HUNGARIAN GROTESQUE-ABSURD DRAMA: CONTACTS AND PARALLELS WITH WESTERN THEATRE OF THE ABSURD TO 1972

The "Theatre of the Absurd" as defined by the critic, Martin Esslin, was a significant style of dramatic writing which encompassed the works of numerous West European and American dramatists during the decades of the 1950's and 1960's. Literary comparatists were aware of the use of an absurd style by East European playwrights in Poland and Czechoslovakia, but were not aware of its evidence in Hungary. This thesis examines a significant movement of absurd-style drama (actually a grotesque-absurd) among Hungarian playwrights during the decade of the 1960's, and attempts to place this movement within the historical context of the traditions affecting its development.;The final chapter describes the grotesque-absurd plays of numerous Hungarian playwrights. Literary clarification of the absurdist theme is given for each play, and production dates are noted where applicable. An appendix provides photographs of major productions. Hungarian societal changes reflected in these grotesque-absurd plays are noted.;The production of such a significant number of grotesque-absurd plays in Hungary also indicates a more flexible attitude by the Hungarian Ministry of Culture in its view of the relationship of Hungarian Socialist society to the impact of world literary and theatrical phenomena.;The author summarizes the concept of the literary grostesque and relates it to the development of the grotesque-absurd. Differences between East European grotesque-absurd drama and the original Western "Theatre of the Absurd" are clarified within the historical framework of the East European constraints of socialist realism. The tradition of the grotesque-absurd as evidenced in Poland by Stanislaw Witkiewicz is shown to have developed in Hungary through the writings of Frigyes Karinthy and Tibor Dery. Translations and productions of Western absurdists' plays, including Waiting for Godot, are summarized and discussed. The philosophy of existentialism and its controversial implications in the plays of Imre Sarkadi and Miklos Meszoly are examined.