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Unit 3: Literary Terms: Comedy of Manners, Absurd Theatre, and Existentialism

Erdman, Mikhail Volokhov and others; Bertolt Brecht’s distancing techniques in his “Epic Notes
theatre”; and the “dream plays” of August Strindberg.
• Existentialism is the philosophy that places emphasis on individual existence, freedom, and
choice. It stresses the individuality of existence, and the problems that arise with said existence.
• Subjectivity is also important to Existentialism. Passionate choices and actions are important.
Personal experience and acting on one’s own convictions are essential to arriving at personal
truths.
• Existentialism is the term applied to the work of a number of philosophers since the 19th
century who, despite large differences in their positions, generally focused on the condition
of human existence, and an individual’s emotions, actions, responsibilities, and thoughts, or
the meaning or purpose of life.
• Existentialism, a difficult term to define and an odd movement. Odd because most thinkers
whom the intellectual world categorizes as existentialists are people who deny they are that.
And, two of the people whom nearly everyone points to as important to the movement,
• The term “existentialism” seems to have been coined by the French philosopher Gabriel Marcel
in the mid-1940s and adopted by Jean-Paul Sartre who, on October 29, 1945, discussed his own
existentialist position in a lecture to the Club Maintenant in Paris.
• The early 19th century Danish philosopher Soren Kierkegaard is regarded as the father of
existentialism.
• Existentialist thinkers focus on the question of concrete human existence and the conditions
of this existence rather than hypothesizing a human essence, stressing that the human essence
is determined through life choices.

3.5 Keywords

Seduction : An act or instance of seducing, especially sexually.
Infidelity : Lack of religious faith, especially Christian faith. Or a breach of trust or a disloyal
act; transgression.
Impersonation : To assume the character or appearance of; pretend to be. Or to mimic the voice,
mannerisms, etc.
Comedy : A play, movie, etc., of light and humorous character with a happy or cheerful
ending; a dramatic work in which the central motif is the triumph over adverse
circumstance, resulting in a successful or happy conclusion.
Tragicomedy : A dramatic or other literary composition combining elements of both tragedy
and comedy.

Essence : The basic, real, and invariable nature of a thing or its significant individual feature
or feature.
Freedom : The state of being free or at liberty rather than in confinement or under physical
restraint.
Guilt : The fact or state of having committed an offense, crime, violation, or wrong,
especially against moral or penal law; culpability.
Despair : Someone or something that causes hopelessness.

Alienation : The state of being withdrawn or isolated from the objective world, as through
indifference or disaffection.

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