The Theatre of the Absurd

The Theatre of the Absurd

In 1953, Samuel Beckettâ€™s Waiting for Godot premiered at a tiny avant-garde theatre in Paris; within five years, it had been translated into more than twenty languages and seen by more than a million spectators. Its startling popularity marked the emergence of a new type of theatre whose proponentsâ€”Beckett, Ionesco, Genet, Pinter, and othersâ€”shattered dramatic conventions and paid scant attention to psychological realism, while highlighting their charactersâ€™ inability to understand one another. In 1961, Martin Esslin gave a name to the phenomenon in his groundbreaking study of these playwrights who dramatized the absurdity at the core of the human condition.

Over four decades after its initial publication, Esslinâ€™s landmark book has lost none of its freshness. The questions these dramatists raise about the struggle for meaning in a purposeless world are still as incisive and necessary today as they were when Beckettâ€™s tramps first waited beneath a dying tree on a lonely country road for a mysterious benefactor who would never show. Authoritative, engaging, and eminently readable, The Theatre of the Absurd is nothing short of a classic: vital reading for anyone with an interest in the theatre.
Country USA
Brand Vintage
Manufacturer Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group
Binding Paperback
ItemPartNumber 9781400075232
Color Black
ReleaseDate 2004-01-06
UnitCount 1
EANs 9781400075232

Country	USA
Brand	Vintage
Manufacturer	Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group
Binding	Paperback
ItemPartNumber	9781400075232
Color	Black
ReleaseDate	2004-01-06
UnitCount	1
EANs	9781400075232

The Theatre of the Absurd

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