The Paper of the Absurd: A Literary Analysis of The Stranger By: Michael Lovett Advanced Placement English Language and Compositions 5th Period 13th of December‚ 2010 Michael Lovett In Albert Camus’ existential novel The Stranger‚ the pointlessness of life and existence is exposed and expounded upon in such a manner that the entire foundation of spirituality is shaken. The concept that drives this novel is one coined by Albert Camus himself‚ the “absurd”. Under the absurd‚ life is pointless
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sheets of paper (often blowing‚ sometimes folded): • stairs: • echoes: • a dog howling 3. The bare stage becomes a realistic‚ detailed set. They are in a real castle and on a real boat. What effect does this realism have on a play? Can an absurd play be performed in a literal way? 4. One visual joke that is added shows one of our heros creating and eating a Dagwood-style hamburger‚ straight from the 20th century. What other jokes (mainly visual) do you find? (List at least three) 5. How
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behind this veil of gentleness and peace‚ night is charging…and will burst upon us. Pop! Like that! Just when we least expect it. That’s how it is on this bitch of an earth.” This is a quote from one of the most prominent works of the “Theatre of the Absurd” category‚ Samuel Becketts’ ‘Waiting For Godot’. In Queensland Theatre Company’s version‚ the play is about two characters named Vladimir and Estragon‚ who are waiting expectantly for a man named Godot‚ although he never comes. This play is set in
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minimal set‚ no dramatic lighting cues‚ nothing that a traditional theatre-goer would call a traditional plot and only one character‚ a character who only communicates with a tape recording of himself 30 years removed. However‚ since this play seems so absurd‚ the director and actor was able to make the play as unbelievable as it was. That is not to say that the play was great in any stretch‚ but rather unbelievable because of this absurdist mentality and weird style of writing; yet the actor and director
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with the illogical and irrational aspects of life‚ to emphasize its innate pointlessness. It’s time and identity of characters that are usually vague or ambiguous in such plays. It’s dreamy and scary and much of the dialogue is repetitive and‚ well‚ absurd. Waiting for Godot is the very epitome of this. Two guys are waiting for this other dude‚ Godot‚ whoever he may be. Their conversation is strained. The play takes place over two days (and they have already been waiting). The characters flow into
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Initially written in French in 1948 as “En Attendant Godot”‚ Samuel Beckett’s play was first staged in 1952‚ in Paris. It represents one of the most important movements of the twentieth century and is an example of the so-called “Theatre of the Absurd”‚ which had subsequently inspired numerous plays that were based on the idea of an illogical universe. The plot of the play is fairly simple and is‚ in fact‚ purely a development of its title. Its description is rather ambiguous‚ for while one may
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The current movement of absurdism‚ however‚ emerged in France after World War II‚ as a rebellion against the traditional values and beliefs of Western culture and literature. It began with the existentialist writers like Jean-Paul Sartre and Albert Camus and eventually included other writers such as Eugene Ionesco‚ James Joyce‚ Samuel Beckett‚ Jean Genet‚ Edward Albee‚ and Harold Pinter‚ to name a few. Its rules are fairly simple: 1.) There is often no real story line; instead there is a series of
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The tragicomedy Waiting for Godot‚ written by the Irish playwright Samuel Beckett‚ is one of the pioneering pieces of literature which were a part of a new genre‚ called Theatre of the Absurd. Upon reading it‚ one can easily infer why this is the case- throughout the 2 acts the play consists of‚ there is virtually no plot. Two vagrants‚ Vladimir and Estragon‚ loitering around a rather vague setting- a country road next to a tree- with only a passer-by every now and then‚ wait for a certain Godot
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Samuel Beckett’s “Endgame” explores an existence in an era when the importance of being is incessantly challenged by man’s newfound recognition of the universes absurdity and lack of observable meaning. Written in 1957‚ the context of the world at the time of this work’s creation sheds much insight on its themes. In a time of continuous social and technological change scientific observations began yielding a more accurate picture of causality for the world and its phenomena; and the concept of god
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Camus’ Attitude to the Absurd in his The Stranger Mahbuba Sultana1 Abstract: Albert Camus (1913-1960) was awarded the Nobel Prize in 1957 for his important literary production‚ which with clear-sighted earnestness illuminates the problems of the human conscience in our times. He was a representative of non-metropolitan French literature. His origin in Algeria and his experiences there in the thirties were dominating influences in his thought and work. The Stranger is indeed
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