Semiotic Analysis of Roland Barthes on Wardah Advertisement Version “I Face of Indonesia”

This article is an attempt to focus on Interior by Maeterlinck in the light of Absurd tradition. Maeterlinck employed symbols to illuminate nature, spirituality, existence, and the innumerable and invisible forces that shape our existence. Maeterlinck uses symbolism to explore the theme of death that is omnipotent in everyday life. The Interior 's central theme is death. Maeterlinck generates suspense by juxtaposing the characters' uneasiness in the garden with the family's peace and ignorance within the house. In order to reach this aim, the researchers decide to explain the theatre of the Absurd and its elements. Maeterlinck distrust of language is shown in his distrust of words, using repetitions, silences, pauses and some other tactics. The existential theme and contents used in selected play are discussed. Themes such as: death, lack of individuality and lack of communication in mentioned play is discussed. Moreover, this article also contains a comparative study of the structure of the two.

The Tragic Sense in The Theatre of The Absurd: The Case of Pinter's Birthday Party

Absurdity is one of the prominent philosophy associated with the emergence of modernist and postmodernist movement in literary text. In such texts, we notice that the embedded themes and ideas reflect the dilemma and the suffering of modern man. The purpose of this paper is an attempt to clarify the subtle feeling associates with the appearance of modernist and postmodernist movements, discussing the ideas of absurdity and absolutism. Also, it gives an idea about the sense of sickness associates with the anomalies of the human conduct on the projected scene such as a universe of meta--identity, named the hilarious theater. This type of theatre is commonly known as absurd theater as discovered by Martin Julius Esslin (1918-2002), who created this phrase to explain Meta identity has been substantially reinterpreted through an exterior identity mask, which invigorates one of the postmodern ideological conceptions of the enormous humanity. The paper consists of three sections: the first is an introduction to Pinter's Birthday Party. The second section discusses the concept of absurdity and the reason of its emergence. The third section deals with how absurd themes reflect the pain, the sense of loss and void that modern man experiences amid the chaotic world specifically after WWII. Finally, the study ends up with conclusion and recommendations for further studies

Revisiting the Absurd: Posthuman Affects in Samuel Beckett’s Theatre

The ‘Theatre of the Absurd’, the popular label for Samuel Beckett’s theatre, has been challenged over the past decades before its implications were fully explored. This article reconsiders the ‘absurd’ with respect to Beckett and the human/nonhuman relations in the Anthropocene. It draws upon affect theory and posthumanism, arguing that the absurd in Beckett’s theatre takes root in the theatricalization of posthuman affects, which connect the human body and the non-human world. Posthuman affects subvert human sovereignty and disintegrate humans into nothingness. Yet they also give birth to a different cosmic ontology, which involves a call for change in the relationship between the human and the nonhuman. Revisited from the perspective of posthuman affect, the absurd in Beckett’s theatre acquires new complexities that bring glimmering possibilities of endurance and comfort in the face of catastrophe. Chen Chang is an assistant researcher of the English Department at Nanjing University, where she recently completed her PhD dissertation on Beckett and the posthuman body. She has published several articles on Beckett as well as in gender studies.

Trends in the Development of Social Work: Postmodern Ideas and Prospects

The main tendencies of social work from the standpoint of postmodernist theory are considered in this article. It is determined that postmodernism is characterized by: the production of a cult of individual independence, a philosophical vision of real life as a theatre of the absurd, where emphasis is placed on the realities of real life, collective subconscious, interweaving of different styles, significant parody and irony of social processes. It has been established that social work in postmodernism is due to the growing need for a critical understanding of the crisis state of modern society and viewing relations with the state, the market, users of services and society. Social work in the postmodern period is accompanied by a number of social challenges, among which we consider the psychological distress of citizens, cultural competence and virtualization of the individual. The philosophy of postmodernism is based on the relativity and absence of reality, which is often replaced by virtuality, in which people spend a lot of their time, which raises debates about whether a virtual personality can be considered a personality. The main problem of information socialization of the individual is the problem of readiness and ability of man in such a world to approach a more humane understanding of social phenomena. The study highlights the hierarchy of social work and identifies its postmodern transformations.

Cringe Histories: Harold Pinter and the Steptoes

This article argues that cringe humour in British television had begun at least by the early 1960s and derived from a theatre history in which conventions of Naturalism were modified by emergent British writers working with European avant-garde motifs. The article makes the case by analysing the importance of cringe to the BBC sitcom Steptoe and Son, tracing its form and themes back to the ‘comedy of menace’ and ‘Theatre of the Absurd’ emblematised by the early work of playwright Harold Pinter. The article links the play that made Pinter’s reputation, The Birthday Party, to dramatic tropes and social commentary identified in Steptoe and Son and in other British sitcoms with cringe elements. The analysis not only discusses relationships between the different dramatic works on stage and screen but also pursues some of the other connections between sitcom and Pinter’s drama via networks of actors and contemporaneous discourses of critical commentary. It assesses the political stakes of cringe as a comic form, particularly the failure of cringe to impel political activism, and places this in the context of the repeated broadcast of Pinter’s plays and episodes of Steptoe and Son over an extended period.

