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The Theatre Of The Absurd
We're not beginning … to … to … mean something?
Mean something? You and I mean something?
(from 'Endgame' by Samuel Beckett) Martin Esslin coined the phrase 'Theatre of the Absurd' in this ground-breaking book, and the term has become part of the language just as this book has become an indispensable part of any literature and drama the definitive study of the playwrights who have dramatised the fundamental absurdity of the human condition. In this readable and illuminating work - still a classic of theatre studies - Esslin shows how Beckett, Ionesco, Genet, Pinter and others have confronted a world in which there is no communication and where man flounders in a void, cut off from his roots and shorn of all certainties."A seminal work" (Independent)
"An exciting and stimulating book, a very useful reference work and a standard textbook" (Literary Review)
Mean something? You and I mean something?
(from 'Endgame' by Samuel Beckett) Martin Esslin coined the phrase 'Theatre of the Absurd' in this ground-breaking book, and the term has become part of the language just as this book has become an indispensable part of any literature and drama the definitive study of the playwrights who have dramatised the fundamental absurdity of the human condition. In this readable and illuminating work - still a classic of theatre studies - Esslin shows how Beckett, Ionesco, Genet, Pinter and others have confronted a world in which there is no communication and where man flounders in a void, cut off from his roots and shorn of all certainties."A seminal work" (Independent)
"An exciting and stimulating book, a very useful reference work and a standard textbook" (Literary Review)
480 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1961
95 people are currently reading
2389 people want to read
About the author
Martin Esslin
47 books29 followersMartin Julius Esslin OBE (6 June 1918 – 24 February 2002) was a Hungarian-born English producer and playwright dramatist, journalist, adaptor and translator, critic, academic scholar and professor of drama best known for coining the term "Theatre of the Absurd" in his work of that name (1961).
Born Julius Pereszlényi (Hungarian: Pereszlényi Gyula Márton) in Budapest, Esslin moved to Vienna with his family at a young age. He studied Philosophy and English at the University of Vienna and also graduated from the Reinhardt Seminar as a producer. Of Jewish descent, he fled Austria in the wake of the Anschluss of 1938.
Esslin defined the 'Theatre of the Absurd' as that which
Esslin's definition encompassed not only Beckett's works but those of Sławomir Mrożek, Eugène Ionesco, Harold Pinter, Jean Genet, Günter Grass and Edward Albee amongst others.
He began working for the BBC in 1940, serving as a producer, script writer and broadcaster. He was head of BBC Radio Drama 1963-77, having previously worked for the external European Service. After leaving the BBC he held senior academic posts at Florida State and Stanford Universities.
He also adapted and translated many works from the original German, for example many plays of Wolfgang Bauer between 1967 and 1990. Original works included the seminal Theatre of the Absurd, and The Field of Drama.
Esslin died in London on February 24, 2002 after a long battle with Parkinson's disease.
Source: Wikipedia
Born Julius Pereszlényi (Hungarian: Pereszlényi Gyula Márton) in Budapest, Esslin moved to Vienna with his family at a young age. He studied Philosophy and English at the University of Vienna and also graduated from the Reinhardt Seminar as a producer. Of Jewish descent, he fled Austria in the wake of the Anschluss of 1938.
Esslin defined the 'Theatre of the Absurd' as that which
"The Theatre of the Absurd strives to express its sense of the senselessness of the human condition and the inadequacy of the rational approach by the open abandonment of rational devices and discursive thought."
Esslin's definition encompassed not only Beckett's works but those of Sławomir Mrożek, Eugène Ionesco, Harold Pinter, Jean Genet, Günter Grass and Edward Albee amongst others.
He began working for the BBC in 1940, serving as a producer, script writer and broadcaster. He was head of BBC Radio Drama 1963-77, having previously worked for the external European Service. After leaving the BBC he held senior academic posts at Florida State and Stanford Universities.
