Camus's Absurdism: Edward Albee’s Zoo Story(1958),Amiri Baraka’s Dutchman(1964) and Adrienne Kennedy’s Funnyhouse of a Negro(1964).
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Date
2023
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Publisher
Mouloud Mammeri University of Tizi –Ouzou
Abstract
This dissertation explores the philosophy of the Absurd in Edward Albee’s Zoo Story (1958), Amiri Baracka’s Dutchman (1964) and Adrienne Kennedy’s Funnyhouse of a Negro (1964) in light of Albert Camus’s theoretical concepts of the absurd as developed in his essay “The Myth of Sisyphus” (1942). To unveil common aspects of Absurdism, in the three plays, I divided this dissertation into three chapters. In the first chapter, I have dealt with the crisis of identity that the main characters in the three plays have suffered from. In the second chapter, I focused on character's alienation and how they isolate themselves from the real world as they see it devoid of meaning. The last chapter examines violence, death and race relationships within the three plays that ironically led them to commit suicide. The main objective of this dissertation is to expose the struggle of modern man, more precisely American one against his absurdist existence. In fact, all characters within the three plays are alienated from the rest of the world. They are tortured by their real world; therefore, each one tries to find a way out. Unfortunately, they resort to verbal violence at first, which becomes latter on physical, leading to their death. Like any Absurdist character as explained by Camus, our characters are struggling to give meaning to their existence and escaping their isolation. Furthermore, the characters’ loneliness greatly affected them. They had resorted to violence to escape their isolation.
Description
59p. ; 30cm. (+CD-Rom)
Keywords
Absurdism, loneliness, violence, suicide, Albee, Amiri, Adrienne
Citation
Literature and Civilization