Beckett's words : the promise of happiness in a time of mourning / David Kleinberg-Levin.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Kleinberg-Levin, David Michael, 1939- author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Beckett, Samuel, 1906-1989--Criticism and interpretation.

Beckett, Samuel.

Beckett, Samuel, 1906-1989.

Criticism and interpretation.

Physical Description:

viii, 313 pages ; 25 cm

Place of Publication:

London ; New Delhi ; New York ; Sydney : Bloomsbury Academic, an imprint of Bloomsbury Publishing Plc, 2015.

Summary:

In an original reading of Beckett's plays, novels and short stories, Kleinberg Levin shows that, despite inheriting a language damaged, corrupted and commodified, Beckett redeems dead or dying words and wrests from this language new possibilities for the expression of meaning. Without denying Beckett's nihilism, his picture of a radically disenchanted world, Kleinberg-Levin calls attention to moments when his words suddenly ignite and break free of their despair and pain, taking shape in the beauty of an austere yet joyous lyricism, suggesting that, after all, meaning is still possible. And it is in just such moments that something attesting the promise of happiness appears, its gloriously incandescent words breaking through our mourning, the ashen grey of hopeless creaturely life, to sustain the experience of loss for the sake of hope. Book jacket.

Contents:

Part 1 No Theodicy: A Chance of Happiness? 85

1 Negative Dialectics 87

2 In the Secret of Guilt: Punishment as Meaning 97

3 Political Theology: Old Dictations, Old Knots 107

4 Ending the Endings: The Endgame of Theodicy 119

Part 2 The Utopian idea: Remembering the Future in the Past 127

1 Paradise: Nowhere-But Here! 129

2 Tales for Children: Retrieving the Enchantment 139

3 Hope and Despair in a Time of Mourning 145

4 Waiting: In the Meantime 155

5 In the Event of a New Word 159

Part 3 After Hegel, Beckett's How It Is: Approaching Justice with Infinite Slowness 173

1 Swamp: justice in the State of Nature 175

2 The Struggle for Acknowledgement and Recognition 185

3 Cruelty and Kindness: Humanity in Question 207

4 The Human Voice: Of Promises and Solaces 217

5 Redeeming Words 221

6 Where in the World is Justice? 229.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages [299]-307) and index.

ISBN:

9781474216852

1474216854

9781474216838

1474216838

OCLC:

910166382