COL49 _Courier's Tragedy_

[Thomas Eckhardt]

Dave Monroe wrote:

> Again, do note that "The Theater of the Absurd" is
> essentially, nominally a creation more of Martin
> Esslin than a "movement" or "genre" or whatever within
> which playwrights consciously worked ...

This is an important point. I seem to remember that I found some of Esslin's
comments not very convincing. He certainly ignores some differences between
the various authors in order to be able to file them all under the absurdist
label. Yet, I believe that his main point is valid: Existentialism and what
he calls the theatre of the absurd share the notion of a meaningless
universe. While Camus and Sartre are discussing this notion, somewhat
paradoxically, from a rational and philosophical POV, not only in their
theoretical writings but also in their plays and novels, Beckett is far more
radical and dispenses with logic, conventional characterization, realistic
setting, and dramatic plot altogether, or at least as far as possible.

Still, as Rob and Tim have pointed out, there remain fragments of meaning in
Godot. On the one hand this is unavoidable: The only 100 per cent accurate
expression of a meaningless universe would be complete silence or white
noise, but not words of any language. More important are the references to
the possibility of regeneration and change we do indeed find here and there
in Godot. I doubt, though, that the tree breaking into leaf in decidedly
unnatural haste is more than a parody of the natural cycle, mocking the
characters' hopes for renewal. But this is of course debatable.

I seem to have shifted from a reply to your posting to once again replying
to jbor. Hope you both don't mind.

Regards,
Thomas