Metaphysics and Absurdity

Blocker, H. Gene

University Press of America（2012/11発売）

• 製本 Paperback:紙装版/ペーパーバック版／ページ数 212 p.
• 言語 ENG
• 商品コード 9780761860235
• DDC分類 843.91409384

Full Description

The central concern of absurdist writers is the metaphysical distancing of word and object, thought and reality, essence and existence. In this book, Blocker argues that the literary problem of absurdity is basically a metaphysical problem of being, focusing on the metaphysical distinction of being as essence and being as existence. Each of the four central chapters of the book compares philosophical prose with the fiction writing of four major absurdist writers—Camus, Sartre, Ionesco, and Beckett. The book contrasts what Ionesco described as the "heavy" and "light" aspects of absurdity. This opposition is parallel to the contrast between the negative, pessimistic reading of Western writers—with their emphasis on "existence"—and the positive, optimistic view of Eastern, especially Buddhist authors, with their emphasis on "essence."

Contents

PREFACE
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION
CHAPTER TWO: CAMUS
CHAPTER THREE: SARTRE
CHAPTER FOUR: IONESCO
CHAPTER FIVE: BECKETT
AFTERWORD
BIBLIOGRAPHY