Annotated Bibliography

Aronson, Ronald. “Albert Camus.” Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, Stanford University, 27 Oct. 2017, plato.stanford.edu/entries/camus/#ParCamAbs.

            This article proves helpful because it describes extensively the work of Camus and his philosophical beliefs. It covers almost all of his work and defines in much depth what Absurdism is. It also gives context to the period and the other philosophers that influenced him. This article is sufficient to provide an abundance of information on the very philosopher that specifically defined and polished the idea of Absurdism. 

 

Bakayeva, Medina. “The Theater Of The Absurd And Samuel Beckett.” The Odyssey Online, The Odyssey Online, 15 Oct. 2019, www.theodysseyonline.com/the-theatre-of-the-absurd-and-samuel-beckett.

           This source is helpful because it provides an abundance of information about the foundation of the Theatre of the Absurd and how theatre had its own cultural impact on thoughts surrounding the Absurd. This source is useful in providing me historical context and just how impactful Waiting for Godot was. 

 

Beckett, Samuel. Waiting for Godot. Groves Press, Inc., 1954.

           Waiting for Godot is one of the foundation works of literature for Absurdism and contextually is of much significance during its time period. It remains highly praised in its place in “the theatre of the Absurd.”  This source is helpful because it provides an additional source of fiction that I am able to examine to form my arguments and draw examples from to illustrate the characteristics of the absurd. 

 

Bloom, Harold. Albert Camus. Chelsea House Publ., 1989.

           This source was extremely useful while analyzing The Stranger. It provided additional insight on Meursault’s role in the novel and how it’s impossible to exist without being confined to society’s judgement and conventions. The source establishes another argument to support the discussion of Meursault’s unfair verdict and how ultimately, he could never be hailed a hero. 

 

Bloom, Harold. Bloom’s Modern Critical Interpretations: Waiting for Godot, e-book, Infobase Publishing, 2008.

           This source is useful because it provides additional input on Beckett’s Waiting for Godot, allowing readers to gain a second opinion of sorts; it helps establish the validity of my argument. 

 

Bunting, Joe. “Do You Have a Purpose? The Absurd in Literature.” The Write Practice, 20 Jan. 2019, thewritepractice.com/the-absurd/.

          This source provides input for elements of absurdism, describing in detail how the absurdist genre differs from other genres and what authors do in order to convey absurdism. 

 

Burt, Daniel S. “No Exit.” The Drama 100, Facts On File, 2007. Bloom's Literature, online.infobase.com/Auth/Index?aid=17987&itemid=WE54&articleId=26569. Accessed 17 Apr. 2020.

          This source provides another small tidbit about the conditions of Hell in No Exit and how absurdism is conveyed through the inescapability of perdition. It also comments on the thought about hell being other people, describing how people can create their own mental prison. 

 

Burt, Daniel S. “The Stranger.” The Novel 100, Revised Edition, Facts On File, 2010. Bloom's Literature, online.infobase.com/Auth/Index?aid=17987&itemid=WE54&articleId=46932. Accessed 5 May 2020.

           This source describes in detail Meursault’s character and how he’s an outsider in an absurd world with no moral compass. This source is useful in providing more input on who Meursault is.

 

Camus, Albert, O'Brien, Justin, The Myth Of Sisyphus, And Other Essays. New York : Vintage Books, 1991. Print.

The Myth of Sisyphus is one of Camus’ most notable essays. Here, he describes explicitly the absurd struggle and uses Sisyphus to express it. This essay helps line up the future analysis of Camus’ The Stranger and gives additional insight on how Camus’ viewed the absurd. 

 

“Camus' ‘The Myth of Sisyphus’: A Close Reading of the Absurd.” NEH, https://edsitement.neh.gov/student-activities/camus-myth-sisyphus-close-reading-absurd

          Here, context regarding Camus is described, showing how he seemed to completely disregard an attempt to make sense of the world. It provides a reason as to why he’s different from most philosophers for he denies the rational tradition.

