Volume 8, Issue 1, 2011
Simona Modreanu
Pages 171-186
A Different Approach to the “Theater of the Absurd” With Special Reference to Eugene Ionesco
The well-known label of “theater of the absurd” is based on the Aristotelian logic of the nonincluded middle, the common interpretation being that of the chaotic and irrational character of the universe, human destiny, and language. However, we propose another view on the subject, relying on the discoveries of quantum physics, the main principles of transdisciplinarity, and the literary theory of the possible worlds. We applied these ideas to some of Eugene Ionesco’s fa-mous
plays, concluding that absurd becomes an irrelevant notion if analyzed in this perspective.