On The Border Of The Absurd

Edward Albee is the only playwright who has introduced The Theatre of the Absurd into American theatres. This thesis will be examining how he adopted the basic elements of absurd drama literature to realize the ultimate goal of The Theatre of the Absurd—to reveal the inner reality of modern human psychology. Meanwhile, this thesis will also examine in which aspects has Albee promoted his dramatic techniques to make his plays more fit into the American theatre atmosphere.The main body of this thesis consists of three parts. And the detailed analysis on Albee's absurdist dramas is mainly based on three of his works: The Zoo Story, Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? and The American Dream.Firstly, the tradition of The Theatre of the Absurd is going to be explored, in which its appearing and main characteristics are the focus.The second part is on how and why Albee is grouped into the absurdist playwrights, in which the content and artistic features of his plays will be examined.The last part deals with the problem of how Albee has maintained his own things in the plays which is always holding himself and his works on the margin of the absurd drama literature. Therefore in this part the analysis on stage setting and characterization as well as the author's social concern will be included.At the end of this thesis, the author has made the conclusion that Edward Albee has, on the one hand, maintained the main characteristics of absurdist theatre which has been carried on in the whole process of the development of this school of drama literature, on the other, subtly manipulated the influence of the American theatre tradition into his plays, making himself more than an absudist playwright.