Dr Qurratulaen Liaqat’s latest monograph titled The Element of the ‘Absurd’ in Rajiv Joseph’s Post 9/11 Plays (2023) provides a fresh perspective on the continued resonance of the avant-garde tradition of the Theatre of the Absurd in Post 9/11 American drama.

This book would be of special interest to the students, teachers, and scholars working in the field of the Theatre of the Absurd and Post 9/11 literature. Dr Liaqat’s work is an important intervention which highlights emerging literary trends and continued currency of the term ‘absurd’ (anchored in existential philosophy) in contemporary theatre productions.

By applying the existing critical insight into the undeniably most popular drama tradition, this book establishes that the plays written in the wake of 9/11 by Rajiv Joseph (1974, an eminent American dramatist, have many emphatic stylistics affinities with the Theatre of the Absurd playwrights such as Samuel Beckett (1906-1989), Harold Pinter (1930-2008), Eugene Ionesco (1909-1909), Edward Albee (1928-2016) and Tom Stoppard (1937-). She also contends that the pervasive presence of the element of the absurd in Joseph’s plays can be attributed to the psycho-social and political turmoil the world faced in the aftermath of 9/11. Her deep insight into the philosophy of existentialism and the tradition of the Theatre of the Absurd, the most valid artistic expression of the increasing despair among the masses due to the occurrence of two world wars, leads her to the conclusion that the genre is perhaps the most comprehensive expression of the human condition in a world ravaged by the disturbing amount of violence, bloodshed and anarchy.

The book is divided into six chapters, in addition to a comprehensive introduction and an insightful conclusion. It mainly focuses on four plays by Joseph, namely: Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo (2009), Animals Out of Paper (2009), Gruesome Playground Injuries (2011) and Guards at the Taj (2016) because these plays constitute a vibrant vision of the element of the Absurd in Joseph’s dramatic oeuvre. Chapter 1 discusses the historical recurrence of violence and sheer absurdity of the act of cutting the hands of the workers who had built the Taj Mahal in the play Guards at the Taj. It argues that this play set in 17th Century India is an allegorical representation of the ludicrousness of the violence perpetuated in the past and in the post-9/11 world. Chapter 2 posits that the Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo is an absurdiography of post 9/11 milieu.

The book mostly inclines towards the discussion of Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo because it is the most popular and perhaps the most comprehensive version of the absurd stylistics of Rajiv Joseph.

Chapter 3 ponders over the prevalence of the feeling of the nihilistic absurdity and isolation in our general everyday existence as portrayed in Jospeh’s plays Animals Out of Papers and Gruesome Playground Injuries. In addition to placing Joseph’s play in the theoretical frameworks of ecological literary criticism in Chapter 6 and myth criticism in Chapter 5, the book also critically analyses the linguistic elements of Jospeh’s selected plays in Chapter 4. Hence, this book has something of interest for the students of English language as well.

The conclusion is perhaps the most significant section of the book for literary scholars because it establishes the salient features of the absurd poetics of post-9/11 theatre and signposts ways to approach the topic of the Absurd in other genres.

The book inclines towards the discussion of Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo because it is the most popular and perhaps the most comprehensive version of the Absurd stylistics of Rajiv Joseph. There is a dearth of serious critical attention towards Joseph’s dramatic works. This book is a step in the right direction to highlight his dramatic prowess and increasing importance of his works in American theatre studies which has remained mostly unheeded until now.

The reviewer has taught at the National College of Arts, the FAST National University and the University of the Punjab. She currently teaches writing, communication and linguistics at the Forman Christian College University. She can be reached at maheenzia03@gmail.com