THEATRE OF THE ABSURD, THE

The 'Theatre of the Absurd' has become a familiar term to describe a group of ra
dical European playwrights - writers such as Samuel Beckett, Eugene Ionesco, Jea
n Genet and Harold Pinter - whose dark, funny and humane dramas wrestled profoun
dly with the meaningless absurdity of the human condition. It is a testament to
the power and insight of Martin Esslin's landmark work, originally published in
1961, that its title should enter the English language in the way that it has. N
ow available in the Bloomsbury Revelations series with a new preface by Marvin C
arlson, The Theatre of the Absurd remains to this day a clear-eyed work of criti
cism on a compelling period of European writing.