Metaphysics and absurdity

Bibliographic Information

Metaphysics and absurdity

H. Gene Blocker

University Press of America, c2013

  • : pbk

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Note

Bibliography: p. [185]-187

Description and Table of Contents

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."

Table of Contents

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

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Details

  • NCID
    BB14361609
  • ISBN
    • 9780761860235
  • LCCN
    2012951795
  • Country Code
    us
  • Title Language Code
    eng
  • Text Language Code
    eng
  • Place of Publication
    Lanham, Md.
  • Pages/Volumes
    xxii, 187 p.
  • Size
    23 cm
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