一位共同的重要先驱者是阿尔弗雷德·雅里,他狂野、不敬、淫荡的“愚比”剧震惊了19世纪90年代的巴黎。同样,雅里在《Gestes et opinions du docteur Faustroll, pataphysicien》[27]中首次提出的荒诞玄学的概念对之后的很多荒诞派剧作家都有所启发,[25]其中一些人加入了1948年为了纪念雅里而创建的啪嗒学院[24][28](尤内斯库、[29]阿拉巴尔和维昂[29][30]被啪嗒学院授予了“卓越总督”(Transcendent Satrape)的称号)。阿尔弗雷德·雅里剧院由安托南·阿尔托和 Roger Vitrac成立,上演数部荒诞派戏剧,包括尤内斯库和阿达莫夫的作品。[31][32]
与萨特的文学功用的概念相比,萨缪尔·贝克特最主要的关注点是人物以“失败”来克服“荒诞”。就像James Knowlson在《Damned to Fame》中说的那样,贝克特的作品聚焦于“贫穷、失败、流亡和失去——按他的说法,就是一个‘一无所知’且‘一无所能’的人。”[57] 贝克特自己与萨特的关系因萨特在日志《Les Temps Modernes》中提到贝克特小说时的一个出版错误而变得更为复杂。[58]贝克特说,尽管他喜欢《恶心》,他总体上认为萨特的写作风格“太过哲学化”,而他认为自己“并不是哲学家”。[59]
^ 2.02.12.2Martin Esslin, The Theatre of the Absurd (Garden City, NY: Doubleday, 1961). (Subsequent references to this ed. appear within parentheses in the text.)
^ 3.03.1Martin Esslin, The Theatre of the Absurd, 3rd ed. (New York: Vintage [Knopf], 2004). (Subsequent references to this ed. appear within parentheses in the text.)
^Barbara Lee Horn. Edward Albee: a research and production sourcebook. Greenwood Publishing Group, 2003. ISBN 0-313-31141-2, ISBN 978-0-313-31141-3. pg. 13, 17 29, 40, 55, 232.
^Neil Cornwell. The Absurd in Literature. Manchester University Press ND, 2006. ISBN 0-7190-7410-X. pg. 280.
^ 21.021.1J. L. Styan. The dark comedy: the development of modern comic tragedy. Cambridge University Press, 1968. ISBN 0-521-09529-8. pg. 217.
^Annette J. Saddik. Ed. "Experimental Innovations After the Second World War". Contemporary American Drama.Edinburgh University Press, 2007. ISBN 0-7486-2494-5.pg. 28
^ 24.024.124.224.3Allan Lewis. "The Theatre of the 'Absurd' -- Beckett, Ionesco, Genet". The Contemporary Theatre: The Significant Playwrights of Our Time. Crown Publishers, 1966. pg. 260
^ 25.025.1Rupert D. V. Glasgow. Madness, Masks, and Laughter: An Essay on Comedy. Fairleigh Dickinson Univ Press, 1995. ISBN 0-8386-3559-8. pg. 332.
^Deborah B. Gaensbauer. The French theater of the absurd. Twayne Publishers, 1991. ISBN 0-8057-8270-2. pg. 17
^Jill Fell. Alfred Jarry, an imagination in revolt. Fairleigh Dickinson Univ Press, 2005. ISBN 0-8386-4007-9. pg. 53
^Justin Wintle. Makers of modern culture. Routledge, 2002. ISBN 0-415-26583-5. pg. 3
^C. D. Innes. Avant garde theatre, 1892-1992.Routledge, 1993. ISBN 0-415-06518-6. pg. 118.
^James Knowlson. Damned to Fame: The Life of Samuel Beckett. London. Bloomsbury Publishing, 1997. ISBN 0-7475-3169-2., pg. 65
^Daniel Albright. Beckett and aesthetics.Cambridge University Press, 2003. ISBN 0-521-82908-9. pg. 10
^Wesley Barnes. The Philosophy and Literature of Existentialism. Barron's Educational Series, 1968. ISBN 0-7641-9154-3. pg. 31-32.
^Roger Hudson, Catherine Itzin, and Simon Trussler. "Ambushes for the Audience: Toward a High Comedy of Ideas". Tom Stoppard in conversation. Ed. Paul Delaney. University of Michigan Press, 1994. ISBN 0-472-06561-0. pg. 58.
^Jean-Paul Sartre. "Introduction to The Maids; and Deathwatch" The Maids; and Deathwatch. Grove Press, 1962. ISBN 0-8021-5056-X. pg. 11.
^Eugène Ionesco. Present Past, Past Present. Da Capo Press, 1998. ISBN 0-306-80835-8. pg. 63.
^Eugène Ionesco. Fragments of a Journal. Tr. Jean Stewart. London: Faber and Faber, 1968. pg. 78.
