{"product_id":"the-theatre-of-the-absurd-9781400075232","title":"The Theatre of the Absurd","description":"In 1953, Samuel Beckett's \u003ci\u003eWaiting for Godot\u003c\/i\u003e premiered at a tiny avant-garde theatre in Paris; within five years, it had been translated into more than twenty languages and seen by more than a million spectators. Its startling popularity marked the emergence of a new type of theatre whose proponents--Beckett, Ionesco, Genet, Pinter, and others--shattered dramatic conventions and paid scant attention to psychological realism, while highlighting their characters' inability to understand one another. In 1961, Martin Esslin gave a name to the phenomenon in his groundbreaking study of these playwrights who dramatized the absurdity at the core of the human condition. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eOver four decades after its initial publication, Esslin's landmark book has lost none of its freshness. The questions these dramatists raise about the struggle for meaning in a purposeless world are still as incisive and necessary today as they were when Beckett's tramps first waited beneath a dying tree on a lonely country road for a mysterious benefactor who would never show. Authoritative, engaging, and eminently readable, \u003cb\u003eThe Theatre of the Absurd\u003c\/b\u003e is nothing short of a classic: vital reading for anyone with an interest in the theatre.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eBinding Type:\u003c\/b\u003e Paperback\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublisher:\u003c\/b\u003e Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublished:\u003c\/b\u003e 01\/06\/2004\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN:\u003c\/b\u003e 9781400075232\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePages:\u003c\/b\u003e 482\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eWeight:\u003c\/b\u003e 0.80lbs\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eSize:\u003c\/b\u003e 8.00h x 5.38w x 1.03d","brand":"Martin Esslin","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":44833759232181,"sku":"9781400075232","price":18.7,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0473\/0804\/6492\/files\/img_cbb11e4c-2e17-4837-8870-9ff6294068f9.jpg?v=1732030009","url":"https:\/\/pastforward.org\/products\/the-theatre-of-the-absurd-9781400075232","provider":"Past Forward","version":"1.0","type":"link"}