The Crisis of Artistic Forms after 1945; Abstractionism and the Theatre of the Absurd versus Abstract Theatre Dilemma

The present study aims to revive the discussion on Martin Esslin’s 1961 labeling of the post-war theater as “absurd” and proposes the consideration of a new paradigm: “abstract theater”. In the great existential and artistic crisis triggered by the end of the Second World War, post-war art oriented itself towards an abstract expression that would dominate the 5th and 6th decades of the 20th century. A panoramic study of the second wave of the avant-garde represented by abstract art could also include these dramatic texts in the great abstract movement of the period. This approach could reopen, in the spirit of the analysis of that Zeitgeist, a fruitful discussion, integrating the art of theater in the great post-war abstractionist spirit.

The Image of the 'Saviour' in Waiting for Godot and Islam: A Thematic Comparative Study

The idea of the 'saviour' has been an interesting subject matter for many specialists for a very long time. Its interset can be attributed to many reasons, probably the most important one is religion. Allusions to the saviour seem to be present in almost all religions, heavenly or earthly. It has been noted that even the pagan tribes believe in the existence of a saviour as a part of their cultures and traditions. Another reason stems back to man's weakness as a living creature and his constant need for a natural, or supernatural, power to save him from misery, oppression, injustice, ...etc. The saviour could be a superbeing or human being. For instance, Beowulf is looked at as a saviour, and King Arthur was, for a long time, thought to be a saviour that one day he will come and save his people, and many legends have been written in this respect. The aim of this study is to highlight the 'saviour' as a concept in Samuel Becket's play Waiting for Godot and explore its interpretations as tackled by two 'schools': The Theatre of the Absurd and Existentialism, then compare it to the concept of the saviour from Islam's point of view. The study falls into four chapters. Chapter one is devoted to outline the 'saviour' as a term, the belief in the presence of the saviour in general, and how the idea of the saviour is looked at by different writers and philosophers. Chapter two highlights the principles of the Theatre of the Absurd that are concerned with the 'saviour' and how those principles are reflected in the play. It also shows how 'waiting' becomes adherent to the word 'saviour'. Thereafter, the existentialism philosophy is examined since the principles of the Theatre of the Absurd are closely related to the it. Chapter three is spared for showing the concept of the saviour in Islam in general, and in the Shia sect in specific. In order to accomplish this aim, some Quranic verses and Hadiths (reports of Prophet Mohamed's teachings collected after His death) are presented as examples to show the belief in the existence of the Saviour (Mahdi) in Islam. Finally, the study ends with chapter four which, in the light of the research findings, compares the image of the saviour in Waiting for Godot and Islam.

THE EXPERIENCE OF ABSURDITY: EXISTENTIALISTIC PARADIGM AND PARADIGM OF THEATRE OF THE ABSURD (WITH REGARD TO SAMUEL BECKET'S PLAY 'NOT I')

This article circles around the phenomenon of absurdity and absurd which appears to be greatly elaborated by Albert Camus and Theatre of the Absurd. The article reflects mainly upon Becket's dramatic monologue "Not I", which might be characterized as a sort of missing link between two forms of absurd. The style of Albert Camus puts emphasis on the inner experience extrapolated by means of the author. In this sense, the feeling of despair and existential crisis, typical for existentialism in general, brings into existence the absurdity of being as such. In comparison with that, the manner, in which Theatre of the Absurd presents current states of things, organizes the comic dimension of a given situation. To put it another way, Theatre of the Absurd sets up living intersubjectivity, which is a sense-formative precondition of the laughter, and dynamic omnipresence of the inner experience literally declared on the scene. Becket's "Not I" deploys, on the one hand, the existentialistic understanding of human beings, and, on the other, the theatrical representation injected with intersubjectivity. The article takes into account Deleuzian approach towards cinematography in order to conceptualize Becket's play. The notion of affection-image, which is taken from Deleuze, illustrates the structure and essentially the nature of images taking place in "Not I". Becket draws special attention to the image of the voice with regard to audial metaphors, which the main heroine uses during all the time of self-enunciation. Behind the words that she speaks there is an implicit trauma, which is unknown to the contemplators of the performance. It is noteworthy to admit that the organization of the play makes visible only the mouth of the heroine whereas everything remains in the shadows. Deleuzian affection-image deals with annihilated spatial-temporal coordinates and absolutization of the face (faceification). The quality of metaphors in the monologue and the decoration of space establish the phenomenon of absurdity in Becket's "Not I".