Beckett and death / edited by Steven Barfield, Philip Tew, and Matthew Feldman.

Format:

Book

Contributor:

Barfield, Steven, editor.

Feldman, Matthew, editor.

Tew, Philip, editor.

Series:

Continuum literary studies.

Continuum literary studies series

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

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

Beckett, Samuel.

Death in literature.

Mortality in literature.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (240 p.)

Place of Publication:

London ; New York : Continuum, 2009.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

"Death is indisputably central to Beckett's writing and reception. This collection of research considers a number of Beckett's poems, novels, plays and short stories through considerations of mortality and death. Chapters explore the theme of deathliness in relation to Beckett's work as a whole, through three main approaches. The first of these situates Beckett's thinking about death in his own writing and reading processes, particularly with respect to manuscript drafts and letters. The second on the death of the subject in Beckett links dominant 'poststructural' readings of Beckett's writing to the textual challenge exemplified by the The Unnamable. A final approach explores psychology and death, with emphasis on deathly states like catatonia and Cotard's Syndrome that recur in Beckett's work. Beckett and Death offers a range of cutting-edge approaches to the trope of mortality, and a unique insight into the relationship of this theme to all aspects of Beckett's literature."--Bloomsbury Publishing.

Contents:

Critical Foreword : Beckett and Death / Steven Barfield and Philip Tew

Introduction : "Strange Exalted Death!" Disinterring Beckett and Death / Matthew Feldman

Chapter 1. "Writing Myself into the Ground" : Textual Existence and Death in Beckett / Mark Nixon

Chapter 2. "Orgy of False Being Life in Common" : Beckett and the Politics of Death / Shane Weller

Chapter 3. "O Death Where Is Thy Sting?" Finding Words for the Big Ideas / Sean Lawlor

Chapter 4. Beckett, Augustine, and the Rhetoric of Dying / Elizabeth Barry

Chapter 5. Inane Space and Lively Place in Beckett's Forties Fiction / David Addyman

Chapter 6. Beckett's Unholy Dying : From Malone Dies to The Unnamable / Erik Tonning

Chapter 7. Beckett's Amnesiacs, Neuropsychology, and Temporal Moribundity / Peter Fifield

Chapter 8. "A Voice Comes to One in the Dark. Imagine" : Radio, the Listener, and the Dark Comedy of All That Fall / Julie Campbell

Chapter 9. Sterile Reproduction : Beckett's Death of the Species and Fictional Regeneration / Paul Stewart

Chapter 10. Beckett's Late Style / Steven Matthews

Afterword : Samuel Beckett's Cemeteries / Chris Ackerley

Index.

Notes:

Description based upon print version of record.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

9781472542939

1472542932

9781282453012

1282453017

9781441165435

1441165436

OCLC:

593217043