^Rosette C. Lamont. Ionesco's imperatives: the politics of culture. University of Michigan Press, 1993. ISBN 0-472-10310-5. pg. 145.
^Bill Marshall, Cristina Johnston. France and the Americas: culture, politics, and history : a multidisciplinary encycopledia. ABC-CLIO, 2005. ISBN 1-85109-411-3. pg. 1187.
^David Thatcher Gies. The Cambridge companion to modern Spanish culture. Cambridge University Press, 1999. ISBN 0-521-57429-3. pg. 229
^Gabrielle H. Cody, Evert Sprinchorn. The Columbia encyclopedia of modern drama. Columbia University Press, 2007. ISBN 0-231-14424-5. pg. 1285.
^Randall Stevenson, Jonathan Bate. The Oxford English Literary History: 1960-2000: The Last of England?. Oxford University Press, 2004. ISBN 0-19-818423-9. pg. 356.
^Anna Klobucka. The Portuguese nun: formation of a national myth. Bucknell University Press, 2000. ISBN 0-8387-5465-1. pg. 88.
^Kalina Stefanova, Ann Waugh. Eastern European Theater After the Iron Curtain.Routledge, 2000. ISBN 90-5755-054-7. pg. 34
^Enoch Brater. "After the Absurd". Around the Absurd: Essays on Modern and Postmodern Drama. Ed. Enoch Brater and Ruby Cohn. University of Michigan Press, 1990. ISBN 978-0-472-10205-1. pg. 293-301.
^David Mamet. Glengarry Glen Ross. Grove Press, 1984. ISBN 0-394-53857-9. pg. 2
^Michael Hinden. "After Beckett: The Plays of Pinter, Stoppard, and Shepard". Contemporary Literature. Fall 1986, Vol. 27, Issue 3. pg. 408.
^Neil Cornwell. The absurd in literature. Manchester University Press ND, 2006. ISBN 0-7190-7410-X, 9780719074103. pg. 296.
^Klaus Stierstorfer. Beyond postmodernism: reassessments in literature, theory, and culture. Walter de Gruyter, 2003 ISBN 3-11-017722-6, ISBN 978-3-11-017722-0. pg. 294.
^Lisa Fitzpatrick. "Language Games: The Pillowman, A Skull in Connemara, and Martin McDonagh's Hiberno-English". The Theatre of Martin McDonagh: A World of Savage Stories. ed. Lilian Chambers and Eamonn Jordan. Dublin: Craysfort Press, 2006. ISBN 1-904505-19-8. pg. 141, 150-151
^Katherine H. Burkman. The dramatic world of Harold Pinter: its basis in ritual. Ohio State University Press, 1971 ISBN 0-8142-0146-6, ISBN 978-0-8142-0146-6. pg. 70-73.
^Victor L. Cahn. Beyond Absurdity: The Plays of Tom Stoppard. London: Associated University Presses, 1979. pg. 36-39. Cahn asserts that though Stoppard begain writing in the Absurdist mode, in his increasing focus on order, optimism, and the redemptive power of art, Stoppard has moved "beyond" Absurdism, as the title implies.
^Leslie Kane. The language of silence: on the unspoken and the unspeakable in modern drama. Fairleigh Dickinson Univ Press, 1984. ISBN 0-8386-3187-8. pg. 159-160
^Lisa M. Siefker Bailey, Bruce J. Mann. Edward Albee: A Casebook. 2003. Routledge. pg. 33-44.
^Katherine H. Burkman. The dramatic world of Harold Pinter: its basis in ritual. Ohio State University Press, 1971. ISBN 0-8142-0146-6, ISBN 978-0-8142-0146-6. pg. 76-89
^Stephen James Bottoms. The Cambridge Companion to Edward Albee. Cambridge University Press, 2005. ISBN 0-521-83455-4. pg. 221.
^Edward Albee. A delicate balance: a play in three acts. Samuel French, Inc., 1994. ISBN 0-573-60792-3. pg. 31.
^Les Essif. Empty figure on an empty stage: the theatre of Samuel Beckett and his generation. Indiana University Press, 2001. ISBN 0-253-33847-6. pg. 1-9
^Alice Rayner. Ghosts: death's double and the phenomena of theatre. U of Minnesota Press, 2006. ISBN 0-8166-4544-2. pg. 120.
^Morris Beja, S. E. Gontarski, Pierre A. G. Astier. Samuel Beckett--humanistic perspectives.Ohio State University Press, 1983. ISBN 0-8142-0334-5. pg. 8
^Alan Astro. Understanding Samuel Beckett. Univ of South Carolina Press, 1990. ISBN 0-87249-686-4. pg. 177.
^Ruby Cohn. A Beckett Canon. University of Michigan Press, 2001. ISBN 0-472-11190-6pg. 298, 337.