This dissertation examines the way in which the Theater of the Absurd, which flourished between the 1950’s and 1970’s, is especially relevant to a discussion of Postcolonial and regional literature in French because of its preoccupation with the recurring themes of identity, violence, and suicide. Important absurdist authors such as Samuel Beckett, Eugène Ionesco, and Jean Genet were able to take the philosophical ideas of the Absurd and of Existentialism proposed by Albert Camus and Jean-Paul Sartre and create plays that permitted the struggles inherent in the formation of identity to be borne out on stage. In addition to prominent absurdist authors like Beckett, Ionesco, and Genet, authors like Aimé Césaire and Marie Susini were also exploring these same themes in plays that included the additional elements of post-colonial struggle and regional identity. Most recently, author Marie NDiaye has written plays that not only continue to stage questions of identity, but also show an intricate blend of a more traditional Absurdist Theater form and contemporary themes such as interracial family relationships and the changing attitudes towards race in France.
This dissertation will also demonstrate the ways in which the Theater of the Absurd evolved, analyzing plays that were less radical in form but that nonetheless maintained their emphasis on themes of identity, violence, and suicide, and more importantly, on the techniques used to explore them. In evolving, this genre lent itself in even more ways to a discussion of the characters and situations in Postcolonial and regional literatures. Césaire’s La tragédie du roi Christophe, Susini’s Corvara, ou la malédiction, and NDiaye’s Papa doit manger show the same concern for questions related to the way in which to look back at the decisions made throughout a lifetime as do the characters in Beckett’s Krapp’s Last Tape, Ionesco’s Les chaises, and Genet’s Les paravents.
Through the exploration of these six authors, this dissertation will show how important elements of identity and conflict in the philosophies of Albert Camus and Jean-Paul Sartre have been and continue to be brought to the stage in ways that surprise, occasionally offend, and encourage spectators to consider the place of the important themes of identity, violence, and suicide not only on the stage, but also in the lives of those portrayed in postcolonial and regional literatures.