Emil Filipčič med ludizmom in dramo absurda

The article focuses on two early plays by Emil Filipčič: Kegler 6 (staged 1981) and Prisoners of Freedom (staged 1982). In drama analysis of the 1980’s, Filipčič’s drama was normally placed in the context of Luddite literature. Modern literary theory, however, prefers to use the term ‘Luddite elements’ rather than ‘Luddite literature’ – these elements are conceived as one of the techniques of the Drama of the Absurd. Based on an analysis of the degree of their fragmentedness and their dramatic characters, language and humour, we identify elements of the absurd in Filipčič’s dramatic pieces and attempt to establish the way in which Filipčič’s drama is different from and similar to the established models of the Drama of the Absurd. In so doing it becomes clear that Filipčič is consistently concerned with the theme of parodying God, a theme that the author uses in all of his dramatic pieces. In presenting this motif the author adopts a unique technique in order to break with the model of the ‘absoluteness’ of drama according to Szondi, and in so doing he builds upon the typical model of the Drama of the Absurd.