Beckett and Nothing: Trying to Understand Beckett
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This Item Is the Archived Peer-Reviewed Author-Version Of
This item is the archived peer-reviewed author-version of: Periodizing Samuel Beckett's Works A Stylochronometric Approach Reference: Van Hulle Dirk, Kestemont Mike.- Periodizing Samuel Beckett's Works A Stylochronometric Approach Style - ISSN 0039-4238 - 50:2(2016), p. 172-202 Full text (Publisher's DOI): https://doi.org/10.1353/STY.2016.0003 To cite this reference: http://hdl.handle.net/10067/1382770151162165141 Institutional repository IRUA This is the author’s version of an article published by the Pennsylvania State University Press in the journal Style 50.2 (2016), pp. 172-202. Please refer to the published version for correct citation and content. For more information, see http://www.jstor.org/stable/10.5325/style.50.2.0172?seq=1#page_scan_tab_contents. <CT>Periodizing Samuel Beckett’s Works: A Stylochronometric Approach1 <CA>Dirk van Hulle and Mike Kestemont <AFF>UNIVERSITY OF ANTWERP <abs>ABSTRACT: We report the first analysis of Samuel Beckett’s prose writings using stylometry, or the quantitative study of writing style, focusing on grammatical function words, a linguistic category that has seldom been studied before in Beckett studies. To these function words, we apply methods from computational stylometry and model the stylistic evolution in Beckett’s oeuvre. Our analyses reveal a number of discoveries that shed new light on existing periodizations in the secondary literature, which commonly distinguish an “early,” “middle,” and “late” period in Beckett’s oeuvre. We analyze Beckett’s prose writings in both English and French, demonstrating notable symmetries and asymmetries between both languages. The analyses nuance the traditional three-part periodization as they show the possibility of stylistic relapses (disturbing the linearity of most periodizations) as well as different turning points depending on the language of the corpus, suggesting that Beckett’s English oeuvre is not identical to his French oeuvre in terms of patterns of stylistic development. -
Samuel Beckett's Plays: a Psychoanalysis
International Journal of Linguistics and Literature (IJLL) ISSN (P): 2319 - 3956; ISSN (E): 2319 - 3964 Vol. 5, Issue 3, Apr - May 2016; 53 - 56 © IASET SAMUEL BECKETT’S PLAYS: A PSYCHOANALYSIS SAHELEH KHEIRABAD P h D Researcher , Pune University , Maharashtra , India ABSTRACT The most important aim of this research is to show psychoanalytic problem in Beckett’s plays. This will be done by describing Beckett’s characters, as well as Beckett himself, ideas about identity and existence in three of his major plays: Waiting for Godot , Endgame , and Happy Days . Beckett’s father dead when he was in his mid - twenties. So, when he lost his father due to personal loss his mental and his physical health. He had night sweats, fear and anxiety. He couldn’t sleep on his bed alone. Dur ing the therapy sessions, Bion has suggested that he should write in order to release the pain and the inner struggle. Consequently, in a way, writing became a therapeutic tool for Samuel. So, Beckett’s writing helped him to treat himself. That is why there are signs of psychoanalysis on Beckett’s plays and Beckett’s characters. Samuel Beckett’s Waiting for Godot , in this article the aim is analyzing the two characters of Vladimir and Estragon in order to investigate their identity. These two characters put their whole existence into waiting. They are waiting for Godot all times. They believe that Godot will have all the answers of their questions. Beckett shows the unconscious mind of his characters, so we analyzed the play with psychoanalytic lens. -
Existentialism and Samuel Beckett's Two Plays
