1. Summary
A:- Albert Camus defines the absurd as the tension created by humanity's need for meaning and the universe's refusal to provide any. We can find no evidence for the existence of God, so all we are left with is an indifferent universe where bad things happen without a higher purpose or justification.
Absurdism is a unified movement that started in 1950s Paris, France.
Absurdism tackles these questions and more, examining the tension between our need for meaning and the universe's refusal to provide it. Absurdity became a serious philosophical problem in the 20th century, an era that saw two World Wars. Twentieth-century philosophers, prose writers, and dramatists turned their attention to this problem and tried to present and confront it in prose and drama.
Absurdism's meaning in literature-
The absurd
Albert Camus defines the absurd as the tension created by humanity's need for meaning and the universe's refusal to provide any. We can find no evidence for the existence of God, so all we are left with is an indifferent universe where bad things happen without a higher purpose or justification.
In literature, Absurdism refers to literary works produced from the 1950s to the 1970s that present and explore the absurd nature of existence. They took a good look at the fact that there is no inherent meaning in life, yet we keep on living and keep trying to find meaning. This was achieved by being themselves absurd in form or plot, or both. Literary absurdity involves the use of unusual language, characters, dialogue and plot structure that give works of absurdist literature the quality of ridiculousness (absurdity in its common definition).
Although 'Absurdism' as a term does not refer to a unified movement, we can, nonetheless, view the works of Samuel Beckett, Eugene Ionesco, Jean Genet, and Harold Pinter, among others, as constituting a movement. The works of these playwrights all focused on the absurd nature of the human condition.
Absurdism refers broadly to all types of literature, including fiction, short stories, and poetry (such as Beckett's) that deal with the absurdity of being human. When we speak of the Absurdist plays composed by these playwrights, this movement is specifically known as 'The Theatre of the Absurd' - a term assigned by Martin Esslin in his 1960 essay of the same title.
Origins and influences of Absurdism in literature
Absurdism was influenced by several artistic movements, writers, and playwrights. For example, it was influenced by Alfred Jarry's avant-garde play Ubu Roi which was performed only once in Paris in 1986. The play is a satire of Shakespearean plays that uses bizarre costumes and strange, unrealistic language while providing little backstory for the characters. These bizarre features influenced the artistic movement of Dadaism, and in turn, the Absurdist playwrights.
The philosophy of Absurdism, developed by French philosopher Albert Camus, emerged as a response to the problem of the Absurd, as an antidote to nihilism, and as a departure from existentialism. Let's start at the beginning - of the philosophical Absurd.
Definition of Absurdity
In Lewis Carroll's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, Alice experiences a world that is primarily nonsensical, meaning it is incongruous, absurd, or invites ridicule. Gardeners who paint white roses red, strange food that makes one shrink or expand to giant size, and caterpillars who ask perplexing philosophical questions are only a small sampling of the absurd that Alice encounters.
Ahead of his time, Carroll delved into avant-garde (experimental and provocative new techniques in a field) themes that would characterize several writers in the mid-twentieth century. The use of absurdity in literature is a vehicle for writers to explore those elements in the world that do not make sense. It examines questions of meaning and life, and writers often use absurd themes, characters, or situations to question whether meaning or structure exists at all. Let's dig a little more deeply into what exactly is absurd in literature and then discuss the seeming paradox of using structure to suggest there is not structure.
Examples of Absurdity
When we think of absurdity in literature, historical context plays a hugely significant role. In the 1950's, people faced the devastation of two world wars, a disillusionment with modernism and rationalism, as well as a more liberal approach to what was traditional faith. Without the framework of a stable social structure or grounding beliefs in religious realities, as well as being faced with questions about the reliability of the human psyche, thinkers of the day turned to such ideologies as existentialism, which goes very comfortably hand-in-hand with absurdity.
The Theatre of the Absurd was a movement identified by Martin Esslin. Absurdist plays were distinguished from traditional plays by their exploration of the absurdity of the human condition and the anguish this absurdity inspired at the level of form and plot.
Existentialism places a human being at the starting point of thought and emphasizes the bewilderment such an individual feels in the face of a meaningless and lonely world. Separate from other individuals and alienated from the world itself, a human being is left to wander alone and is much more susceptible to mass manipulation and government control.
Writers who used these existential ideologies as an impetus for writing include Franz Kafka, Albert Camus, Samuel Beckett, Tom Robbins, Kurt Vonnegut, and many others. These writers went against conventional literary structure that said there had to be strong correlative relationships between setting, character, plot, etc. In other words, the writers did not only introduce ideas of meaninglessness into the content, but also wove meaninglessness into the very structure of the story by breaking down these conventional relationships. Let's look at Kafka's short story 'Metamorphosis' as an example.
