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z^absurdist
(table of contents follows...)

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On this page: sensibilities
{Theatre of the Absurd}

The primary aspects of absurdists: Non-sequitur (it doesn't follow)
Pie in the face
Taking non-sense seriously
Not taking serious things so

Absurdism is the "philosophy" of rejecting the single view that things
make sense, absolutely and at all times. That is, an absurdist recognises
that many things simply don't make sense. Many enlightened thinkers have
advanced the idea that absurdist philosophy (closely related to
existentialism -(see map)-), developed as
a result of the impact of "modernism" on the human mind.

That is (and historical evidence strongly supports this), when the first
total wars of conflict occured (notably the bloody French Revolution,
followed by a much-hoped-for period of growth, followed by Napoleaon
as healer of France, followed by Napolean as god-emperor and the newest
Caesar to attempt total world domination -- led to the early absurdist
view of the world. This took the form of such novels as "War and Peace"
(Vonna e Mir) by Leo Tolstoy, "The Miseries" (Les Miserables) by Victor
Hugo, "The Scarlet Pimpernell" by Madam Orstazzy, etc. These "mere"
flights of fancy, later became codified in "serious" works, such as
the early existentialist philosophers such as Hegel, Hiedeger, James,
etc.

Meanwhile, the full thrust of absurdism occured in the arts. In the
areas of musical composition such ideas as the multi-tonic scale
of Modest Mussorgski comes to mind (the fact that his works were
post-humorously re-worked indicated that even many of his own
contemporaries did not understand what was happening). This as
well as other "experiments" led to groups such as "The Six"
(Les Six) including composers such as Erik Satie, Darius Milhaud,
Much of the work was influenced by African American music such as
the blues, jazz, and of course the long tradition of the negroe
spirituals -- growing un-doubtedly out of the absurdity that in
a country founded literally and textually upon the concepts of
"life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness" and "all men are
created equal" -- that quite apparently the colour of one's
skin could be used to toally negate such lofty ideas/ideals.

One of the earlist realiseurs of the absurd (it is all very well
to estoll the vitues of a society/concept/ideal, it is quite
another to be willing to LIVE by the rules one sets down) was
of course Alfred H. Jarry -- best known as a key contributor to
the science of pataphysics -(see map)-.
Jarry by his keen observations around him put into full force the
ideas of absurdity. The nature of the conflict that gave rise to
this was several fold: Being short, an outsider (he was born in
the Breton region of France, thus being "between" English and
French customs, language, etc), as well as fact that his own
mother took it upon herself to leave her drunkard husband and
set out on her on with her children to brazenly make a new life
for herself and them.

Very approachable (popular) stuides of Jarry's work can be
found in the folowing volumes:

"The Banquet Years -- The Origins of the Avant Garde"
by Robert Shattuck.
This book focuses on three particular French
artists. Henri Rouseau (the self-trained artist
whose proto-surrealist paintings brought him
acceptance by the classically trained artists of
his time), Erik Satie (whose life of music began
some of the most serious questiong of the howness
and whatness of music), as well as Alfred Jarry
(himself a creative nihilist as well as a keen
observer of the folly of life; ie, C'est la le follie!).

"Alfred Jarry: The man with the Axe" by Nigey Lennon.
This book is highlighted by the wondrous drawings
of Bill Griffith (best known for his "Zippy the
Penhead" comics). Lennon's style is both literate
and personal -- recapping her experiences as to
how Jarry's work helped her to survive in modern
American society. As the visual artist, Fred Babb
put it: "Art is what children do to survive in an
Authoritarian Society.".

Next in line was the developments that led to the first world war;
ostensibly as it was being fought it came to be known as "The War
to End all Wars". With the dawn of the twentieth century (1900c),
the hopes of the world ran high. The railroad and other inventions
(the telegraph and telephone) showed the promise of linking the
remotest parts of the world together. The discovery and use of
anaesthetics (notably ether) made surgery much less dangerous and
survivable. The printing press, typewriter, and lithography meant
that wondrous and plentiful books could be published to bring
universal literacy to even the remotest and most primitive regions
of the world.

These triumphs led to the concept of "modernism" -- the idea of
being able to *fix* any problem, that man's intellect had finally
blossomed and that fruits of his creativity in ALL areas would
finally bring a "second eden" to the world.

But.

Then: "The Great War".

And this is not something that just happened. Despite the fact that
it is a commonly held mis-belief that the asassination of the archduke
of Austria in the powderkeg of Serbia was the CAUSE of the war: There
were signs and portents.

