Cynicism and the Absurd in Albert Camus and Samuel Beckett

Reexamines the absurd as a response to cynicism and discloses its satirical bias

• Demonstrates how the absurd can be seen as a response to cynicism
• Looks at the differences in the way Camus’s and Beckett’s absurd contains cynicism
• Highlights the significance of fluidity in Sisyphus’s struggles
• Emphasizes the importance of humour and laughter and presents a satirical reading of the absurd
• Draws on Peter Sloterdijk’s Critique of Cynical Reason and its espousal of passivity and liquefaction as a cure for cynicism

Offering in-depth analyses of the works of Albert Camus and Samuel Beckett, Iván Nyusztay demonstrates the overlapping preoccupations of both of these authors with cynicism – and their diverse responses to cynicism. Camus confessed that he struggled against cynicism all his life. As the main exponent of the philosophy of the absurd, his works associated with the absurd can be reconsidered in the light of this revelatory statement. The cynical tone of Samuel Beckett’s works is no less pervasive, although his manifold attempts to contain it are partially at variance with those of Camus. This study thus offers a fresh look at the absurd and opens new perspectives on the work of Camus and Beckett, exploring the relationship between the grotesque and other related aesthetic categories such as satire, caricature and the burlesque. It showcases two transitions orchestrated by the absurd to contain cynicism: one from independence to (inter)dependence and relationality, enhanced by fluidifying agents or foils, the other to community, enhanced by satirical, grotesque laughter.