Citation

Boutin V. Revue des Etudes Slaves 2011; 82(3): 507-519.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2011)

DOI

10.3406/slave.2011.8113

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

The quest of the existence of the world and its uncertain boundaries runs the risk of confronting itself with existentialist fears. Both contemporary Czech playwrights Antonín Přidal and Petr Zelenka who wrote respectively Noc potom and Příběhy obyčejného šilentsví (2001), give us two plays with the notion of the Absurd, thus perpetrating the Czech literary tradition. Pridal's 'in camera' gives a vision of an illogical dreamlike universe in which Blanche, the protagonist accused of being a nark for the communist regime, is looking for a meaning to her life while dreaming of finding the witness who will rehabilitate her. With Zelenka, Petr can't face the brutal reality of the world and sinks deep into a grotesque madness which will lead him to committing suicide, a suicide his mother had foreseen in her dream. Both plays reflect the post-1989 society without being political pamphlets and invite us to encounter characters who are incapable of adapting to today's world.

Language: fr