<abstract xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><p> This article attempts to re-signify the already extensively discussed conception of the absurd attributed to the aesthetic phenomenon presented by the so-called theatre of the absurd by critically reconsidering its paradigmatic work Waiting for Godot in relation to philosophical hermeneutics (Heidegger, Gadamer, Ricoeur). The fact that Beckett’s artistic method invalidates the transparency of the mirror-like relation between reality and art is known, and yet the potential theoretical consequences of such a literary revolution do not seem to have been exhausted - particularly in respect to the category of the absurd. Hence, the presented inquiry aims to view the phenomenon quite against its common conceptualizations derived from existentialist philosophy in order to indicate a possible route of exploring it from a hermeneutic perspective and thereby challenging, to some extent, Simon Critchley’s (2004: 165) famous assertion that Beckett’s oeuvre seems “uniquely resistant to philosophical interpretation”.</p></abstract>

This article attempts to re-signify the already extensively discussed conception of the absurd attributed to the aesthetic phenomenon presented by the so-called theatre of the absurd by critically reconsidering its paradigmatic work Waiting for Godot in relation to philosophical hermeneutics (Heidegger, Gadamer, Ricoeur). The fact that Beckett’s artistic method invalidates the transparency of the mirror-like relation between reality and art is known, and yet the potential theoretical consequences of such a literary revolution do not seem to have been exhausted - particularly in respect to the category of the absurd. Hence, the presented inquiry aims to view the phenomenon quite against its common conceptualizations derived from existentialist philosophy in order to indicate a possible route of exploring it from a hermeneutic perspective and thereby challenging, to some extent, Simon Critchley’s (2004: 165) famous assertion that Beckett’s oeuvre seems “uniquely resistant to philosophical interpretation”.

The Absurd as a Representation: Towards a Hermeneutics of the Inexplicable (The Problematic Case of Godot)

PhD Studies Programme, Department of English, University of Gdańsk, ul. Wita Stwosza 51, 80–952 Gdańsk,

Studia Anglica Posnaniensia

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 License.

This article attempts to re-signify the already extensively discussed conception of the absurd attributed to the aesthetic phenomenon presented by the...

The Absurd as a Representation: Towards a Hermeneutics of the Inexplicable (The Problematic Case of Godot)

Published Online: Feb 21, 2017

Page range: 67 - 86

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1515/stap-2016-0020

Keywords
the absurd, hermeneutics, truth, Beckett, representation

© 2017

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 License.

The Absurd as a Representation: Towards a Hermeneutics of the Inexplicable (The Problematic Case of Godot)

Published Online: Feb 21, 2017

Page range: 67 - 86

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1515/stap-2016-0020

Keywordsthe absurd, hermeneutics, truth, Beckett, representation

© 2017

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 License.

Keywords
the absurd, hermeneutics, truth, Beckett, representation