Preliminary Table of Contents:
Acknowledgments
Introduction
1. Emptiness: Ontological, Theatrical, Theatro-psychic
2. Surrealist Inner Space: Theatre of the (Empty) Mind
3. Beckett's Pursuit of Emptiness: The Concentrated (Empty) Image
Behind the Fragmented Story In the Late Plays
4. Avatars of the Hypersubjective Dramatic Character
5. The Hypersubject Avatar Manqué
6. TheHypersubjective Marionette-like Legacy of Pierrot: From the
Social Space of the Commedia to the Empty Space of Nouveau
Théâtre
Conclusion
Works Cited
An excitingly original approach to the theatre of the absurd
Les Essif is Associate Professor of Modern Languages and Literatures at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville.
Essif (Univ. of Tennessee, Knoxville) presents a sophisticated
analysis of theatrical and psychic space, particularly of Beckett's
empty figure on an empty stage. With special regard for the later
plays, particularly Rockaby and Not I, the author identifies the
techniques that focus the spectator's attention on the human
body—the hypersubjective dramatic character—that connects the empty
outer space of the stage and the empty inner space of the mind.
Such a study necessitates an analysis not only of the ontological
and metaphorical but also of the development of modern drama. Essif
links Beckett with other playwrights (many French) in the nouveau
théâtre (theatre) and offers a parenthetical chapter on the work of
others—Pinter, Stoppard, Handke, Shepard—by way of contrast, an
approach that succeeds admirably in situating Beckett. And in a
final, illuminating chapter, he extends his reach to the figures of
the harlequin of commedia and Pierrot, a modern mutant,
distinguishing between them and connecting Beckett with the more
meditative, socially isolated Pierrot. This is an intelligent,
evocative study that, in its modest way, does more than most others
in conceptualizing and articulating Beckett's fascination with
emptiness and silence. Upper-division undergraduates and
above.November 2001
*Lafayette College*
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