EXISTENTIALISM AND SAMUEL BECKETT’S TWO PLAYS: ENDGAME AND HAPPY DAYS A THESIS SUBMITTED TO THE GRADUATE SCHOOL OF SOCIAL SCIENCES OF MIDDLE EAST TECHNICAL UNIVERSITY BY TİJEN TAN IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF ARTS IN ENGLISH LITERATURE NOVEMBER 2007 Approval of the Graduate School of Social Sciences Prof. Dr. Sencer Ayata Director I certify that this thesis satisfies all the requirements as a thesis for the degree of Master of Arts. Prof. Dr. Wolf König Head of Department This is to certify that we have read this thesis and that in our opinion it is fully adequate, in scope and quality, as a thesis for the degree of Master of Arts. Prof. Dr. Ahmet İnam Prof. Dr. Nursel İçöz Co-Supervisor Supervisor Examining Committee Members (first name belongs to the chairperson of the jury and the second name belongs to supervisor) Assist. Prof. Dr. Nurten Birlik (METU, FLE) Assist. Prof. Dr. Nil Korkut (Ba şkent University, Amer) Dr. Deniz Arslan (METU, FLE) I hereby declare that all information in this document has been obtained and presented in accordance with academic rules and ethical conduct. I also declare that, as required by these rules and conduct, I have fully cited and referenced all material and results that are not original to this work. Name, Last name : Tijen Tan Signature : iii ABSTRACT EXISTENTIALISM AND SAMUEL BECKETT’S TWO PLAYS: ENDGAME AND HAPPY DAYS Tan, Tijen MA., Department of English Literature Supervisor : Prof. Dr. Nursel İçöz Co-Supervisor: Prof. Dr. Ahmet İnam November 2007, 112 pages This thesis carries out an analysis of the plays by Samuel Beckett, Endgame and Happy Days. -
Eh Joe E Ohio Impromptu: Self-Representation and Self-Responsibility in Samuel Beckett’S Drama
EH JOE E OHIO IMPROMPTU: SELF-REPRESENTATION AND SELF-RESPONSIBILITY IN SAMUEL BECKETT’S DRAMA. Maria Margarida C. P. Costa Pinto - Faculty of Social and Human Sciences, UFP Assistent ABSTR A CT In this paper one will be arguing that Beckett, both in the content and form of his writing, points humankind towards help. From the point of view of content, it will analyse Eh Joe (published in 1967) and Ohio Impromptu (published in 1982). Simultaneously, and to look at the form, the power of Beckett’s writing, one will focus on the immanence of the present mo- ment, the moment into which time has collapsed, the moment in which one can accept both the futility of going on and the necessity of going on, the acceptance of the responsibility. Resumo O presente artigo irá abordar simultaneamente o conteúdo e a forma da escrita becketti- ana, assim avançando indicações para o auxílio da Humanidade. Sob o ponto de vista do conteúdo, serão analisadas as peças Eh Joe (publicada em 1967) e Ohio Impromptu (publi- cada em 1982). Simultaneamente, e atendendo à forma, a força da escrita de Beckett, será focada a imanência do momento presente, o momento no qual o tempo entrou em colapso, o momento em que se aceita quer a futilidade de continuar e a necessidade de continuar, a aceitação da responsabilidade. I Part of the appeal of Beckett’s plays is that he evokes so compellingly the destruction of the connection and continuities between past, present and future in contemporary life. It is a destruction one may understand to be not only a self-defence, avoiding the greater pain that connection can threaten with, the pain of guilt, hurt or longing, but also a re- sponse to living in the pre-apocalyptic age. -
Krapp, the Wearish Post-Modern Man: Beckett's Archetypal Figure of the Theater of the Absurd
IRWLE VOL. 6 No. II July 2010 1 Krapp , the Wearish Post-Modern Man: Beckett’s Archetypal Figure of The Theater of the Absurd - Farideh Pourgiv and Marjan Shokouhi Krapp’s Last Tape , Beckett’s dramatic work of the 1958 is still performed and analyzed today. The last major production of it was performed by Harold Pinter at Royal Court Theater in October 2006. The reason behind its success as a still-performing play besides other major productions of the century is not its having anything new to discuss. In fact, the theme and characterization as well as staging and dialogue are quite Beckettian, that is to say typical. And it also shares affinities with the other major productions of the Theater of the Absurd. Yet, the reason for its dominance over half a century is the same typical qualities which are however highlighted in this play perhaps more significantly than the others, the same qualities which make Krapp the archetypal figure of Beckett’s version of the Theater of the Absurd. An archetypal figure, Krapp serves as a pattern for all major Beckettian characters. “A wearish old man”, we read in the first paragraph of the play, “very near-sighted” and “hard of hearing” ( Krapp , 1989: 55). Therefore he has some physical defects like other characters in Beckett’s drama. He also has problem with his constipation as his name implies. Didi has problem with his kidneys and Gogo with his boots. Hamm is blind; Pozzo also becomes blind in a scene. Lucky is numb. Nag and Nell are legless and kept in dustbins. -
