PREFACE TO THE PELICAN EDITION 9
PREFACE 13
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS 17
INTRODUCTION：The absurdity of the Absurd 19
1 SAMUEL BECKETT：The search for the self 29
2 ARTHUR ADAMOV：The curable and the incurable 88
3 EUGENE IONESCO：Theatre and anti-theatre 125
4 JEAN GENET：A hall of mirrors 195
5 PARALLELS AND PROSELYTES 229
Jean Tardieu 229
Boris Vian 238
Dino Buzzati 241
Ezio d＇Errico 243
Manuel de Pedrolo 245
Fernando Arrabal 249
Max Frisch 255
Wolfgang Hildescheimer 258
Cünter Grass 260
Robert Pinget 261
Harold Pinter 265
Norman Frederick Simpson 292
Edward Albee 301
Jack Gelber 305
Arthur Kopit 305
The Theatre of the Absurd in Eastern Europe 306
Slawomir Mrozek 308
Tadeusz Rózewicz 311
Vaclav Havel 314
6 THE TRADITION OF THE ABSURD 317
7 THE SIGNIFICANCE OF THE ABSURD 389
8 BEYOND THE ABSURD 420
BIBLIOGRAPHY 425
1 The dramatists of the Absurd 425
2 Background and history of the Theatre of the Absurd 446
INDEX 455