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The Violence of Identity Construction in French and Francophone Absurdist Theater Dissertation Presented in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the Graduate School of The Ohio State University By Andrew Woodruff Anderson, M.A. Graduate Program in French and Italian The Ohio State University 2011 Dissertation Committee: Jennifer Willging, Advisor Jon Erickson, Advisor Danielle Marx-Scouras Copyright by Andrew Woodruff Anderson 2011 Abstract 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 ii 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- 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. iii Dedication Dedicated to my wife Amanda, Mme Hanni, Mme Brueske, Dr. Keller, and Dr. Stey iv Acknowledgements I would like to thank my family and friends for their support and assistance. Special thanks are due to my wife Amanda who saw our house progressively become a storage unit for library books, my parents who heard far more about this topic than they ever cared to hear, and my sister who dropped in on occasion to remind me that life is more than just research. I would also like to acknowledge the members of Central Vineyard for their spiritual support during this time. I would like to thank the members of Wild Goose Creative for their understanding during the writing of the dissertation. As they already had two Ph.D’s aboard, they knew just how to help me take a step back from my responsibilities while allowing me to still be an active board member. I must also recognize the service of the staff of Hagerty Hall’s Crane Café, who knew my daily order by heart and also knew when to dissuade me from any of the flavored coffees, and the facility workers who daily cleaned the T.A. offices. Both contributed to the creation of an atmosphere that facilitated learning and research. And, of course, I am grateful to my committee members, Drs. Willging, Marx- Scouras and Erickson, and the French faculty and staff for bringing me through this process. Special thanks are also due to all FRIT office staff members. v Vita June 1999………………………………………Malvern High School May 2004……………………………………...B.A. French, Capital University June 2006……………………………………...M.A. French, The Ohio State University September 2004 to present……………………Graduate Teaching Associate, Department of French and Italian, The Ohio State University Fields of Study Major Field : French and Italian vi Table of Contents Abstract............................................................................................................................... ii Dedication.......................................................................................................................... iv Acknowledgements............................................................................................................. v Vita..................................................................................................................................... vi Table of Contents.............................................................................................................. vii Introduction......................................................................................................................... 1 Chapter 1: Samuel Beckett and Eugène Ionesco: A Desire To Be Seen .......................... 25 Chapter 2: Jean Genet and the Celebration of the Outcast ............................................... 55 Chapter 3 – Aimé Césaire and Marie Susini: The Frustration of Being........................... 98 Chapter 4 – Marie NDiaye and the Modern Identity Crisis............................................ 133 Chapter 5: A Violent Reaction to the Absurd................................................................. 160 Conclusion ...................................................................................................................... 192 Works Cited .................................................................................................................... 199 vii Introduction How does the concept of identity link authors as diverse as 16th century English dramatist William Shakespeare and 21st century French playwright Marie NDiaye and literary traditions as diverse as the Theater of the Absurd and the Negritude movement? Even more importantly, why does it matter? The tradition of the Theater of the Absurd dates back to the Second World War, even if it was not necessarily recognized as a literary movement until coined as such by Martin Esslin in his 1961 book The Theatre of the Absurd, and brings to mind authors such as Samuel Beckett, Eugène Ionesco, and Jean Genet among others. It also calls to mind plays that defy simple description, as these works have been often criticized for lacking plot, character development, and common sense (Esslin 21). Around the same period, in the mid 1950’s and 1960’s, writers such as Aimé Césaire and Marie Susini were writing novels, plays, and poems that expressed the great difficulty of forging an identity in the midst of struggle. Césaire was at the forefront of the Négritude movement, and Susini was herself attempting to define what it meant to be from the island of Corsica, a fiercely independent region of France. Most recently, in the late 1990’s, Marie NDiaye, a woman of Senegalese and French descent, began writing her first plays about the difficulty of defining one’s identity in a modern French society that was itself wrestling with changing attitudes towards race and interracial relationships. In addition, the end of the Colonial era in Francophone Africa can be situated between the early 1 1950’s and early 1960’s and was marked by a great deal of violence in the Maghreb region of North Africa. In all of these different periods; in the literature of authors such as Beckett, Ionesco, Genet, Susini, NDiaye, and Césaire; in circumstances as diverse as the end of a war and the end of a period of colonization; the questions of “who am I?” and additionally “who are we?” resonate clearly not only as personal questions but as questions facing entire nations. The Theater of the Absurd, a term first coined in 1961 by Martin Esslin, is the title given to a style of drama that flourished between the 1950’s and 1970’s, and that even Esslin himself was hesitant to define. It is best summed up when Esslin describes each of the dramatists that he included in his original 1961 printing (Samuel Beckett, Eugène Ionesco, Arthur Adamov and Jean Genet) as an individual who regards himself as a lone outsider, cut off and isolated in his private world. If they also, very clearly and in spite of themselves, have a good deal in common, it is because their work most sensitively mirrors and reflects the preoccupations and anxieties, the emotions and thinking of many of their contemporaries in the Western world. (22) I propose that this genre of theater, while Esslin may have originally spoken of plays and male playwrights of the Western world, is especially relevant to postcolonial and regional literature because of its focus on the themes of identity, violence, and suicide, and the techniques through which these themes are not so much discussed, but rather acted out on stage. I posit that a place should be reserved for Aimé Césaire, Marie Susini and Marie NDiaye alongside