LS 650 - The Absurd in Life and Literature

(3.00 cr.)

Traces the concept of absurdity from first principles to modern postulates. The first principles are assembled from writers as diverse as Kierkegaard, Freud, Camus, and Kafka. The modern postulates include the notion of an absurd hero (or antihero) in modern fiction and absurd tragedy (or tragic farce), called Theater of the Absurd. Writers studied include Edward Albee, Paul Bowles, Michael Chabon, and John Irving.