THE PSYCHOLOGICAL IDENTITY IN 20TH CENTURY DRAMA WORKS. THE CASE OF EUGEN IONESCU VS SAMUEL BECKETT
THE PSYCHOLOGICAL IDENTITY IN 20TH CENTURY DRAMA WORKS. THE CASE OF EUGEN IONESCU VS SAMUEL BECKETT

Summary/Abstract: The purpose of my paper is to offer a panoramic view of the loss of psychological identity in the works of Eugene Ionesco and Samuel Beckett, by making constant reference to the main characteristics of the Theatre of the Absurd. I am interested in discussing the way in which psychological identity can be misplaced in the contemporary world, as well as the way in which this aforementioned experience is imagined in the dramatic space. I am equally interested in observing and analyzing the manner in which these writers manage to express the idea of the loss of the human condition, while at the same time giving a full description of states such as anxiety, depression, desolation and frustration, inherent to the human being. Moreover, I shall take into account personality disorders as symbol of the dismantling of the human psyché. In order to offer a consistent critical view of the aforementioned concepts, I shall employ the technique of close reading, focusing on the way in which language is used to convey the main dramatic ideas. The creative use of language and the exploitation of absurd and contradictory situations, in general, will be regarded as multiple means to making visible a new and revolutionary way of aesthetics, thus paving the way for a fresh approach to theatrical representation, as it came to be understood by both Beckett and Ionesco.

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