Beckett/Philosophy

405 Pages·2015·2.084 MB·English

by  Matthew Feldman, Karim Mamdani, Alexander Gungov

Matthew Feldman, Karim Mamdani (eds.)

Beckett / Philosophy
Foreword by Alexander Gungov

Matthew Feldmann, Karim Mamdani (eds.)

BECKETT / PHILOSOPHY
Foreword by Alexander Gungov

ibidem- Verlag
Stuttgart
Bibliographic information published by the Deutsche Nationalbibliothek
Die Deutsche Nationalbibliothek lists this publication in the Deutsche Nationalbibliografie;
detailed bibliographic data are available in the Internet at http://dnb.d-nb.de.
Bibliografische Information der Deutschen Nationalbibliothek
Die Deutsche Nationalbibliothek verzeichnet diese Publikation in der Deutschen
Nationalbibliografie; detaillierte bibliografische Daten sind im Internet über http://dnb.d-nb.de
abrufbar.
Cover design: Aglika Gungova
Excerpts from Samuel Beckett's unpublished works: © The Estate of Samuel Beckett,
reproduced with kind permission of the Estate of Samuel Beckett c/o Rosica Colin Limited,
London. For detailed information see bibliographical references in the text.
Excerpts from letters of Samuel Beckett: Martha Dow Fehsenfeld, Lois More Overbeck,
George Craig, Dan Gunn (eds.): The Letters of Samuel Beckett, Vol. 1, 1929–1940 (2009), ©
The Estate of Samuel Beckett 2009, published by Cambridge University Press, reproduced
with kind permission. For detailed information see bibliographical references in the text.
ISBN-13: 978-3-8382-6701-2
© ibidem-Verlag / ibidem Press
Stuttgart, Germany 2015
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No part of this publication may be reproduced,
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In memoriam
Sean Lawlor (1948–2011)

The day that is darkest
Is the day without laughter

(Nicolas-Sébastien de Chamfort
via Samuel Beckett’s “Long After Chamfort,” trans. Sean Lawlor)

Acknowledgments
The editors would like to thank, first and foremost, Alexander
Gungov for his unflagging support of this project – from initial ap-
pearance in the Sofia Philosophical Review V/1 (2011) to his encour-
agment and assistance with an extended version, published via the
kind offices of Sofia University Press under the title Beck-
ett/Philosophy (2012). We would also like to gratefully acknowledge
the assistance of David Addyman and Tania Mühlberger for their
pivotal assistance in final preparations of this text for press, as well as
to all invited contributors for their goodwill and forbearance in the
process of publication. The editors would also like to thank Christian
Schön, Valerie Lange and their colleagues at ibidem Press for com-
mitted and enthuiasistic support in the re-publication of this volume.
Excerpts from Samuel Beckett’s unpublished “Whoroscope
Notebooks”; “Human Wishes Notebooks”; “Philosophy Notes” and
“Interwar Notes”; and letters to Mary Hutchinson and to Barbary
Bray, all © The Estate of Samuel Beckett, reproduced by kind per-
mission of the Estate of Samuel Beckett c/o Rosica Colin Limited,
London.
7

Table of Contents
Acknowledgments 7
Table of Contents 9
Alexander L. Gungov
Foreword to the ibidem Press Edition 13
Alexander L. Gungov
Foreword: Is This the Right Time to Ponder Beckett and Philosophy? 15
Matthew Feldman
Introduction to Beckett/Philosophy 23
Matthew Feldman
“I am not a philosopher.” Beckett and Philosophy:
A Methodological and Thematic Overview 35
Donald Phillip Verene
On Vico, Joyce, and Beckett 51
Erik Tonning
“I am not reading philosophy”: Beckett and Schopenhauer 75
David Addyman
“Speak of Time, without Flinching… Treat of Space with
the Same Easy Grace”: Beckett, Bergson and the Philosophy of Space 103
Peter Fifield
“Of being—or remaining”: Beckett and Early Greek Philosophy 127
9