Talk:Absurdist fiction

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Is absurdist fiction related to the theatre of the absurd in any way? Would, for example, Samuel Beckett's novels qualify, or Alfred Jarry (an article I need to work on at some point)? Or is this a more recent cultural phenomenon, separate from Genet and Ionesco and so on? Either way, the theatrical version needs to be mentioned, either as an equivalent, or to make it clear there's no relationship. --Camembert

There is a relationship, but the difference is very basic: absurdist fiction does not include plays, only novels. Absurdist theater, or the theater of the absurd, would entail plays written by playwrites. Hope that clarifies. -EB-

Thanks, EB - I just wanted to make sure that "absurdist" wasn't being used here in a completely different way. I associate absurdism with Pinter and Genet and Beckett and so on, so it was a bit of a shock to see Roald Dahl here. I didn't want to add background stuff about Jarry et al and then have somebody say "not that kind of absurdism, you fool" :) --Camembert

[edit] Examples?

Well known examples of this kind of fiction?

I cannot quote many myself that I'm sure of, Catch 22, and M*A*S*H, are the only two in my head as of yet. I'll put those two in for now. I'm sure people will add to or change these at a later date.

-I feel like a lot of Science Fiction is absurdist, particularly New Wave stuff like Philip Dick, etc. Also Douglas Adams for a very well known example, though not Science Fiction *really*. For that matter Thomas Pynchon, Kurt Vonnegut, Franz Kafka (I think), Gabriel Garcia Marquez, JG Ballard. I think the absurdist premise can be combined with other genres in the case of a lot of these authors. It's more a mindset than a genre.

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