Description
Book SynopsisSamuel Beckett and trauma is the first book that specifically addresses the question of trauma in Beckett, taking into account the recent rise of trauma studies in literature. Beckett is an author whose works are strongly related to the psychological and historical trauma of our age. His works not only explore the multifarious aspects of trauma but also radically challenge our conception of trauma itself by the unique syntax of language, aesthetics of fragmentation, bodily malfunctions and the creation of void. Instead of simply applying current trauma theories to Beckett, this book provides new perspectives that will expand and alter them by employing other theoretical frameworks in literature, theatre, art, philosophy and psychoanalysis. It will inspire anybody interested in literature and trauma, including specialists and students working on twentieth-century world literature, comparative studies, trauma studies and theatre /art.
Table of ContentsIntroduction – Mariko Hori Tanaka, Yoshiki Tajiri and Michiko Tsushima with Robert Eaglestone
Part I: Trauma symptoms
1. Beckett and trauma: father’s death and the sea – Julie Campbell
2. ‘Void cannot go’: trauma and actor process in the theatre of Samuel Beckett – Nicholas E. Johnson
Part II: Body and subjectivity
3. Insignificant residues: trauma, face and figure in Samuel Beckett – David Houston Jones
4. ‘The skin of words’: trauma and skin in Watt – Michiko Tsushima
5. Bodily object voices in Embers – Anna Sigg
Part III: Historical and cultural contexts
6. Trauma and ordinary objects in Virginia Woolf and Samuel Beckett – Yoshiki Tajiri
7. Smiling tigers: trauma, sexuality and creaturely life in Echo’s Bones – Conor Carville
8. The global trauma of the nuclear age in Beckett’s post-war plays – Mariko hori tanaka
Index