Filmography V6.Indd
a filmography Foreword by The Irish Film Institute For over 60 years, the Irish Film Institute has been dedicated to the promotion of film culture in Ireland and therefore is proud to present this filmography of Samuel Beckett’s work. Beckett remains one of Ireland’s most important and influential artists and Samuel Beckett – A Filmography provides a snapshot of the worldwide reach and enduring nature of his creativity. As part of the Beckett centenary celebrations held in April 2006, the Irish Film Institute organised a diverse programme of films relating to the work of Beckett, including a tour of the line-up to cinemas around the country. Prior to this, the Irish Film Institute provided the unique opportunity to view all 19 films in the ‘Beckett on Film’ series by screening the entire selection in February 2001. This filmography provides the perfect accompaniment to these previous programmes and it illustrates that Beckett’s work will continue to be adapted for film and television worldwide for years to come. Photograph by Richard Avedon Samuel Beckett – A Filmography was made possible though the kind support of the Department of Arts, Sport and Tourism and the Beckett Centenary Council and Festival Committee. Mark Mulqueen Director, The Irish Film Institute An Introduction Compiling a filmography of Beckett’s work is both a challenging and daunting prospect. It was important, from the outset, to set some parameters for this filmography. Therefore, to this end, I decided to focus on the key area of direct adaptations of Beckett’s work filmed for cinema or television. -
Miranda, 4 | 2011 Eleutheria―Notes on Freedom Between Offstage and Self-Reference 2
Miranda Revue pluridisciplinaire du monde anglophone / Multidisciplinary peer-reviewed journal on the English- speaking world 4 | 2011 Samuel Beckett : Drama as philosophical endgame ? Eleutheria―Notes on Freedom between Offstage and Self-reference Shimon Levy Electronic version URL: http://journals.openedition.org/miranda/2019 DOI: 10.4000/miranda.2019 ISSN: 2108-6559 Publisher Université Toulouse - Jean Jaurès Electronic reference Shimon Levy, “Eleutheria―Notes on Freedom between Offstage and Self-reference”, Miranda [Online], 4 | 2011, Online since 24 June 2011, connection on 16 February 2021. URL: http:// journals.openedition.org/miranda/2019 ; DOI: https://doi.org/10.4000/miranda.2019 This text was automatically generated on 16 February 2021. Miranda is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License. Eleutheria―Notes on Freedom between Offstage and Self-reference 1 Eleutheria―Notes on Freedom between Offstage and Self-reference Shimon Levy 1 Samuel Beckett’s works have long and profoundly been massaged by numerous philosophical and semi-philosophical views, methods and “isms”, ranging from Descartes, Geulincx and Malebranche to existentialism à la Sartre and Camus, to logical positivism following Frege, Wittgenstein and others―to name but a few. P. J. Murphy rightly maintains that “the whole question of Beckett’s relationship to the philosophers is pretty obviously in need of a major critical assessment”.1 In many, if not most studies, “a philosophy” has been superimposed on the -
Posthuman Beckett English 9169B Winter 2019 the Course Analyzes the Short Prose That Samuel Beckett Produced Prior to and After