He also adapted and translated many works from the original German, for example many plays of Wolfgang Bauer between 1967 and 1990. Original works included the seminal Theatre of the Absurd, and The Field of Drama.
Esslin died in London on February 24, 2002 after a long battle with Parkinson's disease.
Source: Wikipedia
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 48 reviews
March 8, 2015
I first stumbled on this book during my first semester - we had to write a term paper on any topic we wanted to - and I chose to write about Beckett's Waiting for Godot, which I had read back then for the first time. Reading Beckett for the first time was somewhat of a revelation for me, one of those moments that will shape you. Back then I read a few pages here and there, and was amazed how complex Esslin's analysis was.
Here I am, im Hier und Jetzt, at the end of my eighth semester. During my Erasmus year I took a module on Absurdism, which proved to be one of the best experiences at university I ever had - and probably will have. Not only was the lecturer amazing (how often can one speak about anal sex and French-German animosities over the duration of a term?!), our discussions in class were superb. This module alone rekindled and fuelled my love for Absurdist fiction.
After a short presentation and term paper (I wrote about "Crime and Punishment in Kafka's The Trial") we have to write a 3000-word coursework paper encompassing all the authors we've read in class - Beckett, Ionesco, Camus, Kafka, Albee, Pinter. I will write about the dichotomy between the bleak and humorous sides of the Absurd existence. When Meursault's life in Camus' L'Etranger ends with the death penalty, one is inclined to think that this couldn't be any worse. But in fact, Meursault is a man of simple pleasures: Cafe au Lait, swimming, having sex, watching people from his balcony. He is in tune with his self. His death is not bleak, but the expression of the Absurd in his life. The bleakest of the texts we covered is definitely Kafka's The Trial. Josef K. dies "like a dog" and "as if the shame would outlive him". Beckett's pseudo-couples on the other hand, especially Vladimir and Estragon, indulge in Vaudevillian word plays, unfinished jokes, and comical asides. They are inert, yes, condemned to wait for Godot, but they spend their time as best as they can.
After these asides why I have read Esslin's The Theatre of the Absurd, this time completely, I must assert that this text is one of the best about Absurdism. Sure, modern texts offer seemingly better analyses, but Esslin's work is seminal and should be seen as such. As it accompanied my academic career through the last four years, I must give it five stars - no other critical text has ever held my attention for this long.
Here I am, im Hier und Jetzt, at the end of my eighth semester. During my Erasmus year I took a module on Absurdism, which proved to be one of the best experiences at university I ever had - and probably will have. Not only was the lecturer amazing (how often can one speak about anal sex and French-German animosities over the duration of a term?!), our discussions in class were superb. This module alone rekindled and fuelled my love for Absurdist fiction.
After a short presentation and term paper (I wrote about "Crime and Punishment in Kafka's The Trial") we have to write a 3000-word coursework paper encompassing all the authors we've read in class - Beckett, Ionesco, Camus, Kafka, Albee, Pinter. I will write about the dichotomy between the bleak and humorous sides of the Absurd existence. When Meursault's life in Camus' L'Etranger ends with the death penalty, one is inclined to think that this couldn't be any worse. But in fact, Meursault is a man of simple pleasures: Cafe au Lait, swimming, having sex, watching people from his balcony. He is in tune with his self. His death is not bleak, but the expression of the Absurd in his life. The bleakest of the texts we covered is definitely Kafka's The Trial. Josef K. dies "like a dog" and "as if the shame would outlive him". Beckett's pseudo-couples on the other hand, especially Vladimir and Estragon, indulge in Vaudevillian word plays, unfinished jokes, and comical asides. They are inert, yes, condemned to wait for Godot, but they spend their time as best as they can.
After these asides why I have read Esslin's The Theatre of the Absurd, this time completely, I must assert that this text is one of the best about Absurdism. Sure, modern texts offer seemingly better analyses, but Esslin's work is seminal and should be seen as such. As it accompanied my academic career through the last four years, I must give it five stars - no other critical text has ever held my attention for this long.
