The Haptic Aesthetic in Samuel Beckett’s Drama (New Interpretations of Beckett in the Twenty-First Century)

209 Pages·2013·1.83 MB·English

by  P. McTighe

The Haptic Aesthetic in
Samuel Beckett’s Drama
New Interpretations of Beckett in the Twenty-First Century
Series Editor: Jennifer M. Jeffers
As the leading literary figure to emerge from post–World War II Europe, Samuel Beckett’s
texts and his literary and intellectual legacy have yet to be fully appreciated by critics and
scholars. The goal of N ew Interpretations of Beckett in the Twenty-First Century is to stimulate
new approaches and develop fresh perspectives on Beckett, his texts, and his legacy. The series
will provide a forum for original and interdisciplinary interpretations concerning any aspect
of Beckett’s work or his influence upon subsequent writers, artists, and thinkers.
Jennifer M. Jeffers is Professor of English and Associate Dean and Ombudsperson for the
College of Graduate Studies at Cleveland State University. In addition to numerous articles,
she is the author of The Irish Novel at the End of the Twentieth Century: Gender, Bodies, and
Power , Britain Colonized: Hollywood’s Appropriation of British Literature, Uncharted Space:
The End of Narrative , the editor of Samuel Beckett, and co-editor of Contextualizing Aesthetics:
From Plato to Lyotard .
Also in the Series:
Samuel Beckett: History, Memory, Archive
edited by Se á n Kennedy and Katherine Weiss
Beckett’s Masculinity
by Jennifer M. Jeffers
Sex and Aesthetics in Samuel Beckett’s Work
by Paul Stewart
Late Modernist Style in Samuel Beckett and Emmanuel Levinas
by Peter Fifield
The Haptic Aesthetic in Samuel Beckett’s Drama
by Trish McTighe
The Haptic Aesthetic in
Samuel Beckett’s Drama
Trish McTighe
THE HAPTIC AESTHETIC IN SAMUEL BECKETT’S DRAMA
Copyright © Trish McTighe, 2013
All rights reserved.
First published in 2013 by
PALGRAVE MACMILLAN®
in the United States— a division of St. Martin’s Press LLC,
175 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10010.
Where this book is distributed in the UK, Europe and the rest of the world,
this is by Palgrave Macmillan, a division of Macmillan Publishers Limited,
registered in England, company number 785998, of Houndmills,
Basingstoke, Hampshire RG21 6XS.
Palgrave Macmillan is the global academic imprint of the above companies
and has companies and representatives throughout the world.
Palgrave® and Macmillan® are registered trademarks in the United States,
the United Kingdom, Europe and other countries.
ISBN: 978–1–137–27698–8
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
McTighe, Trish.
The haptic aesthetic in Samuel Beckett’s drama / Trish McTighe.
pages cm.—(New Interpretations of Beckett in the Twenty-First
Century)
Includes bibliographical references.
ISBN 978–1–137–27698–8 (alk. paper)
1. Beckett, Samuel, 1906–1989—Dramatic works.
2. Touch in literature. 3. Self in literature. I. Title.
PR6003.E282Z778 2013
842(cid:2).914—dc23 2012051315
A catalogue record of the book is available from the British Library.
Design by Newgen Imaging Systems (P) Ltd., Chennai, India.
First edition: June 2013
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Contents
Series Editor’s Preface vii
Acknowledgments i x
Introduction Haptics, Aesthetics, Philosophy 1
Chapter 1 Eye: Failing, Myopic, Grainy 13
Chapter 2 Ear: Full of Relentless Echoes 35
Chapter 3 Mouth: Trying to Tell It All, Failing 61
Chapter 4 Skin, Space, Place 87
Chapter 5 On the One Hand . . . (The One That
Writes the Body) 113
Chapter 6 On the Other Hand . . . (The One That Refuses to
Touch) 133
Conclusion Departing Bodies: Between Doubting Thomas
and Noli me Tangere 151
Notes 155
Bibliography 179
Index 191
This page intentionally left blank
Series Editor’s Preface
As the leading literary figure to emerge from post–World War II
Europe, Samuel Beckett’s texts and his literary and intellectual legacy
have yet to be fully explored by critics and scholars. The purpose of
“New Interpretations of Beckett in the Twenty-First Century” is to stimu-
late new approaches and fresh perspectives on Beckett’s texts and legacy. The
series will provide a forum for original and interdisciplinary interpretations
concerning Beckett’s work and/or his influence upon subsequent writers,
artists, and thinkers. Much has been made of James Joyce’s influence on
Beckett (which is limited to the early years of his career), but there has yet
to be a thorough analysis of Beckett’s influence not only on writers (Vaclav
Havel, Edna O’Brien, Harold Pinter, J. M. Coetzee, and James Kelman) but
also on artists (Jasper Johns, Bruce Nauman, and Avigdor Arikha), musi-
cians (Philip Glass, Heinz Holliger, and Mascual Dusapin), philosophers
(Jacques Derrida, Gilles Deleuze, and Michel Foucault), and cultural and
theoretical critics (Felix Guattari, Theodor Adorno, and Maurice Blanchot).
Because Beckett’s influence traverses disciplinary boundaries, scholarly pos-
sibilities are virtually without limit. This series will be a forum for new criti-
cal discourses on Beckett and his ongoing interdisciplinary legacy.
“New Interpretations of Beckett in the Twenty-First Century” invites
work that reconnects Beckett with his own cultural and historical situa-
tion. The importance of archival access to unpublished Beckett material,
the impact of the publication of The Letters of Samuel Beckett, and a ges-
tational period since the official biography appeared, all lead to the next
phase of Beckett Studies brimming with exciting possibilities for interpre-
tation and evaluation. Along with recovering from its ahistorical phase,
Beckett criticism is also beginning to open up new avenues of critique across
the four genres in which Beckett wrote (fiction, drama, poetry, and criti-
cal essay). “New Interpretations of Beckett in the Twenty-First Century”
invites scholarly proposals that feature Beckett’s work and/or his influence
or cross-discourse with other creative artists, thinkers, or movements.
This page intentionally left blank
Acknowledgments
In course of researching and writing this book, I have been privileged to
have had guidance and inspiration from several scholars. I would like
to thank, first and foremost, Professor Anna McMullan (University of
Reading, UK) for her support, guidance, and inspiration throughout all
stages of the preparation of this book. I am grateful also for the insight-
ful commentaries on the text from Dr. Paul Murphy (Queen’s University,
Northern Ireland) and Professor Mary Bryden (University of Reading, UK),
and to Professor Everett Frost for all his advice.
I would also like to thank series editor Professor Jennifer Jeffers for her
help and encouragement with the early draft of this manuscript, and Brigitte
Schull and Naomi Tarlow at Palgrave for their advice and patience.
A large portion of my thanks must go too to my parents, Maura and
Michael McTighe and to Evelyn McLoughlin for all their support, and to
my daughter Moya for being a light in my life. I wish to thank especially
Dr. Kurt Taroff for his discerning eye in reading portions of the manuscript,
his optimism, and his willingness to argue an academic point late into the
night. This book is dedicated both to him and to my family.
Parts of chapters 2 and 5 have been previously published as “N oli me
Tangere : Haptic Certitude in Beckett’s Eh Joe and N acht und Trä ume ,” in
Modern Drama 55.2 (2012), 215–229. This material has been reprinted with
permission from University of Toronto Press (www.utpjournals.com), © 2012
University of Toronto.