absurdist

Absurdist refers to a person, work, or movement associated with absurdism, a mode of thought and art that highlights the tension between the human desire for meaning and an indifferent or incomprehensible world. In philosophy, the absurd describes the conflict between this search for significance and the lack of any given answer. Absurdist thought is often distinguished from nihilism, which denies meaning altogether, and from some strands of existentialism, which emphasize individual responsibility in creating meaning.

The term is closely linked to Albert Camus, particularly his notion of the absurd in The Myth of Sisyphus, where revolt and lucid acceptance are proposed as ways to live without appeal to a guaranteed purpose. Other influential figures include playwrights associated with the Theatre of the Absurd, such as Samuel Beckett, Eugène Ionesco, and Jean Genet, as well as later theorists like Martin Esslin who coined the term in the 1960s. Beckett’s Waiting for Godot and Ionesco’s The Bald Soprano exemplify a style that uses illogical dialogue, circular plots, and repetitive situations to probe the limits of language and meaning.

In contemporary usage, an absurdist is someone who creates or appreciates works that foreground the ridiculous, the unconventional, or the incongruous as a commentary on existence. Absurdist art often adopts black humor, nontraditional narrative forms, and a suspicion toward ultimate rational explanation.