
The Theatre of the Absurd
Martin Esslin(Author)
Bloomsbury Academic (Publisher)
Published on 23. October 2014
Book
Paperback/Softback
432 pages
978-1-4725-7702-3 (ISBN)
Description
The 'Theatre of the Absurd' has become a familiar term to describe a group of radical European playwrights - writers such as Samuel Beckett, Eugene Ionesco, Jean Genet and Harold Pinter - whose dark, funny and humane dramas wrestled profoundly with the meaningless absurdity of the human condition. It is a testament to the power and insight of Martin Esslin's landmark work, originally published in 1961, that its title should enter the English language in the way that it has.
Now available in the Bloomsbury Revelations series with a new preface by Marvin Carlson, The Theatre of the Absurd remains to this day a clear-eyed work of criticism on a compelling period of European writing.
Now available in the Bloomsbury Revelations series with a new preface by Marvin Carlson, The Theatre of the Absurd remains to this day a clear-eyed work of criticism on a compelling period of European writing.
More details
Series
Language
English
Place of publication
London
United Kingdom
Publishing group
Bloomsbury Publishing PLC
Target group
College/higher education
Professional and scholarly
Product notice
Paperback (trade)
Unsewn / adhesive bound
Dimensions
Height: 216 mm
Width: 136 mm
Thickness: 2 mm
Weight
553 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-4725-7702-3 (9781472577023)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Previous edition

Martin Esslin
The Theatre of the Absurd
Book
04/2001
Methuen Drama
€39.80
Article exhausted; check for reprint
Person
Martin Esslin OBE (1918-2002) was a prolific dramatist, producer and translator, as well as being one of the most perceptive theatre critics of the 20th century.
Content
Acknowledgements
Foreword Forty Years On
Introduction: The Absurdity of the Absurd
1. Samuel Beckett: The Search for the Self
2. Arthur Adamov: The Curable and the Incurable
3. Eugene Ionesco: Theatre and Anti-Theatre
4. Jean Genet: A Hall of Mirrors
5. Harold Pinter: Certainties and Uncertainties
6. Parallels and Proselytes
7. The Tradition of the Absurd
8. The Significance of the Absurd
9. Beyond the Absurd
Bibliography 1: The Dramatists of the Absurd
Bibliography 2: Background and History of the Theatre of the Absurd
Index
Foreword Forty Years On
Introduction: The Absurdity of the Absurd
1. Samuel Beckett: The Search for the Self
2. Arthur Adamov: The Curable and the Incurable
3. Eugene Ionesco: Theatre and Anti-Theatre
4. Jean Genet: A Hall of Mirrors
5. Harold Pinter: Certainties and Uncertainties
6. Parallels and Proselytes
7. The Tradition of the Absurd
8. The Significance of the Absurd
9. Beyond the Absurd
Bibliography 1: The Dramatists of the Absurd
Bibliography 2: Background and History of the Theatre of the Absurd
Index