February 22, 2013
I have never forgotten this quote (by Genet, I later figured out) since I first cut it out of this book and then inexplicably scrawled it on the wall of my first (rented) house in Sharpie:
"When I beheld you, suddenly--for perhaps a second--I had the strength to reject everything that wasn't you and to laugh at the illusion. But my shoulders are very frail. I was unable to bear the weight of the world's condemnation. And I began to hate you when everything about you would have kindled my love and when love would have made men's contempt unbearable, and their contempt would have made my love unbearable. The fact is, I hate you."
"When I beheld you, suddenly--for perhaps a second--I had the strength to reject everything that wasn't you and to laugh at the illusion. But my shoulders are very frail. I was unable to bear the weight of the world's condemnation. And I began to hate you when everything about you would have kindled my love and when love would have made men's contempt unbearable, and their contempt would have made my love unbearable. The fact is, I hate you."
September 26, 2022
STOP MAKING SENSE is probably the greatest title ever for a work of art, and could be the subtitle to Martin Esslin's groundbreaking study of the "theater of the absurd"; a term he coined, thereby granting him immortality. What is the absurd? Let me quote my favorite film and literary critic, the late Stanley Kaufmann, writing during the Viet Nam War: "In a week when President Johnson announces he is doubling grain sales to the Soviet Union while simultaneously sending more soldiers to fight communism in Viet Nam, nothing is too absurd." Esslin decided to explore how, and how successfully, the notion of the absurd worked its way into theater, first by looking at three giants, Beckett, Ionesco and Genet. (Curiously, the theater of Sartre and Camus is very much traditionalist in both theme and structure to qualify as absurd.) Before reading Esslin I suggest you run to the nearest library and read Beckett's HAPPY DAYS ("humanity as waste"), Ionesco's RHINOCEROS ("if everyone in the world thinks he is a rhinoceros, are you mad for not turning yourself into one?") and Genet's THE MAIDS (two incestuous sisters working as maids kill their elderly employer for discovering their secret---the absurd element is that this is a true story from France). Next comes a nosedive into lesser yet still significant fare, Fernando Arrabal's HUMANS AND NO, Jack Geller's THE CONNECTION and even Pablo Picasso's only play, DESIRE CAUGHT BY THE TAIL; "possibly the worst play of the twentieth century". This is intellectual adventure of the highest order, concocted by a writer who is himself a master of prose.
February 25, 2013
Really I would give this book 3.5 stars if goodreads had that option, but I chose to go with the lower rating because I had high hopes for this book and they weren't exactly fulfilled.
I will start by saying that I see how this book would have been really foundational in the 19060s when it came out--at that point there was still a lot of confusion about what to make of playwrights like Beckett, Ionesco, and Pinter, and here comes Martin Esslin being all, "I can dot that! I have the definitive work." But it is very clearly a work of the 1960s--late Modernism, with many of Modernism's assumptions about the world. For instance, Esslin talks--somewhat oddly--about how language language fails to get at "reality"--this is in the section on "The Significance of the Absurd"--in things like political speech and advertising, for instance. This discussion of course follows after a section on the importance of nonsense poetry, Dada, and Surrealism, which are to greater or lesser extents not interested in reality so much as sound patterns, juxtapositions of startling images, visual distortions, and challenging ideologies. But for someone reading this book from the postmodern position of 2013, Esslin's notion that "reality" could somehow be conveyed seems naive at best, reactionary at worst (in the sense that Orwell's "Politics and the English Language" can be read as reactionary).
