Reassessing the Theatre of the Absurd: Camus, Beckett, Ionesco, Genet, and Pinter [Hardcover]

Fifty years after the publication of Martin Esslin's The Theatre of the Absurd , which suggests that 'absurd' plays purport the meaninglessness of life,?this?book uses the works of five?major playwrights of the 1950s to provide?a timely reassessment of one of the most important theatre 'movements' of the 20th century.Introduction: Reassessing the Theatre of the Absurd 'The Parable of Estagon's Struggle with the Boot' in Waiting for Godot The Pinteresque Oedipal Household: The Interrogation Scene(s) in The Birthday Party The Parable of the White Clown: The Use of Ritual in Jean Genet's The Blacks: A Clown Show Berenger, The Sisyphean Hero Conclusion: Theorizing a 'Female Absurd' in Beth Henley's Crimes of the Heart as a Means of Reassessing the Theatre of the Absurd

Michael Y. Bennett's new book, Reassessing the Theatre of the Absurd, is an ambitious text fifty years in the making . . . [It] is a terrific first book. Bennett's bravery in challenging the theoretical canon is a great example to follow. - Journal of Modern Literature

In Reassessing the Theatre of the Absurd: Camus, Beckett, Ionesco, Genet, and Pinter, Michael Y. Bennett turns Esslin's text on its head to offer more nuanced, more hopeful analyses of these canonical playwrights . . . Not only does he offer provocative, convincing readings of these plays, he also broadens his analysis to include works by contemporaries of the original 'absurdists,' and by those of different historical moments and/or gender. This move not only extends his interpretive framework beyond the oft covered territory that is the focus of this book, it also extends the life of his analysis. Bennett's work is strengthened by the fact that his writing style is approachable and his work well signposted. - Theatre Survey

[Bennett] offers a number of intriguing and insightful readings of these [absurdist] plays and playwrights . . . Throughout [Reassessing the Theatre of the Absurd], Bennló~