Academic staff

Dr. Iván Nyusztay

associate professor

Dr. Iván Nyusztay

Biography:

I am an Assistant Professor at ELTE University of Budapest, Department of English Studies. Beside teaching different literary historical periods, I hold lectures and seminars on the theory and history of drama. I hold a PhD. from K.U. Leuven, Belgium (2000) and a habilitation from ELTE University of Budapest (2012). In the academic year of 2014/15 I was employed by UITM in Rzeszow, Poland, where I taught British and American Culture and Literature. I am 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 my research I have been suported by several generous grants (Peregrinatio, Soros-K.U.Leuven, Bolyai, OTKA).    

Research:

In my research I focus on the history and theory of drama. My interest in Shakespeare dates from my university studies, and has never wavered since, even when I extended my research to absurd drama. With both of my books on the theory of drama I tried to fill in the gaps in the relevant scholarship. As can be seen from my list of publications, my approach to literature betrays an inclination towards philosophy and interdisciplinarity. I am convinced that the study of the relationship between drama and philosophy is exceptionally illuminating for both 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

  • “Camuvian Notions in the Art of Samuel Beckett: from the Absurd to Rebellion.” Beckett Influencing/Influencing Beckett, Samuel Beckett Working Group Meeting, Károli Gáspár Reformed Church University, Budapest, Hungary, 2017. 
  • “An Experiment in Rebelling in Samuel Beckett: the Impact of Camus and Havel.” Short Forms in Beckett: Fragments, University of Gdansk, Sopot, Poland, 2016. 
  • "The Faces of the Other: Configurations of Alterity in Emmanuel Levinas and Harold Pinter.” Transmissions, Budapest, Hungary, 2002.
  • "The ‘Piece of Work’ and the ‘Quintessence of Dust’: the Elevation and Depreciation of Man in the Renaissance.” ESSE 3 (The European Society for the Study of English), Amsterdam, Netherlands, 2001.
  • “History Aside in Shakespeare’s Richard the Third: mimesis and/or poiesis?” HUSSE 5 (The Hungarian Society for the Study of English), Budapest, Hungary, 2000.

Teaching

  • Introduction to Literature
  • Medieval and Early Modern English Literature
  • The Major Periods of English Drama from the Renaissance to the Absurd
  • Realist Fiction from Daniel Defoe to Jane Austen
  • An Absurd Course with Samuel Beckett, Tom Stoppard and Harold Pinter

Supervision

  • Krisztina Pap, The change in the perception of women in novels from the 18th century to present through selected novels of male authors (BA).
  • Richárd Tóth,    The different, sometimes contradictory, representations of hell in Christopher Marlowe’s drama, Doctor Faustus (BA).
  • Györk Csenger Vida, The Changing Concept of Villainy in Medieval and Renaissance Literature (BA).
  • Dávid Demjén, The Struggle for Power in Shakespearean Tragedies (BA).

Further information