Word: absurdity
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...invasion of Hungary is World War III. To suppose that the West could chip away at Russia without fighting a World War is as absurd as believing that the United States would allow Russia to invade New England without resisting by an all out war effort...
Lillian Hellman seems most responsible. Her libretto strips down Candide to an unattractive caricature of itself. While the unity in Voltaire's book comes from the way each happening reflects on another so as to make all things appear absurd, the happenings are not related in Miss Hellman's version. They are absurd by themselves; the confusion lacks irony and is simply confusing. Miss Hellman makes the wanderings of Candide appear a series of unrelated but similar adventures...
...British have offered a ceasefire proposal which demands virtually nothing from the Israelis and is impossible for the Egyptians. The Israelis have naturally agreed to remain 10 miles from Suez; they may never have gotten closer anyway. For the Egyptians to withdraw from Suez would be absurd--they had no choice but to refuse...
...case dramatized the absurd extreme resulting from one approach to a problem that worries thoughtful editors across the U.S.: When should a Negro be so identified in print? The Brooklyn story ended fortunately in the baby's recovery and the arrest of Kidnaper Mary Jackson, 35. But in their reluctance to identify a Negro as such, most of the editors not only misled readers who might have offered important clues but also created the false, inflammatory impression that a Negro woman had kidnaped a white baby...
...Bald Soprano contrasts vividly with The Lady and Her Sources. Where Salinas had been ironic, Eugene Ionesco is abstruse, absurd, and abnormous. His "Anti-play" makes Waiting for Godot look pale and logical. Lines follow each other without connection, characters change identities, and the humor is always mixed with bewilderment. When there is logic, it is carried to such an extreme that it becomes ridiculous. Yet, every so often Ionesco shows us a glimmering of reality that other writers seldom uncover. InThe Bald Soprano the characters seem to say whatever comes to their minds--momentary antagonisms, sexual impulses, errant thoughts...