Samuel Beckett's Critical Aesthetics

250 Pages·2018·2.05 MB·English

by  Tim Lawrence

S a m u e l
B e c k e t t ’ s
C r i t i c a l
A e s t h e t i c s
Tim Lawrence
Samuel Beckett’s Critical Aesthetics
Tim Lawrence
Samuel Beckett’s
Critical Aesthetics
Tim Lawrence
University of York
York, UK
ISBN 978-3-319-75398-0 ISBN 978-3-319-75399-7 (eBook)
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-75399-7
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For Alex
A
cknowledgments
This book would not have been possible without the inexhaustible sup-
port of family, friends and colleagues. I am especially grateful to Dr
Stephanie Lambert and Lucy Potter, for editorial support as well as gal-
vanising conversations; Dr Emilie Morin, who opened this area of study to
me with efforts both Herculean and more generous than I deserved; Dr
Mark Nixon, for guidance with the archives and publication; my PhD
examiners, Dr Ulrika Maude and Professor Hugh Haughton, whose feed-
back helped immeasurably with the work leading into the present volume;
Professor Peter Lamarque, for attentive guidance on philosophical mat-
ters; Dr Adam Winstanley, who offered kind feedback on my work and
helpful archival pointers; and Alexa Ratzlaff for advanced French lessons.
My editors at Palgrave, Vicky Bates and series editor Tomas René, have
been unwaveringly attentive and patient, in a spirit shared by the feedback
from my peer-reviewers. I thank the Humanities Research Centre and
Department of English and Related Literature at the University of York
for providing funds and research space without which I could not have
undertaken this project. I am also thankful to Georges Matisse for accom-
modating access to letters by Georges Duthuit. This study is also indebted
to the companionship of friends over the years: Andy, Anna, Cat, Chris,
Craig, Jacqui, Paul and Sam. Finally, Robyn and my parents merit more
thanks than I can offer for their steadfast calm, wisdom and love.
vii
viii ACKNoWLEDGMENTS
Parts of Chap. 4 are developed from articles by the author previously
published in Samuel Beckett Today/Aujourd’hui 27 (2015) and Journal of
Beckett Studies 25, no. 2 (2016). Reproduced by kind permission of the
publishers. Citations from the letters of Georges Duthuit reproduced by
permission of the Estate of Henri Matisse. © 2017 Succession Georges
Duthuit.
n P t
ote on the resentAtion of ext
Where relevant, for French-language sources, both the original text and a
translation are provided. The original or translated passage is usually given
in parentheses, following the reference for the first citation. Longer cita-
tions from an original source are presented in a footnote, except those for
works by Beckett, where the original and the translated passage are placed
alongside one another in the body of the text. Where my own translation
is given, this immediately follows the reference for the original citation
and, to avoid confusion, is placed [in square brackets].
Technical words or philosophical terms without a single, specific source
are isolated in ‘single quotation marks’ rather than the “double quotation
marks” used for citations. Individual foreign-language words or phrases,
in neither English nor French, are italicised.
ix
c
ontents
1 I ntroduction 1
2 Representation and Resistance: Beckett as Reader
and Critic 23
3 Beckett’s Aesthetic of Vision: Figuration and Surrealist
Influence 79
4 Transitions and Abstractions: Periodical Culture
and Beckett’s Revisions of the Visual 123
5 “This Running Against the Walls of Our Cage”: Beckett at
the Boundary 167
6 Conclusion 209
Bibliography 213
Index 235
xi
A
bbreviAtions
The following abbreviations are used in references to works by Samuel Beckett:
C “The Calmative.” In Poems, Short Fiction, Criticism. Vol. 4 of The Grove
Centenary Edition, 261–274. Edited by Paul Auster. 4 vols. New York:
Grove, 2006.
CDW Complete Dramatic Works. London: Faber, 2006.
CP The Collected Poems of Samuel Beckett. Edited by Seán Lawlor and John
Pilling. London: Faber, 2012.
D Disjecta: Miscellaneous Writings and a Dramatic Fragment. Edited by
Ruby Cohn. London: Calder, 1983.
DB “Dante… Bruno. Vico.. Joyce.” In Poems, Short Fiction, Criticism. Vol.
4 of The Grove Centenary Edition, 495–510.
E “The End.” In Poems, Short Fiction, Criticism. Vol. 4 of The Grove
Centenary Edition, 275–293.
El Eleutheria. Translated by Barbara Wright. London: Faber, 1996.
ElF Eleutheria. Paris: Les Éditions de Minuit, 1995.
Ex “The Expelled.” In Poems, Short Fiction, Criticism. Vol. 4 of The Grove
Centenary Edition, 247–259.
FL “First Love.” In Poems, Short Fiction, Criticism. Vol. 4 of The Grove
Centenary Edition, 229–246.
I L’Innommable. Paris: Les Éditions de Minuit, 2004.
IS Ill Seen Ill Said. In Poems, Short Fiction, Criticism. Vol. 4 of The Grove
Centenary Edition, 451–470.
LI The Letters of Samuel Beckett. Vol. 1, 1929–1940. Edited by Martha Dow
Fehsenfeld and Lois More overbeck. Cambridge: Cambridge University
Press, 2008.
xiii