Reads Beckett's comic timing as part of a post-war ethics of
representation
Samuel Beckett is a funny writer. He is also an author whose work is
taken to respond ethically to the unspeakable seriousness of the
post-Holocaust situation. How can these two statements sit together?
Ranging widely over Beckett's fiction, drama and critical writings, and
including readings of Murphy, the Trilogy, Waiting for Godot, Endgame,
the late prose and the late plays, this book demonstrates that it is
through Beckett's comic timing that we can understand the double gesture
of his art: the ethical obligation to represent the world how it is
while, at the same time, opening up a space for how it ought to be.
Key Features:
Presents innovative readings of the comedy found in Beckett's fiction,
drama and critical writings
Spans Beckett's entire oeuvre, using published and unpublished sources
Engages with recent and contemporary philosophical approaches to
literature, including work by Derrida, Badiou, Levinas, and Adorno
Makes a unique contribution to theoretical work on comedy and laughter
Provides a rigorous introduction to the theoretical debates surrounding
the relationship between modernist literature and a post-war ethics of
representation