I will start by saying that I see how this book would have been really foundational in the 19060s when it came out--at that point there was still a lot of confusion about what to make of playwrights like Beckett, Ionesco, and Pinter, and here comes Martin Esslin being all, "I can dot that! I have the definitive work." But it is very clearly a work of the 1960s--late Modernism, with many of Modernism's assumptions about the world. For instance, Esslin talks--somewhat oddly--about how language language fails to get at "reality"--this is in the section on "The Significance of the Absurd"--in things like political speech and advertising, for instance. This discussion of course follows after a section on the importance of nonsense poetry, Dada, and Surrealism, which are to greater or lesser extents not interested in reality so much as sound patterns, juxtapositions of startling images, visual distortions, and challenging ideologies. But for someone reading this book from the postmodern position of 2013, Esslin's notion that "reality" could somehow be conveyed seems naive at best, reactionary at worst (in the sense that Orwell's "Politics and the English Language" can be read as reactionary).
May 14, 2022
When you consider that this book was originally written in 1961 and that Esslin himself coined the term The Theater of the Absurd, this book is very impressive. It's gone through Copyrights in 1961, 1968, 1969, 1980, and finally 2001. My book (January 2004 edition) includes both the preface to the 1961 edition and the 2001 edition.
I unapologetically give it 5 stars for its insight and comprehension. I have one criticism, which is that Chapter 8: "The Significance of the Absurd" was too long, wordy, and repetitive. I think it would have benefitted from a skilled editor.
For anyone who is interested in The Theater of the Absurd I highly recommend this book.
I unapologetically give it 5 stars for its insight and comprehension. I have one criticism, which is that Chapter 8: "The Significance of the Absurd" was too long, wordy, and repetitive. I think it would have benefitted from a skilled editor.
For anyone who is interested in The Theater of the Absurd I highly recommend this book.
January 30, 2009
An important guide on the Absurdist drama and theatre! A must as reference for whatever issue related to Absurdism! Interesting and Simple and Rich in its style! It's Martin Esslin after all..and I do love the guy in fact! :D
April 26, 2019
تئاتر پوچی اصطلاحیست برای گروهی از نمایشنامه نویسان دهمه ی 1950 که هر چند خود را مکتب نمیشمردند همه ظاهرا در تعابیر خاصی از مشکل انسان در عالم شریک بودند. رئوس این تعابیر را آلبر کامو در مقاله اش اسطوره ی سیزیف خلاصه کرد و مدعی شده بود که مشکل انسان عبارتست از وجود بی هدف و ناهماهنگ او با پیرامونش (ابسورد در لغت یعنی ناهماهنگ) آگاهی از این بی هدفی در هر کاری که میکنیم یک حالت رنج فلسفی پدید می آورد که مضمون اصلی کار نویسندگان ئاتر پوچیست.
اسلین چهار نماینده برگزیده. آداموف روسی، یونسکو از رومانی، بکت ایرلندی و زنه ی فرانسوی همه ی اینها به نخوی در «سنت پوچی» سهم دارند سنتی که در فصل شش اسلین نشان میدهد چقدر پردامنه است. در سیرک، پانتومیم، دلقک بازی، یاوه سرایی و ادبیات خیال که رگه هایی از تمثیل دارد.
تئاتر پوچی مثل تئاتر شاعرانه اتکای فراوانی به رویا و خیال دارد اما بر خلاف تئاتر شاعرانه از زبان شاعرانه به عمد پرهیز میکند و گفت و گوهای پیش پا افتاده را به جای آن میگذارد.
از خوندن این کتاب بسی لذت بردم.
اسلین چهار نماینده برگزیده. آداموف روسی، یونسکو از رومانی، بکت ایرلندی و زنه ی فرانسوی همه ی اینها به نخوی در «سنت پوچی» سهم دارند سنتی که در فصل شش اسلین نشان میدهد چقدر پردامنه است. در سیرک، پانتومیم، دلقک بازی، یاوه سرایی و ادبیات خیال که رگه هایی از تمثیل دارد.
تئاتر پوچی مثل تئاتر شاعرانه اتکای فراوانی به رویا و خیال دارد اما بر خلاف تئاتر شاعرانه از زبان شاعرانه به عمد پرهیز میکند و گفت و گوهای پیش پا افتاده را به جای آن میگذارد.
