Absurdism in Literature

1. Absurdism in
Literature
Present by Mansi Gujadiya

2. Personal Information
Name:- Mansi B. Gujadiya
Roll No.:- 12
Enrollment Number:-4069206420220013
Sem :- 2 M.A
Paper No.:-110(a)
Paper Code:-22403
Paper Name:-History of English Literature From 1900 to 2000
Topic:- Absurdism in Literature
Submitted to:- Department of English MKBU
Email:- mansigajjar10131@gmail.com

3. • Introduction
Meaning of Absurdism
Characteristics
Example
Waiting for Godot
The Birthday Party
The Myth of Sisyphus
Absurdity in Hindi T.V
serial
Points to ponder

4. Introduction
● This term coined and first theorized by BBC
Radio drama critic Martin Esslin in a 1960.
● The “Theatre of the Absurd” is a literary and
theatrical term used to describe a disparate
group of avant-garde plays by a number of
mostly European or American avant-garde
playwrights and writers associated with this
movement like,
● Samuel Beckett, Harold Pinter Edward Albee,
Eugène Ionesco, and Jean Genet

5. Meaning
● Merriam-Webster Dictionary defines the term as
‘Theatre that seeks to represent the absurdity of human
existence in a meaningless universe by bizarre or
fantastic means.’
● According to Albert Camus absurdity as a confrontation,
an opposition, a conflict or a “divorce” between two
ideals.
● Boredom, meaninglessness, futility, and confusion. It also
highlights how different characters, events, and places
have been portrayed in the novel to depict the absurdity
of human existence.

6. ● Absurd theory is a prominent
offspring of the Second World War.
● The genre explores the futile and
existentialist nature of human life.
● The breaking down of all logic and
communication in a godless universe.
● absurdist works will not necessarily
have a traditional plot structure
Characteristics

7. Example
Invisible Man
by Ralph
Ellison
Slaughterhouse-
Five by Kurt
Vonnegut.
The Trial by
Franz Kafka
The Stranger by
Albert Camus
Waiting for Godot
by Samuel
Beckett
The Birthday Party
by Harold Pinter

8. • Samuel Becket’s “Waiting for Godot” written in
French 1948, is a play dedicated to the absurd.
• This work based on the belief that the universe is
irrational and meaningless and the search for order
brings the individual into conflict with the
universe.”
• Waiting for Godot” is the best example of absurd
literature where leafless tree and no development
of plot show human condition.
• This play totally deals with the life of a modern
man and its purposeless life.
Waiting for Godot

9. • The absurdity used by Pinter can sometimes be funny and
we can laugh at it, but his idea is to reflect how people felt
in their own realities.
• He uses this comical way to laugh at everything, even at
tragic situations.
• Another important feature of this play is the way how
words are used as weapons to avoid being hurt and not to
reveal the past.
• Explain how territory is inevitably related to personal
autonomy and security and how the characters achieve
this through their language.
• The funny and comic side of the play is revealed and
interpreted differently at the end of the play.
The Birthday Party

10. ● Camus uses the Greek legend of Sisyphus as a metaphor for the
human being’s constant struggle against the absurdities of life.
● Sisyphus was condemned for eternity to repeatedly roll a boulder
uphill, only to see it roll down in a never-ending cycle of physical
and mental labour.
● Sisyphus’ tragic fate is seen as one to rejoice at by Camus since his
theory of absurdism advocates the acceptance of human absurdity
and seeking contentment in that acceptance
The myth of Sisyphus

11. ● The concept of reincarnation and rebirth, where a character dies in
one life and is reborn as another character in the same show with a
completely different personality, backstory, and appearance.
● The portrayal of supernatural events and characters that defy
scientific explanation or logic.
● The Hindi serial “Naagin,” the lead character turns into a shape-
shifting snake to take revenge on her enemies, which is an absurd
and fantastical premise.
Absurdity in Hindi T.V. Serials

12. • Bennett, Michael Y. “Theatre of the Absurd.”
Literary and Critical Theory, 2020,
doi:10.1093/obo/9780190221911-0094.
• The Impact of Absurdism in “Waiting for Godot”
by Samuel Becket.
http://rdmodernresearch.org/wp
• -cSaraci/Terpollari, Marinela. “The Sense of
Insecurity and the Language of Pinter’s Absurd
Play the Birthday Party.” Mediterranean Journal
of Social Sciences, 2013,
https://doi.org/10.5901/mjss.2013.v4n11p384.
ontent/uploads/2016/05/205.pdf.
Resources

13. Thank you