Posthuman Beckett English 9169B Winter 2019 The course analyzes the short prose that Samuel Beckett produced prior to and after his monumental The Unnamable (1953), a text that initiated Beckett’s deconstruction of the human subject: The Unnamable is narrated by a subject without a fully-realized body, who inhabits no identifiable space or time, who is, perhaps, dead. In his short prose Beckett continues his exploration of the idea of the posthuman subject: the subject who is beyond the category of the human (the human understood as embodied, as historically and spatially located, as possessing some degree of subjective continuity). What we find in the short prose (our analysis begins with three stories Beckett produced in 1945-6: “The Expelled,” “The Calmative,” “The End”) is Beckett’s sustained fascination with the idea of the possibility of being beyond the human: we will encounter characters who can claim to be dead (“The Calmative,” Texts for Nothing [1950-52]); who inhabit uncanny, perhaps even post-apocalyptic spaces (“All Strange Away” [1963-64], “Imagination Dead Imagine” [1965], Lessness [1969], Fizzles [1973-75]); who are unaccountably trapped in what appears to be some kind of afterlife (“The Lost Ones” [1966; 1970]); who, in fact, may even defy even the philosophical category of the posthuman (Ill Seen Ill Said [1981], Worstward Ho [1983]). And yet despite the radical dismantling of the idea or the human, as such, the being that emerges in these texts is still, perhaps even insistently, spatially, geographically, even ecologically, located. This course which finds its philosophical inspiration in the work of Martin Heidegger, especially his critical analysis of the relation between being and world, and attempts to come to some understanding of what it means for the posthuman to be in the world. -
Modes of Being and Time in the Theatre of Samuel Beckett
f.'lODES Ol!' BEING AND TIME IN THE THEATRE OF SANUEL BECKETT MODES OF BEING AND TIME IN THE THEATRE OF SAMUEL BECKETT By ANNA E.V. PRETO, B.A., LICENCE ES LETTRES A Thesis Submitted to the School of Graduate Studies in Partial Fulfilment of the Requirements for the Degree TvIaster of Arts !-1cMaster Uni versi ty October 1974 MASTER OF ARTS (1974) McMASTER UNIVERSITY (Romance Languages) Hamilton, Ontario TITLE: Modes of Being and Time in the Theatre of Samuel Beckett AUTHOR: Anna E.V. Preto, B.A. (University of British Columbia) Licence es Lettres (Universite de Grenoble) SUPERVISOR: Dr. Brian S. Pocknell NUNBER OF PAGES: vi, 163 ii AKNOWLEDGEMENTS I wish to thank Dr. Brian S. Pocknell for his interest, his encouragement and counsel in the patient supervision of this dissertation. I also wish to thank McMaster University for its generous financial assistance. iii CONTENTS I An Introduction to the Beckett Situation 1 II Being on the Threshold to Eternity: Waiting for Godot and Endgame 35 III The Facets of the Prism: Beckett's Remaining Plays 74 IV The Language of the Characters and Time 117 Conclusion 147 Bibliography 153 iv PREFACE Beckett as an author has inspired an impressive range of critical studies to date. The imposing amounts of critical material bear witness to the richness of his writings, which present a wealth of themes and techniques. His plays concentrate for us the problem-themes that already concerned him in his earlier prose works, and bring them to the stage in a more streamlined form. The essential problem which evolves from Beckett's own earlier writings comes to the fore, downstage, in the plays: it is that of being in time, a purgatorial state, the lot of mankind and of Beckett's characters, who are representative of mankind. -
Samuel Beckett: the V Anishing Voice of Fiction
SAMUEL BECKETT: THE V ANISHING VOICE OF FICTION RA YMO D FEDERMA Ncw York Slalc Uni\'crsil\' al Burralo In one of Beekett's earlier stories, "The Calmative" (Stories and Texts lor Nothing), the narrator-hero, at one point, aftcr having wandered aimlessly through the half-deserted streets of an unidentified eity, finds himself standing prceariously on the ledge of the roof of a church, and says to himself: "Into what nightmare thingness am 1 fallen?". This statement not only refers to the protagonist's physical predieament, but also addresscs his puzz lement as a fictional creature made of words, as a being trapped in his own fiction, since he is both the teller and the told of his own story. Admittedly, there is nothing more absurd, more perplcxing, more nightmarish than to write fietion. That is to say, nothing is more laughable than to sit in a room, betwecn four walls, day after day, month after month, year after year, to create an imaginary situation (that "nightmare thingness", as Bcekett ealls it) and fabricate fietitious beings by the mere process of lining up words on pieees of papero Perhaps the only way for the writer to escape thc absurdity, the tedium, and the anguish of sueh a self-imposed torture is to laugh at his own activity. Indeed, it is well known that many writers, even those whose work depicts the most oppressive, the most horrendous, the most pathetic situations (this was the case with Kafka, Céline, Proust even, and many others), eould be heard laughing within the walls of the room whcre fietion was being shaped. -
