Overview

This volume of the BDMP series charts the genesis of three iconic Beckett plays: Not I (1973), That Time (1976) and Footfalls (1976), all translated into French by their author. Including analyses of abandoned archival precursors – the ‘Kilcool’ drafts (1963) and the ‘Petit Odéon’ Fragments (1967–1968) – the book covers a crucial period in Beckett’s playwriting career, during which his long-held ambition to stage a mouth babbling in the dark became a catalyst for some of his most innovative work. This volume provides a comprehensive guide to the history of the three plays, tracking their development from compositional manuscripts through to publication and performance. The book contends that these plays should be seen as stagings of the subject–object breakdown explored in Beckett’s early writing. Drawing on the notes he took on psychology and psychoanalysis in 1934–1935, it examines the many psychological and psychoanalytic concepts that are used in the author’s later stagings of the mind. The plays are analysed through the lens of enactive cognition: not as representations of particular psychological conditions, but as pieces which encourage active interpretation on the part of their audiences. By staging minds in states of breakdown that resist diagnosis, Not I / Pas moi, That Time / Cette fois and Footfalls / Pas enact the subject–object breakdown that is such a key part of Beckett’s aesthetics.

Full Product Details

Author:   Dr James Little (University of Cyprus, Cyprus) ,  Dirk Van Hulle (University of Antwerp Belgium) ,  Mark Nixon (University of Reading UK)
Publisher:   Bloomsbury Publishing PLC
Imprint:   Bloomsbury Academic
Dimensions:   Width: 17.00cm , Height: 2.50cm , Length: 21.60cm
Weight:   0.454kg
ISBN:  

9781350269057

ISBN 10:   1350269050
Pages:   520
Publication Date:   13 July 2023
Audience:   College/higher education ,  Tertiary & Higher Education
Format:   Paperback
Publisher's Status:   Active
Availability:   To order  
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Table of Contents

Acknowledgements List of Abbreviations Note on the Transcriptions List of Illustrations Introduction: Beckett’s Breakdowns PART I The Making of Not I / Pas moi 1 Documents 1.1 Autograph Manuscripts 1.1.1 English 1.1.2 French 1.2 Typescripts 1.2.1 English 1.2.2 French 1.3 Setting Copies, Galleys and Annotated Copies 1.3.1 English 1.4 Pre-book Publications 1.4.1 French 1.5 Editions 1.5.1 English (UK) 1.5.2 English (US) 1.5.3 French 1.5.4 Multilingual 1.6 Playscripts and Production Notes 1.6.1 English 1.7 Genetic Map 2 The Genesis of Not I / Pas moi 2.1 Before Not I / Pas moi 2.1.1 ‘Kilcool’ 2.1.2‘ Petit Odéon’ Fragments 2.2 The Genesis of Not I 2.2.1 Chronology 2.2.2 Genesis 2.3 The Genesis of Pas moi 2.3.1 Chronology 2.3.2 Genesis PART II The Making of That Time / Cette fois 3 Documents 3.1 Autograph Manuscripts 3.1.1 English 3.1.2 French 3.2 Typescripts 3.2.1 English 3.2.2 French 3.3 Setting Copies and Galleys 3.3.1 English 3.3.2 French 3.4 Editions 3.4.1 English (UK) 3.4.2 English (US) 3.4.3 French 3.4.4 Multilingual 3.5 Playscripts and Production Notes 3.5.1 English 3.5.2 Multilingual 3.6 Genetic Map 4 The Genesis of That Time / Cette fois 4.1 The Genesis of That Time 4.1.1 Chronology 4.1.2 Genesis 4.2 The Genesis of Cette fois 4.2.1 Chronology 4.2.2 Genesis PART III The Making of Footfalls / Pas 5 Documents 5.1 Autograph Manuscripts 5.1.1 English 5.2 Typescripts 5.2.1 English 5.2.2 French 5.3 Setting Copies, Galleys and Page Proofs 5.3.1 English 5.3.2 French 5.4 Pre-book Publications 5.4.1 French 5.5 Editions 5.5.1 English (UK) 5.5.2 English (US) 5.5.3 French 5.5.4 Multilingual 5.6 Playscripts, Production notes and Annotated Copies 5.6.1 English 5.6.2 Multilingual 5.7 Genetic Map 6 The Genesis of Footfalls / Pas 6.1 The Genesis of Footfalls 6.1.1 Chronology 6.1.2 Genesis 6.2 The Genesis of Pas 6.2.1 Chronology 6.2.2 Genesis Conclusion: Beckett’s ‘dark matter’ Works Cited Index

Reviews

With this monograph, Little effectively convinces us that the successive drafts offer evidence of a heightening of interpretive ambiguity and uncertainty that blurs the line between self and other, inside and outside, reality and fiction. Doing this , Little concludes, will probably not solve the questions asked by these works - Who is Godot? What happened to Mouth in the field? Is May alive or dead? - but it can help us better understand how these questions are posed (483). For all these reasons, this volume in the BDMP series is without doubt a highly commendable and very rewarding read for those researchers interested in an in-depth foray into Beckett's late theatre and creative mind. * Textual Cultures *

With this monograph, Little effectively convinces us that the successive drafts offer evidence of a heightening of interpretive ambiguity and uncertainty that blurs the line between self and other, inside and outside, reality and fiction. “Doing this”, Little concludes, “will probably not solve the questions asked by these works — Who is Godot? What happened to Mouth in the field? Is May alive or dead? — but it can help us better understand how these questions are posed” (483). For all these reasons, this volume in the BDMP series is without doubt a highly commendable and very rewarding read for those researchers interested in an in-depth foray into Beckett’s late theatre and creative mind. * Textual Cultures *

Author Information

James Little is a postdoctoral researcher at Masaryk University, Brno and Charles University, Prague, Czech Republic, where his research focuses on Irish writing, genetic criticism and performance. He is the author of Samuel Beckett in Confinement: The Politics of Closed Space (2020).

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