Emergence of Absurdism: Theatre and Anti-Theatre in the Post-World War American Drama
Digvijay Pandya1, T. S. Sangha2
1Digvijay Pandya, Associate Professor, LPU, (Punjab), India.
2T. S. Sangha, Associate Professor, LPU, (Punjab), India.
Manuscript received on 04 May 2019 | Revised Manuscript received on 16 May 2019 | Manuscript Published on 23 May 2019 | PP: 451-454 | Volume-7 Issue-6S5 April 2019 | Retrieval Number: F10760476S519/2019©BEIESP
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© The Authors. Blue Eyes Intelligence Engineering and Sciences Publication (BEIESP). This is an open access article under the CC-BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/)
Abstract: The Present Research Paper Entitled “Emergence of Absurdism: Theatre And Anti-Theatre In The Post-World War Drama” Explores The Evolution of The Theatre of Absurd In The Post-World War European And American Drama. The Conspicuous Feature of These Plays Is The Loss of Self of The Protagonists Who Are Depicted Struggling In The Plays of Ionesco, Samuel Beckett, And Edward Albee. All The Major European And The American Playwrights Evolved Anti-Theatrical Techniques To Depict The Anxieties, Absurdities of Human Existence In Pursuance With The Existential Philosophy Propounded By Albert Camus And Jean Paul Sartre. The Loss of Self Is A Totally New Perspective In The Study of The Theatre of The Absurd. As Such, Ionesco, Beckett And Albee Are Confronted With The Baffling Problem of Depicting A Self That Seems To Have Lost Its Identity. Darwinism Led To The Formation of The Idea of The Machine-Man, The Image of The Mechanical Self. Keplar’s Laws And Freud’s Explorations of The Unconscious Brought Home The Realization That Man Is But An Infinitesimal Fraction of The Energy That Flows Through The Universe. In The Age of Freud And Einstein, God Ceased, As It Were, To Reveal Himself In Man.’ Declaring That “Modernism And Tragedy Are Incompatible”, Joseph Wood Krutch Had Rightly Pointed Out That Modern Malaise, Nausea, Angst, Alienation, Loss Of Identity, Entropy, Nihilism Were Forces That Had Dehumanized And Deflated The Heroes (79). Indeed, Modern Playwrights Lack Potential To Acknowledge “The Awareness Of The Reality Of Death” (Fromm 245).
Keywords: Conspicuous, Anti-Theatre, Absurdism, Alienation, Dehumanized, Nihilism, Existentialism, Entropy, Nausea, Angst.
Scope of the Article: Social Sciences