Exploring Incapacity and Carceral Formations in Samuel Beckett's Endgame, Happy Days, Play, Not I, and Catastrophe
University of Tennessee, Knoxville TRACE: Tennessee Research and Creative Exchange Masters Theses Graduate School 8-2009 "I can't be punished anymore": Exploring Incapacity and Carceral Formations in Samuel Beckett's Endgame, Happy Days, Play, Not I, and Catastrophe Victoria Helen Swanson University of Tennessee - Knoxville, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://trace.tennessee.edu/utk_gradthes Part of the English Language and Literature Commons Recommended Citation Swanson, Victoria Helen, ""I can't be punished anymore": Exploring Incapacity and Carceral Formations in Samuel Beckett's Endgame, Happy Days, Play, Not I, and Catastrophe. " Master's Thesis, University of Tennessee, 2009. https://trace.tennessee.edu/utk_gradthes/96 This Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by the Graduate School at TRACE: Tennessee Research and Creative Exchange. It has been accepted for inclusion in Masters Theses by an authorized administrator of TRACE: Tennessee Research and Creative Exchange. For more information, please contact [email protected]. To the Graduate Council: I am submitting herewith a thesis written by Victoria Helen Swanson entitled ""I can't be punished anymore": Exploring Incapacity and Carceral Formations in Samuel Beckett's Endgame, Happy Days, Play, Not I, and Catastrophe." I have examined the final electronic copy of this thesis for form and content and recommend that it be accepted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts, with a major in English. Allen Dunn, Major Professor We have read this thesis and recommend its acceptance: Mary E. Papke, Stanton B. Garner, Jr. Accepted for the Council: Carolyn R. -
Collected Shorter Plays of Samuel Beckett Murphy
Collected Shorter Plays Works by Samuel Beckett published by Grove Press Cas cando Mercier and Camier Collected Poems in Molloy English and French More Pricks Than Kicks The Collected Shorter Plays of Samuel Beckett Murphy Company Nohow On (Company, Seen Disjecta Said, Worstward Ho) Endgame Ill Ohio Impromptu Ends and Odds Ill Proust First Love and Other Stories Rockaby Happy Days Stories and Texts How It Is for Nothing I Can't Go On, I'll Go On Three Novels Krapp Last Tape Waiting for Godot The Lost Ones Watt s Malone Dies Worstward Ho Happy Days: Samuel Beckett's Production Notebooks, edited by James Knowlson Samuel Beckett: The Complete Short Prose, 1929-/989, edited and with an introduction and notes by S. E. Gontarski The Theatrical Notebooks of Samuel Beckett: Endgame, edited by S. E. Gontarski The Theatrical Notebooks of Samuel Beckett: Krapp's Last Tape, edited by James Knowlson The Theatrical Notebooks of Samuel Beckett: Waiting for Godot, edited by Dougald McMillan and James Knowlson COLLECTED SHORTER PLAYS SAMUEL BECKETT Grove Press New York Copyright© 1984 by Samuel Beckett All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced,stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form, by any means, including mechanical, electronic, photocopying,recording, or otherwise,without prior written permission of the publisher. Grove Press 841 Broadway New York, NY 10003 All That Fall © Samuel Beckett, 1957; Act Without Words I © Samuel Beckett, 1959; Act Without Words II© Samuel Beckett,1959; Krapp's Last 'Ihpe© Samuel Beckett,1958; Rough for Theatre I © Samuel Beckett, 1976; Rough for Theatre II© Samuel Beckett,1976; Embers © Samuel Beckett,1959; Rough for Radio I© Samuel Beckett,1976; Rough forRadio II© Samuel Beckett, 1976; Words and Music © Samuel Beckett,1962; Cascando© Samuel Beckett, 1963; Play © Samuel Beckett, 1963; Film © Samuel Beckett, 1967; The Old Tune, adapt.