus' intellectual process and his particular way of thinking. From Sisyphus to The Rebel, Camus' argument for fiction comes down to the opportunity it offers to describe life rather than explain it. In his opinion, the best novelists exhibit the very philosophy that should generally govern human behavior. These novelists limit themselves to what they can be sure of – namely, their personal experiences; they patiently explore what it is like to live on this earth – how human beings deal with each other, manage their environments, and cope with the often tremendous complexities of life. Not co-incidentally, Camus' fiction took special interest in death of all kinds – from murder to sickness to suicide – in order to remind his readers that life is finite. According to Camus, writing fiction is a way to keep the reader conscious of the human condition, because good fiction plainly exhibits life as it is and death as our common fate. By reflecting on good literature, readers may form their own life ethic.

Syftet med denna undersökning är dels att undersöka existentialistiska och absurdistiska drag i Albert Camus romaner Främlingen och Pesten, dels undersöka hur Camus väljer att beskriva och framställa huvudkaraktärerna i respektive roman, dels analysera existentialismen och absurdismen i anslutning till de båda verken och hur dessa kan användas som redskap för att belysa problematiken kring psykisk ohälsa bland unga. En textanalys tillämpades på två romaner av Albert Camus Främlingen och Pesten. Resultaten visar att romanerna innehåller tankemotiv/drag av existentialismen och absurdismen och att dessa ismer återspeglas i relation till karaktärerna i romanerna. I Pesten skapas i existentialistiska termer en subjektiv och kollektiv mening i meningslösheten, vilket saknas i Främlingen. I Pesten skildras ett positivt exempel på hur man kan hantera livets meningslöshet medan i Främlingen revolterar människan mot det absurda, vilket i sin tur blir en revolt mot samhället, världen och skildras således som något negativt. Därav visar resultatet sammantaget att Pesten i större utsträckning lutar åt existentialismen och att existentialismen i Främlingen hamnar i skuggan av absurdismen. Resultatet visar även att Camus romaner i anslutning till den teoretiska utgångspunkten och skolans breda uppdrag i form av hälsan kan användas didaktiskt som underlag för samtal om psykisk ohälsa.

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.