Laughing out loud in Edward Albee’s Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?: a postmodernist reading

Abstract

In Edward Albee’s Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (1962), laughing out loud is the most common act shared by all the characters. This laughter often surfaces during moments of tension, failure, or encounters with death. The tragicomic nature of this laughter, arising from such circumstances, mirrors a postmodernist playful stance towards assertions of singularity and unquestionable truths, operating on both structural and thematic levels. The laughter characters produce may seem as inappropriate in certain situations. However, seen from a postmodernist perspective, it can be defined as an expression of scepticism towards diseased metanarratives and absolute foundations. The postmodern tendency to question and revise claims to ultimate truth finds resonance in the loud laughter of pain and relief. Within the postmodernist context, laughter transforms into an anti-foundational nonverbal expression against constraints and oppression. This paper asserts the postmodernist nature of laughter, frequently heard in Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, emphasising its playful yet serious tone.