ASPECTE ALE TEATRULUI ABSURDULUI ÎN IONA DE MARIN SORESCU
ASPECTS OF THE THEATER OF THE ABSURD IN MARIN SORESCU’S “IONA”

Summary/Abstract: The theater of the absurd is a specific name provided to all the dramas written by the “guidelines” of the experimental theater, the avant-garde theater from the beginning of the 20th century. The “absurd” comes from the so-called “meaningless” scenes and frames, the repetitive dialogues, the dreamlike atmosphere, the surreal messages, and the very philosophical speech used by characters. The play may even be represented by one single character, which often dialogues with his inner self, consciousness. In our Romanian literary context, Marin Sorescu was one of the representative authors who used and improved the “experimental theater” formulas. The most known and studied play of his work is “Iona”. This drama “takes place” into the main character’s inner self. Iona, the biblical character, is a prophet whose duty was to preach into the city of Ninive. Marin Sorescu uses the biblical scene of the Iona’s journey where he was devoured by a monster fish and gives the scene a more in depth meaning. Inside the fish, the prophet starts to think and to meditate. The dialogues are initiated only by him and his inner self. The purpose is attributed to the self-discover – as soon as the prophet discovers himself and the deep meaning of the world, he gets outside the fish. Marin Sorescu uses the aesthetics of the theater of the absurd in order to create a lecture key for the reader. The labyrinthic speech, full of philosophical components, represents the long path towards the self-discover in Marin Sorescu’s play. The aim of the paper is to present several aspects of the theater of the absurd manifested in our Romanian literary space.

• Details
• Contents