A COMPARATIVE STUDY OF EUGENE IONESCO AND JEAN GENET IN ABSURD THEATRE
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.29121/granthaalayah.v10.i6.2022.4650Keywords:
Absurdity, Bleak Atmosphere, Eugene Ionesco, Isolated World, Jean Genet, Psychic Reality, Role-playingAbstract [English]
The post-war world in the aftermath of Second World War has witnessed tumultuous changes in the society. All that had been considered sacrosanct till then, no longer enjoyed their dominance since it became natural to subject everything to question. Almost all spheres of life were severely influenced by the heart-wrenching effects of the catastrophic war. The degenerated human being suddenly looked for responses in an isolated world which he thought would heal him at that juncture. Under such bleak circumstances, playwrights around the world felt the heat to try out new ways to communicate their messages to the society. The Theatre of the Absurd was the apt medium of the time to realign theatrical performances to the changing realities of the world. Pioneers in this genre of theatre such as Eugene Ionesco and Jean Genet composed their plays to tap the dying conscience of human society. This paper considers Ionesco’s The Chairs and Genet’s The Balcony in absurd theatre and aims to bring out the different aspects of absurdity as applied by the playwrights in their respective plays. It also attempts to show that irrespective of differences between them, how both the dramatists were successful in conveying their well-intended messages to their audiences.
Downloads
References
Camus, A. (1955). The Myth of Sisyphus and Other Essays, translated by Justin O'Brien. https://www.worldcat.org/title/myth-of-sisyphus-and-other-essays/oclc/12855055
Esslin, M. (2001). The Theatre of the Absurd (3rd ed.). Thomson Press. file:///C:/Users/lenovo/Downloads/1588708098-the-theatre-of-the-absurd-vintage-ebooks-2001.pdf
Genet, J. (2016). The Balcony, edited by B. Mangalam. Worldview Publications. https://www.amazon.in/BALCONY-Worldview-Critical-Editions/dp/8186423664
Ionesco, E. (2000). Rhinoceros. The Chairs. The Lesson, translated by Derek Prouse and Donald Watson. Penguin Books. https://www.worldcat.org/title/rhinoceros-the-chairs-the-lesson/oclc/919725163
Liu, C. & Wang, H. (2018). An Analysis of the Characters in Jean Genet's The Balcony. International Journal of Management and Applied Science, 4(9), 64-68. http://www.iraj.in/journal/journal_file/journal_pdf/14-504-154287873464-68.pdf
Madan, D. (2016). The Absurdity of the Absurd: The Meta Narrative of Nothingness. International Journal on Studies in English Language and Literature, 4(4), 18-21. https://doi.org/10.20431/2347-3134.0403003 DOI: https://doi.org/10.20431/2347-3134.0403003
Omar, A. N. (2020). An Artaudian Study of Jean Genet's The Balcony. The Scientific Journal of Cihan University, 3(2), 69-82. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/338670552_An_Artaudian_Study_of_Jean_Genet's_The_Balcony
Patel, P. K. (2021). Illusion of reality, existential dread and broken communication as the major themes depicted in Eugene Ionesco's 'The Chairs'. International Journal of English Literature and Social Sciences, 6(2), 287-290. https://doi.org/10.22161/ijels.62.40 DOI: https://doi.org/10.22161/ijels.62.40
Sharadgeh, S. (2018). The Theatre of the Absurd. Journal of Studies in Social Sciences, 17(2), 173-182. https://infinitypress.info/index.php/jsss/article/view/1775#:~:text=Journal%20of%20Studies%20in%20Social%20Sciences,-User&text=The%20Theatre%20of%20Absurd%20was,Esslin%20made%20the%20form%20popular.
Singh, N. (2013). Subversion through Inversion. Lapis Lazuli - An International Literary Journal, 3(2), 14-27. http://pintersociety.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/Neha-Singh-2.pdf
Suthar, S. (2016). The Old man of The Chairs as a Symbol of Absurdity. International Journal of Social Impact, 1(1), 64-66. https://ijsi.in/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/18-02-009-20160101.pdf
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2022 Sudhansu Sekhar Panda
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
With the licence CC-BY, authors retain the copyright, allowing anyone to download, reuse, re-print, modify, distribute, and/or copy their contribution. The work must be properly attributed to its author.
It is not necessary to ask for further permission from the author or journal board.
This journal provides immediate open access to its content on the principle that making research freely available to the public supports a greater global exchange of knowledge.
