Beckett, Technology and the Body

An important reading of Beckett that foregrounds the importance of the body and the senses in his work.

Ulrika Maude (Author)

9780521515375, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 29 January 2009

222 pages
22.9 x 15.2 x 1.6 cm, 0.5 kg

'By masterfully combining close readings of the works with relevant philosophical concepts, Maude has provided a compelling analysis of the topic and has challenged the reader to reconsider, from a different perspective, the relevance of bodily functions and of sensory impressions in Beckett. The book's strong merit, however, is to offer new compelling perspectives on the bodily nature of Beckett's work and its emphasis on the incarnate nature of subjectivity. It is a welcome contribution to Beckettian criticism and … provides fertile reflection on the interconnection of science and literature in Beckett's aesthetics.' Federico Sabatini, bsls.ac.uk/reviews

Critics have often focused on interiority in Beckett's works, privileging the mind over the body. In this intriguing approach, the first sustained analysis of embodiment in Beckett's prose, drama and media works, Ulrika Maude argues that physical and sensory experience is in fact central to the understanding of Beckett's writing. In innovative readings of sight, hearing, touch and movement in the full range of Beckett's works, Ulrika Maude uncovers the author's effort to shed light on embodied experience, paying attention to Beckett's interests in medicine and body-altering technologies such as prostheses. Through these material, bodily concerns Beckett explores wider themes of subjectivity and experience, interiority and exteriority, foregrounding the inextricable relationship between the body, the senses and the self. This important study offers a fascinating approach to Beckett, one in which the body takes its rightful place alongside the mind.

Introduction
1. The body of memory
2. The place of vision
3. Hearing Beckett
4. Skin deep
5. Come and go
6. Seeing ghosts
Conclusion
Works cited
Index.

Subject Areas: Literary studies: from c 1900 - [DSBH], Literature & literary studies [D]