Illusion and Absurdity in Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf by Albee

  • Ge Hu School of Foreign Languages of Guangxi University
Keywords: Albee, Illusion, Absurdity

Abstract

The paper explores the reality-illusion-absurdity matrix in Edward Albee’s play Who is Afraid of Virginia Woolf. The characters escape reality with various tricks. The absurdity of the play is that illusion, though destructive, is eagerly needed by the characters to fill the void in their massage and existence. Albee thinks that even though life is nothing we must have the courage to confront our emptiness.

References

[1] Albee, Edward. Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? [M]. New York: Atheneum, 1962.

[2] Coleman, Robert. The Play You’ll Love to Loathe [N]. New York Daily Mirror, 1962-10-15: 20.

[3] Kolin, Philip C. Conversations with Edward Albee [C]. Jackson and London: University Press of Mississippi, 1988.

[4] Roudané, Matthew C. An Interview with Edward Albee [J]. Southern Humanities Review, 1982 (16): 38.

[5] Roudané, Matthew C. Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?: Necessary Fictions, Terrifying Realities [M]. Massachusetts: Twayne Publishers, 1990.

Published
2021-11-07