 

Camus, Albert. The Rebel: An Essay on Man in Revolt. New York: Knopf, 1956. Print.

          This grants me one quote which is useful in understanding Camus’ thoughts on suicide, showing that he believed that the absurd is something which people were required to struggle through. 

 

Camus, Albert. The Stranger. Translated by Matthew Ward, Alfred A. Knopf, Inc., 1988.

           This source is helpful because it is the staple novel surrounding the absurd, an idea that was coined and really expanded upon by Camus. The Stranger is much like the dictionary which provides the key in understanding and unlocking all aspects of what makes up Absurdism. The Stranger provided a text to fully investigate and pick apart so that I can help both formulate an argument for the absurd and provide characteristics that I will try to mimic in my own short work.. 

 

Crowell, Steven. “Existentialism.” Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, Stanford University, 9 Mar. 2015, plato.stanford.edu/entries/existentialism/.

          This encyclopedia is beneficial because it gives a great general overview on the history of existentialism, going in depth about Kierkegaard and Nietzsche and the entire background of existentialist philosophy. 

 

Hanson, Matt. “The Staying Power of Sartre's No Exit.” The American Interest, 18 Oct. 2019, www.the-american-interest.com/2019/10/19/the-staying-power-of-sartres-no-exit/.

          This source gives insight about the time period in which No Exit was written, providing background to the events of the war and whereabouts of Nazi occupation. It was useful in setting up the analysis of No Exit by helping describe the context in which this literature was made. 

 

Knorr, Katherine, and International Herald Tribune. “Albert Camus:Being Right About the Left.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 23 Feb. 1996, www.nytimes.com/1996/02/23/style/IHT-albert-camusbeing-right-about-the-left.html.

           This source provided a small fact revolving around the relationship between Sartre and Camus. Here, it described Camus and his humanist qualities and how he saw wrongs to the Soviet system. This fact helped describe the differences between Sartre and Camus, providing context to the argument that they got into. 

 

Lavine, T.Z. From Socrates to Satre: the Philosophic Quest. Bantam Books, 1984. 

          This book proved helpful because it covered in depth Absurdism and how it relates to different philosophers. It also listed the traits of existentialism and what is required to make a literary work existential. It gives a helpful analysis of Kierkegaard and Nietzsche. This source is extremely useful because it defines the qualities which make up an existentialism.

 

Lizarzaburu, Jorge M. "Albert Camus’s Nietzscheanism and Its Implications for an Absurdist Communication Framework." Twentieth-Century Literary Criticism, edited by Lawrence J. Trudeau, vol. 356, Gale, 2018. Literature Resource Center, https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/H1420124664/LitRC?u=va_p_wakef_s&sid=LitRC&xid=e9ba75b0. Accessed 24 Sept. 2019. Originally published in Creating Albert Camus, edited by Brent C. Sleasman, Fairleigh Dickinson UP, 2016, pp. 85-101.

          This article proved helpful because it compared Camus and Nietzches work extensively, how Nietzsche and Camus both didn’t classify themselves as philosophers, and how their work differed from the normal types of philosophy at their time. Such comparisons prove useful when examining the relationship of philosophers to each other and to note the hierarchy of influence. This information provides me a better understanding of where the first seeds of Absurdism were grounded. 

 

Lohnes, Kate, and Cathy Lowne. “The Stranger.” Encyclopædia Britannica, Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc., 22 Jan. 2020, www.britannica.com/topic/The-Stranger-novel-by-Camus.

          This source was useful because it provided insight on when The Stranger was published and comments on Meursault’s character. This source is generally useful because it gives information about The Stranger and its importance. This source also hints at the inspiration behind the setting being Algiers and how the mistreatment of the native Algiers might have influenced the novel.

 

“No Exit.” Encyclopædia Britannica, Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc., 2 May 2016, www.britannica.com/topic/No-Exit-play-by-Sartre.

          This source was useful because it gave much generalized background information about No Exit and the context it was published in, allowing for another insight on the time period and more extensive information about how the play was perceived by audiences. 

