Albee the absurd

A few days back, a friend did an awesome presentation on Edward Albee. After reading The Zoo Story, I’m frantically looking for more of his work. The Zoo Story, is without a doubt, one of the most mind boggling and indeed, absurd dramas I have ever read through. With so many layers of possible meaning, I’m sure a Derridean would have a ball with it. Although Albee’s nonchalant attitude shines clearly through the dialogue of the play, it wasn’t until I heard this quote that I began to see the through to the ideals of one of America’s foremost modern dramatists. Although he has won three Pulitzers for drama over the years, many of his plays bombed, and yet, apparently, he didn’t care.

“I have great respect for the author’s work,” he says, and he kept writing. Critical rejection “made it clear to me that I’m not an employee. I don’t depend upon acceptance to keep on doing my work. I don’t recall becoming bitter, or disillusioned or anything. I have too much ego. I go about my business.”

In generation of artists obsessed with publishing, staging, filming and releasing, it may be worth to note that at one time, the journey was more important than the destination, the act of writing itself, more important than fame, or awards, or recognition. Sound absurd? Damn straight.