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2 Antecedents to the absurd

Abstract

This chapter focuses on the antecedents to the absurd. It first traces the antecedents of the absurd to the older stages of Greek theatre, and reveals that the absurd can be found in Greek tragedy, which returned to the European consciousness during the Italian Renaissance. The chapter then studies absurdity as seen in medieval drama, which featured a dramatised allegory of morality, and the works of Laurence Sterne and Jonathan Swift. It describes Sterne's work as ‘nonsense prose’ and reveals that Swift's ‘gloomy world’ in prose and poetry came from medieval forebears, and even had an affinity with the danse macabre tradition. The final part of the chapter examines the adoption of the ‘Romantic grotesque’ and pre-Surrealist nonsense by several popular authors, including Charles Dickens, Lewis Caroll, Nikolai Gogol and Ugo Foscolo.

Abstract

This chapter focuses on the antecedents to the absurd. It first traces the antecedents of the absurd to the older stages of Greek theatre, and reveals that the absurd can be found in Greek tragedy, which returned to the European consciousness during the Italian Renaissance. The chapter then studies absurdity as seen in medieval drama, which featured a dramatised allegory of morality, and the works of Laurence Sterne and Jonathan Swift. It describes Sterne's work as ‘nonsense prose’ and reveals that Swift's ‘gloomy world’ in prose and poetry came from medieval forebears, and even had an affinity with the danse macabre tradition. The final part of the chapter examines the adoption of the ‘Romantic grotesque’ and pre-Surrealist nonsense by several popular authors, including Charles Dickens, Lewis Caroll, Nikolai Gogol and Ugo Foscolo.

Chapters in this book

  1. Front matter i
  2. Epigraph v
  3. Contents vii
  4. Preface ix
  5. Abbreviations xiii
  6. Part I Introductory
  7. 1 The theoretical absurd 2
  8. 2 Antecedents to the absurd 33
  9. Part II Growth of the absurd
  10. 3 The twentieth century 66
  11. 4 Around the absurd I 99
  12. 5 Around the absurd II 126
  13. Part III Special authors
  14. 6 Daniil Kharms as minimalist-absurdist 158
  15. 7 Franz Kafka 184
  16. 8 Samuel Beckett’s vessels, voices and shades of the absurd 215
  17. 9 Flann O’Brien and the purloined absurd 251
  18. Part IV In conclusion
  19. 10 Beyond the absurd? 280
  20. Conclusion 309
  21. Bibliography 314
  22. Index 337
The absurd in literature
This chapter is in the book The absurd in literature
https://doi.org/10.7765/9781847791672.00008

Chapters in this book

  1. Front matter i
  2. Epigraph v
  3. Contents vii
  4. Preface ix
  5. Abbreviations xiii
  6. Part I Introductory
  7. 1 The theoretical absurd 2
  8. 2 Antecedents to the absurd 33
  9. Part II Growth of the absurd
  10. 3 The twentieth century 66
  11. 4 Around the absurd I 99
  12. 5 Around the absurd II 126
  13. Part III Special authors
  14. 6 Daniil Kharms as minimalist-absurdist 158
  15. 7 Franz Kafka 184
  16. 8 Samuel Beckett’s vessels, voices and shades of the absurd 215
  17. 9 Flann O’Brien and the purloined absurd 251
  18. Part IV In conclusion
  19. 10 Beyond the absurd? 280
  20. Conclusion 309
  21. Bibliography 314
  22. Index 337
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