از خوندن این کتاب بسی لذت بردم.
January 15, 2013
The definitive book on Absurdist Theatre history. I read and studied this book in college and recently purchased the book on vacation at Calico Cat Bookstore in Ventura, CA. Inspired to me pull out my favorite Absurdist authors (Beckett, Ionesca, Albee, Camus, Pinter, Vonnegut, and yes Trey Parker and Matt Stone) and dive into a modern study.
"...the Theatre of the Absurd does not provoke tears of despair but the laughter of liberation."
MARTIN ESSLIN
"...the Theatre of the Absurd does not provoke tears of despair but the laughter of liberation."
MARTIN ESSLIN
April 29, 2013
From the bits and pieces of this book that I have delved into, Esslin is able to talk about lit/drama theory with as little B.S. as I have ever encountered in anyone. Nice.
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December 4, 2023thus begins my hyperfixation on the Theatre of the Absurd...
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September 28, 2024i didn't actually read the whole thing but i have read enough to pretend i've read the whole thing on my personal statement
August 5, 2007
Martin Esslin included Ionesco in a group of playwrights-along with Samuel Beckett, Jean Genet, and Arthur Adamov- who practiced what he called the “Theater of the Absurd”, that address Albert Camus's discussion in “The Myth of Sisyphus” that man's search for meaning and order in futility of life.
مارتین اسلین در اوج شهرت "ساموئل بکت" و "اوژن اونسکو" در ابتدای دهه ی شصت قرن بیستم، به تدوین نظریه های تیاتر "ابزورد" یا آن گونه که در ایران مشهور شده، "پوچی" یا "عبث نما" پرداخت. کتاب او هنوز هم پس از پنجاه سال، یکی از منابع اصلی در زمینه ی این مکتب تیاتری ست که آرتور آدامو از پیشگامان آن است. اگرچه برخی آثار نمایش نامه نویسانی نظیر "پیرآندلو" و "دورنمات" را هم به این مکتب نسبت می دهند، ولی "هارولد پینتر" انگلیسی، "فرناندو آرابال" اسپانیایی، "ادوارد آلبی" آمریکایی، "اسلاومیر مروژک" لهستانی و... از دنباله روان این مکتب نمایشی قلمداد هستند که پس از جنگ دوم جهانی در اروپا و سپس در جهان شهرت یافت.
مارتین اسلین در اوج شهرت "ساموئل بکت" و "اوژن اونسکو" در ابتدای دهه ی شصت قرن بیستم، به تدوین نظریه های تیاتر "ابزورد" یا آن گونه که در ایران مشهور شده، "پوچی" یا "عبث نما" پرداخت. کتاب او هنوز هم پس از پنجاه سال، یکی از منابع اصلی در زمینه ی این مکتب تیاتری ست که آرتور آدامو از پیشگامان آن است. اگرچه برخی آثار نمایش نامه نویسانی نظیر "پیرآندلو" و "دورنمات" را هم به این مکتب نسبت می دهند، ولی "هارولد پینتر" انگلیسی، "فرناندو آرابال" اسپانیایی، "ادوارد آلبی" آمریکایی، "اسلاومیر مروژک" لهستانی و... از دنباله روان این مکتب نمایشی قلمداد هستند که پس از جنگ دوم جهانی در اروپا و سپس در جهان شهرت یافت.
July 26, 2021
A solid, readable, and reliable study. This is a valuable work of criticism and a classic document for anyone interested in the history of theater, and modernism more broadly. Still, at a certain point, the book starts to feel repetitive, and Esslin's general tone, worldview, and approach can occasionally feel antiquated. He also misses out by completely ignoring Russian literature ("The Bedbug" by Mayakovsky would have been a great case study) and only barely mentioning black American authors (in general, Esslin's understanding of America is weaker than his understanding of Western and Eastern Europe). All that being said, this was still certainly worth the read, and Esslin's thorough chapters on Beckett, Ionesco, and Adamov are very strong; they are worth the price of entry alone.
