Comedy’s Double Negation of Meaning in Post-war European Theater

Through selected close readings from plays by Arthur Adamov and Samuel Beckett, this article examines how language is herein used against itself to expose the impossibility of meaninglessness. By replacing significance with mere surface sounds, language emerges from these plays as a carrier of unexp...

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Main Author: Anna Street
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Centre de Recherche "Texte et Critique de Texte" 2021-10-01
Series:Sillages Critiques
Subjects:
Online Access:https://journals.openedition.org/sillagescritiques/11455
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author Anna Street
author_facet Anna Street
author_sort Anna Street
collection DOAJ
description Through selected close readings from plays by Arthur Adamov and Samuel Beckett, this article examines how language is herein used against itself to expose the impossibility of meaninglessness. By replacing significance with mere surface sounds, language emerges from these plays as a carrier of unexpected—and inescapable—meaning. Tracing a series of comic reversal techniques common to both Adamov and Beckett, famously grouped together under the moniker Theater of the Absurd, the author demonstrates how the attempt to deprive words of sense-making is repetitiously usurped by other sensory elements which doggedly invest the striving for senselessness with profound ambiguity, against all odds.
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issn 1272-3819
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language English
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spelling doaj-art-a00e5d23841f4751b8c906fed0fbcb8a2025-01-30T13:47:30ZengCentre de Recherche "Texte et Critique de Texte"Sillages Critiques1272-38191969-63022021-10-013010.4000/sillagescritiques.11455Comedy’s Double Negation of Meaning in Post-war European TheaterAnna StreetThrough selected close readings from plays by Arthur Adamov and Samuel Beckett, this article examines how language is herein used against itself to expose the impossibility of meaninglessness. By replacing significance with mere surface sounds, language emerges from these plays as a carrier of unexpected—and inescapable—meaning. Tracing a series of comic reversal techniques common to both Adamov and Beckett, famously grouped together under the moniker Theater of the Absurd, the author demonstrates how the attempt to deprive words of sense-making is repetitiously usurped by other sensory elements which doggedly invest the striving for senselessness with profound ambiguity, against all odds.https://journals.openedition.org/sillagescritiques/11455comicSamuel BeckettcomedyArthur AdamovTheatre of the Absurd
spellingShingle Anna Street
Comedy’s Double Negation of Meaning in Post-war European Theater
Sillages Critiques
comic
Samuel Beckett
comedy
Arthur Adamov
Theatre of the Absurd
title Comedy’s Double Negation of Meaning in Post-war European Theater
title_full Comedy’s Double Negation of Meaning in Post-war European Theater
title_fullStr Comedy’s Double Negation of Meaning in Post-war European Theater
title_full_unstemmed Comedy’s Double Negation of Meaning in Post-war European Theater
title_short Comedy’s Double Negation of Meaning in Post-war European Theater
title_sort comedy s double negation of meaning in post war european theater
topic comic
Samuel Beckett
comedy
Arthur Adamov
Theatre of the Absurd
url https://journals.openedition.org/sillagescritiques/11455
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