From Kharms to Camus: Towards a Definition of the Absurd as Resistance

Abstract

This paper aims to provide an overview of the field of criticism of the literature of the absurd and to contribute to the rebuttal of charges of solipsism and nihilism, providing ample evidence to the contrary. It is then argued that the works of the practitioners of the absurd tend to betray misgivings about rationality (or at least hyperrationality) and are driven by the idea of resistance. This resistance may be triggered in reaction to reason (as in Daniil Kharms), to absurdity itself (as in Albert Camus), or to a paradoxical combination of the two (as in Samuel Beckett).