Beckett criticism

Question 1

Beckett ‘Proust’

Being

Answer 1

‘the perilous zones in the life of the individual…when for a moment the boredom of living is replaced by the suffering of being.’

Question 2

Esslin on Beckett’s use of French

Answer 2

‘By writing in a foreign language, Beckett ensures that his writing remains a constant struggle, wrestling with the spirit of language itself.’

Question 3

Beckett ‘Proust’

Habit

Answer 3

‘Habit is the ballast that chains the dog to his vomit. Breathing is a habit. Life is a habit. Or rather life is a succession of habits, since the individual is a succession of individuals.’

Question 4

Film ?

Answer 4

Esse est percipi

To be is to be perceived.

Question 5

Jeffrey Nealon

The aim of the game

Answer 5

‘In postmodern language games, the of the game is to make moves which expand the limits of the game, constantly disrupting its margins.’
corresponding expanse in thought since we think in language

Question 6

Jeffrey Nealon

Lucky’s speech

Answer 6

is ‘essentially peaceful because it displaces the notion of objective knowledge…Knowledge is power and objectivist modern knowledge is always used to create or uphold a violent power structure.’

Question 7

Jeffrey Nealon

Postmodernism and power structurez

Answer 7

‘Postmodernist knowledge…moves at and beyond the limits of this structure – producing new ways to think about things, not simply data which reinforce and recuperate the old ways of thinking.’

Question 8

Marshall Lewis Johnstone

Database and Narrative in KLT

Answer 8

KLT as a failure to bring narrative order to a database.
‘lay down across her’>’lie down across her’ - relay the past onto the present moment.
Refers to past self in third person - trying to distance himself.

Question 9

Martin Esslin

Time

Answer 9

‘In a process of unending flux, each moment contains the negation of the preceding atom of time.’

Question 10

Martin Esslin

Self Perception

Answer 10

Voice and the Opener as the perceived and perceiving self.
self perception is a basic condition of our being.
Perceived portion of the self is in constant flux.

Question 11

Martin Esslin

Experience

Answer 11

‘existential experience is thus felt as a succession of attempts to give shape to the void’
Games/maths as a way of structuring experience.
Confronting the void as an act of affirmation.