This is evidenced by (among other things) the writers of the day.
In keeping with the general idea that "repetition is the death of art",
musicial composers were always searching for new ways to express things.
Not only, were they expressing new musical forms just for the sake of
doing so, they were expressing the new events around them as well.
For example, the African American composer, William Grant Still, wrote
his new orchestral works ONLY because he was among the first decendents
of slaves in the United States to be educated in the European methods
of musical composition. And that occured in the liberal North East
at the hands of the Chekisovakian composer, Antonin Dvordjak -- who
left most of his predjudices behind, and saw in America a vast new
land of musical potential. This was accompanied and led to the development
of new experiments in the visual arts (notably "impressionism" and
"expressionism"). This then influenced writers. Of course, then came
along the second world war, and needing an endcap provided us with
an even more modern modern; the mustard gas was replaced by an atomic
bomb, the world wide influenza was replaced by genocide, and on and on, and...

Theatre of the Absurd

Important references include:

"An Anthologhy of German Expressionist Drama: A prelude to
the absurd" Edited by Walter H. Sokel.
This marvelously compact book brings to light that
long before the first shot was fired in Serbia, the
writers of that time were already "tuned in" to the
comming of war. It includes names that are immediately
recognisable and ones that should be so: Oskar Kokoschka
(better known as a visual artist), Bertolt Brecht (best known
for rescuing "The ThreePenny Opera" (Mack the Knife) from
obscurity). Note especially "The Beggar" by Reinhard Sorge,
"The StrongBox" by Carl Sternheim, and "Humanity" (Die Menschen)
by Walter Hasenclever.

Theatre of the Absurd" by ??author??

"Waiting for Godot" by Sammuel Beckett.
"Exit the King" by ??author??
"Zoo Story" by Albe ??

Modern (contemporary) absurdism is most accessible to the public
via films. Examples include (titles only; use imdb.com for details),
"Stardust Memories", "Little Miss Sunshine", "Memmento",
"Shultze Gets the Blues".

Unfortunately due to the "mass pop culture" thing, most ideas of
absurdity get swept up into the greedy arms of exploiters. As such,
even such seemingly promising areas of absurdism as rap, film, music,
and literature begin to mimic the very normality that they pretend
to seek to destroy.

Notable exceptions include:

Rap & Music: "Nas" (as in "Nastrodomus") -- very strong history works
"Black Star" -- *actual* third eye vision; with 5-star dimension
"Madonna" (most notably: "Material Girl") -- ironic.

Prediction/Supposition

The absurdity of the pubs is that they "think" that they can
tell the future: "What they (the ACLU, eg) will do is this..."

As, if they (in their own limited little be-blindered way
can extend into the mind of the opposite of what they are.
The problem occurs that their minds (like closed parashutes)
don't really work very well. Thus, (wasting their time) they
watch "THE NEWS" (always on vid -- newspapers? books? -- too
much trouble (unless commanded by the current pub-messiah
to buy THEIR book)). But, watching the news only serves to
re-enforce their own POV. And so the squirrel cage continues
to revolve, squirrel-less - squirrels are not pubs, they know
where their nuts are, and even if they don't they don't try
to rationalise why they got lost (the previous administration,
the THEM, etc), start yelling "Ok: I give up!!! WHERE ARE THE
(&#*#($-ing!!! NUTS???, blaming other people (who had nothing
to do with the growth, packaging or distribution of nuts),
rather they (the squirrels) just go about getting new nuts.
Methinks squirrels are wiser than any pub -- but then 20mph
looks the same as 50mph and hence they get run over all the time.

But, suddenly the earth got a lot hotter. Fortunately, it
was ALL a dream. The (happy) ending.

--30--

Former US President Ford was once reputed at a "meet and greet"
luncheon to try to eat the "corn husk" which is used to wrap
tamales (a local Spanish dish at the time - see map). This was
oft pointed to as a sign of his incompetance. But, of course if
you've NEVER seen (or eaten) a tamale (so wrapped), then you
wouldn't know that it (the corn-husk) wasn't intended as an
extreme source of fibre. The point (being missed) is that it
is the ARROGANCE of assumption: If you don't know what they
do in Rome, then wait, observe, and then try to act properly.
This was pointed out by author/futurist Douglas Noel Adams
(see map) in one of the five volumes of his on-going trilogy
"The Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy" when Ford Prefect (a
visitor to the planet Earth (see map) from a planet somewhere
in the vicinity of Betelgeuse) thought to "meet and greet" an
on-coming car since he (having never seen a car before) thought
(after not some inconsiderable period of observation) that
cars were the dominant life form on Earth. (What these "cars"
are, i do not know - having been in suspended animation for
some 55 Quintillion years; apparently they are quite ferocious
creatures who/which move quickly, often indiscriminantly.
Fortunately, they do not seem viciously aggressive an with
carefull consideration may be safely avoided in most cases.

What will you do now?