Dr. Iván Nyusztay

Biography:

Dr habil Ivan Nyusztay is an Associate Professor at the Department of English Studies. Beside teaching different literary historical periods, he holds lectures and seminars on the theory and history of drama. He obtained his PhD. from K.U. Leuven, Belgium (2000) and habilitation from ELTE University of Budapest (2012). In the academic year 2014/15 he was employed by UITM in Rzeszow, Poland, where he taught British and American Culture and Literature. He is the author of two books on drama theory (Myth, Telos, Identity: The Tragic Schema in Greek and Shakespearean Drama, Amsterdam–New York: Rodopi, 2002, and Configurations of Identity in Absurd Drama: Samuel Beckett, Harold Pinter, Tom Stoppard, Budapest: L’Harmattan, 2010), and of a number of articles including “Infinite Responsibility and the Third in Emmanuel Levinas and Harold Pinter” (Literature and Theology, OUP, 2014), and “The Merry Sufferer: Authentic Being in Samuel Beckett’s Happy Days” (Philosophy and Literature, Johns Hopkins UP, 2018). In his research of Shakespearean as well as absurd drama, his approach is consistently interdisciplinary, insofar as he takes on board the relevant trends in philosophy and psychology. Currently, he is working on the publication of his third monograph, Cynicism and the Absurd in Albert Camus and Samuel Beckett (forthcoming at EUP).     

Research:

In his research he focuses on the history and theory of drama. His interest in Shakespeare dates from my university studies, and has never wavered since, although he later extended his research to absurd drama. With his books on the theory of drama, he tried to fill in the gaps in the relevant scholarship. As can be seen from the list of publications, his approach to literature betrays a strong inclination towards interdisciplinarity. He is convinced that the study of the relationship between drama, philosophy and psychology is exceptionally illuminating for all disciplines.

Selected publications:

Monographs:

• Az önazonosság konfigurációi az abszurd drámában: Samuel Beckett, Harold Pinter, Tom Stoppard. [Configurations of Identity in Absurd Drama: Samuel Beckett, Harold Pinter, Tom Stoppard.] Budapest: L’Harmattan, 2010. 
• Myth, Telos, Identity: The Tragic Schema in Greek and Shakespearean Drama. Amsterdam–New York: Rodopi, 2002. 

Papers: 

• "An Experiment in Rebelling in Samuel Beckett: The Impact of Camus and Havel.” Polish Journal of English Studies 4.2 (2018): 25-39.
• “The Merry Sufferer: Authentic Being in Samuel Beckett’s Happy Days.” Philosophy and Literature 42. 1 (2018): 112-124.
• “Infinite Responsibility and the Third in Emmanuel Levinas and Harold Pinter.” Literature and Theology 29.2 (2015): 153-165.

Selected conferences

Teaching

Supervision

Further information