Beckett's absurdist plays had a huge impact on other Absurdist playwrights and on the literature of the absurd as a whole. Beckett's most famous plays are Waiting for Godot (1953), Endgame (1957), and Happy Days (1961).
2. The philosophy of Absurdism
A:- The philosophy of Absurdism, developed by French philosopher Albert Camus, emerged as a response to the problem of the Absurd, as an antidote to nihilism, and as a departure from existentialism. Let's start at the beginning - of the philosophical Absurd.
Nihilism
Nihilism is the rejection of moral principles as a response to the meaninglessness of existence. If there is no God, then there is no objective right or wrong, and anything goes. Nihilism is a philosophical problem that philosophers try to tackle. Nihilism presents a moral crisis since if we abandon moral principles, the world would become an extremely hostile place.
Existentialism
Existentialism is a response to the problem of nihilism (the rejection of moral principles in the face of life's meaninglessness). Existentialists argue that we can deal with the lack of objective meaning by creating our own meaning in our lives.
The Absurdism examples: The Theatre of the Absurd
The Theater of the Absurd was a movement identified by Martin Esslin. Absurdist plays were distinguished from traditional plays by their exploration of the absurdity of the human condition and the anguish this absurdity inspired at the level of form and plot.
Although the early Absurdist plays of Jean Genet, Eugene Ionesco, and Samuel Beckett were mostly written around the same time in the same place, in Paris, France, the Theatre of the Absurd is not a conscious or unified movement.
We'll be focusing on two key Absurdist dramatists. Samuel Beckett and Eugene Ionesco.
Samuel Beckett (1906-1989)
Samuel Beckett was born in Dublin, Ireland, but lived in Paris, France for the majority of his life. Beckett's absurdist plays had a huge impact on other Absurdist playwrights and on the literature of the absurd as a whole. Beckett's most famous plays are Waiting for Godot (1953), Endgame (1957), and Happy Days (1961).
3. Characteristics of Absurdism in literature
A:- As we have learned, 'absurdity' means much more than 'ridiculousness', but it would be wrong to say that absurd literature doesn't have a quality of ridiculousness. Absurdist plays, for example, are very ridiculous and strange, as the two examples above have illustrated. But the ridiculousness of absurdist literature is a way of exploring the ridiculous nature of life and of the struggle for meaning.
Absurdist literary works express the absurdity of life in aspects of plot, form, and more. Absurd literature, particularly in absurdist plays, are defined by the following unusual features:
Unusual plots that don't follow conventional plot structures, or entirely lack a plot. The plot is composed of futile events and disjointed actions to express the futility of life. Think of the circular plot of Waiting for Godot, for example.
Time is also distorted in Absurdist literature. It is often hard to pin down how much time has passed. For example, in Waiting for Godot, it is hinted that the two tramps have been waiting for Godot for fifty years.
Unusual characters without backstories and defining characteristics, who often feel like stand-ins for all of humanity. Examples include The Old Man and The Old Woman from The Chairs and the mysterious Godot.
Unusual dialogue and language are composed of clichés, nonsensical words, and repetitions, which make for disjointed and impersonal dialogues between characters. This comments on the difficulty of effectively communicating with one another.
Unusual settings that reflect the theme of absurdity. For example, Beckett's Happy Days (1961) is set in a post-apocalyptic world, where a woman is submerged up to her shoulders in a desert.
Comedy is often an element in Absurdist plays, as many are tragicomedies, containing comic elements like jokes and slapstick. Martin Esslin argues that the laughter that the Theatre of the Absurd evokes is freeing:
It is a challenge to accept the human condition as it is, in all its mystery and absurdity, and to bear it with dignity, nobly, responsibility; precisely because there are no easy solutions to the mysteries of existence, because ultimately man is alone in a meaningless world. The shedding of easy solutions, of comforting illusions, may be painful, but it leaves behind it a sense of freedom and relief. And that is why, in the last resort, the theatre of the absurd does not provoke tears of despair but the laughter of liberation.
- Martin Esslin, The Theatre of the Absurd (1960).
Through the element of comedy, Absurdist literature invites us to recognise and accept the absurd so that we can be liberated from the constraints of the pursuit of meaning and simply enjoy our meaningless existence, just as the audience enjoys the comic absurdity of Beckett or Ionesco's plays.