 

Rivière, Benjamin. “The Absurd Hero in Camus and Godard.” The Stanford Freedom Project, 19 Dec. 2013, stanfordfreedomproject.com/multi-media-essays-on-freedom/the-absurd-hero/.

          This source has much to say about the elements of the absurd. It provides an in-depth look at the philosophical debate which is suicide and Sisyphus’ struggle. Ultimately, this source was useful in helping shape the definition of the absurd hero by pointing to parts in The Myth of Sisyphus which illustrated this.

 

“Samuel Beckett + Waiting for Godot.” The Kennedy Center, www.kennedy-center.org/education/resources-for-educators/classroom-resources/media-and-interactives/media/theater/samuel-beckett—waiting-for-godot/.

          This source was useful in providing a small fact which described Samuel Beckett’s history and where he came about to write his plays. This source merely adds another fact that shapes the context in which Waiting for Godot was written.

 

Sartre, Jean-Paul. “An Explication of The Stranger.” An Explication of The Stranger by Jean-Paul Sartre, sysprv.com/sartre_explication_stranger.html.

          This source is extremely important because it’s a first hand source by Sartre regarding Camus’ The Stranger. Therefore, it gives a better understanding of what Sartre himself agreed and disagreed with and how both of them viewed absurdism as a whole. Sartre had much to say about Meursault as an absurd hero. 

 

Sartre, Jean-Paul. Being and Nothingness: An Essay on Phenomenological Ontology. New York: Washington Square Press, 1966. Print.

          One of the most fundamental existentialist sayings come from this source. “Existence precedes essence.” This idea is fundamental in explaining the beginnings of existentialism and how this branch of philosophy came to be. Sartre had much to say about human existence and this source illustrated many of his key points. 

    

Sartre, Jean-Paul. Nausea. Norfolk, Conn: New Directions, 1949. Print.

          This source provides a small fact that describes Sartre’s take on absurdism and the lack of sense to be found. He describes life as monotonous here. This source is yet another snippet of Sartre’s thoughts towards the meaning of life and the absurd struggle. 

 

Sartre, Jean-Paul. No Exit, and Three Other Plays. New York: Vintage Books, 1956. Print

          This source is helpful because it is also among the staple plays about absurdism, written by Camus’s frenemy, Sartre. His work gives another voice, mood, and attitude towards the absurd and how it should be responded too. This source will provide the third and final text in which I will examine and in which I will draw inspiration from to write my play.

 

Senejani, Akram Amiri. “Sartre’s Existentialist Viewpoint in No Exit.” International Journal on Studies in English Language and Literature , vol. 1, no. 3, Sept. 2013, doi:10.18488/journal.23.

          This source is beneficial because it provides a further analysis on No Exit that adds validity to my arguments and presents new and fresh ideas that are talked about and expanded upon.

 

Sollars, Michael D. “The Stranger.” Encyclopedia of the World Novel, 1900 to the Present, 2-Volume Set, Second Edition, Facts On File, 2013. Bloom's Literature, online.infobase.com/Auth/Index?aid=17987&itemid=WE54&articleId=25684. Accessed 5 May 2020.

          This source comments on Meursault’s actions and his character in The Stranger. Sollars discusses how Meursault stands apart in society and why he is regarded rightfully as the existentialist hero. Sollars also mentions how authentic Meursault is. This source gives additional input on Meursault’s character in the novel. 

 

Stapp-McKiernan, Tutt. Personal interview. 15 February 2020.

          This interview was extremely beneficial in providing me a better grasp on absurdism in practice. Mrs. McKiernan has seen both No Exit and Waiting for Godot on the stage. Additionally, she had read The Stranger and so was able to provide very knowledgeable insight on absurdism and how the plays really conveyed the idea well. 

 

“Waiting for Godot.” Encyclopædia Britannica, Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc., 10 July 2019, www.britannica.com/topic/Waiting-for-Godot.

          This source is helpful because it provided background information about the time period in which Waiting for Godot was published and described how it was perceived by the audience as well as Beckett’s background.