October 24, 2007
A great overall history and sort of a shopping list of 'who's great' in the field of Absurd theater. The one-stop place to check out what was hitting Europe in the fifties and early Sixties on the avant-garde stages of various cities. This book has been in and out of print ever since it was published (mid-60's?). Get it, and keep it by the bedside.
May 13, 2017
Εξαιρετικό βιβλίο που καθόρισε σε μεγάλο βαθμό την αντίληψη μας για το σύγχρονο θέατρο. Απαραίτητο ανάγνωσμα για όσους ενδιαφέρονται για το θέατρο, τη λογοτεχνία γενικότερο αλλά ακόμα και τη φιλοσοφία.
September 6, 2008
Anyone remotely interested in the writing of Beckett, Sartre, Camus, Genet, Pinter, Ionesco, Albee or the development of post WWII theatre should read this text.
February 15, 2012
Used it as a textbook as a student and as a teacher. The more background information you have, the easier this is to digest. My students got lost in the "name-dropping" in certain chapters.
July 29, 2016
كنت أحتاج إلى أنغمس في فوضى تنسيني فوضى ذهني أو تكون امتداد لها ..
هنا حوارات طويلة أو هذر وهذيان أو كلام لا أفهم مغزاه ..
لي عودة ..
هنا حوارات طويلة أو هذر وهذيان أو كلام لا أفهم مغزاه ..
لي عودة ..
March 12, 2023
Against my expectations, the latter half of this book was completely outdated in this age of prosperity of musical drama or political avant-garde theater, because you wouldn't see almost anything written in this book anymore. It's just impossible to feel the atmosphere of the age. It is our problem and I don't have to give this book only two stars, but I can't say this book can be commendable at all.
February 19, 2024
An indispensable resource! Each essay offered at least one great new insight into a loosely aligned movement of which I was callously ignorant to. The brief overview of Dino Buzzatis Un Caso Clinico has me salivating with curiosity, what I wouldn't give to see that dramatised on stage! Did its stage play ever get transcribed, I wonder...
June 23, 2024
"The only task left to man is to tear off all that dead skin until 'he finds himself in the hour of great nakedness'"
missed opportunity to discuss Courage the Cowardly Dog.
99% positive there were probably some lady-playwrights this coulda talked about too.
"The retreat from reason means precious little to anyone who has never caught up with reason in the first place."
missed opportunity to discuss Courage the Cowardly Dog.
99% positive there were probably some lady-playwrights this coulda talked about too.
"The retreat from reason means precious little to anyone who has never caught up with reason in the first place."
July 19, 2020
The ultimate guide for understanding the philosophy, history, and meaning of the Theatre of the Absurd. Highly recommend for anyone interested in the internal realities of humans and how the subconscious is reflected in our art. Amazing!
September 6, 2021
I've read the selected chapters of the book; to say the writers whose works I had read. I just love the thoughts of the writer and the way he expresses them.
Plus this can be added to TBR by every reader interested not only in Theatre of Absurd but Absurdity in real too.
Plus this can be added to TBR by every reader interested not only in Theatre of Absurd but Absurdity in real too.
December 19, 2018
Cool resource if you're into weird art!
April 2, 2019
A very useful and interesting overview of a uniquely challenging genre of theatre and its key figures and ideas. I'm not a drama expert but it seems to have stood the test of time pretty well to me.
Read
July 11, 2019نقدهای بسیار عالی با نمونه های کاملاً ملموس
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January 17, 2020Onmisbaar voor de liefhebber van absurdistische literatuur.
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June 29, 2021ıt ıs very fluent book
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December 29, 2021I read this on behalf of my high school self who loved Ionesco. I got some insight as to why my adult self likes Beckett.
February 26, 2023
Big one from Martin.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 48 reviews