Samuel Beckett: the aesthetics of shortness

Abstract

‘Samuel Beckett: The Aesthetics of Shortness’ sets out to answer the question:What does Beckett’s prose achieve through its convention defying approach to expression? The project explores this phenomenon through an examination of a range of Beckett’s prose, which includes a selection of less well-known texts by the author. Seemingly, the further from ‘convention’ a text is the less likely it is to attract the attention of critics. By prioritising these texts the project contributes to knowledge by inviting discussion of those that have generated less critical debate, whilst also framing the more predominant texts within the wider Beckett oeuvre.The thesis uses a narratological methodology to provide a theoretical vocabulary for distinguishing the component parts of fiction which Beckett reduces and removes through his experimentation. It argues that the fewer narrative components a text has the more unconventional it is and, by extension, the more challenging it is to read. Nevertheless, by using aesthetic theory it is possible to assess the success of each text as a piece of literature. These appraisals form the basis of the investigation. The research question is posed to each of the texts analysed in the main body of the thesis and a summary of the findings is provided in the conclusion. The thesis found that the success of each artwork, in relation to traditional models of aesthetic value, varied considerably. The contrast between Beckett’s early work in the conventional modern short story in English is contrasted with his subsequent transition into aesthetically short postmodern stories in French. In Fizzles and Texts for Nothing there are considerable variations in quality even within a text. However, the ‘aesthetics of shortness’ demonstrated that it was possible to produce texts that defied categorisation, but constructed imaginative andnovel ways to convey meaning. Company, Ill Seen Ill Said, and Worstward Ho testthe borders between prose, poetry, and genre. Their conventions rely solely on theirinternal rules, yet there is no doubt as to their literary significance. The thesis argues that throughout Beckett’s writing career he sought to remove as much of the unnecessary ideational material of language as possible and still convey meaning. His vastly different experiments in fiction writing were designed to press the limits of not just literary convention and aesthetic form but to test how sparse language could become while still expressing meaning. The project was ongoing and had unequal successes as Beckett explored different methods for creating meaning while confounding conventional narrative expectations. Through a combination of methods that worked in previous texts and abandoning those that did not, Beckett is able to recycle techniques that worked and discard those that failed. This thesis examines and highlights those successes and then demonstrates how they are continued in subsequent writings. The process is described as the ‘aesthetics of shortness.’

Date of Award	Jan 2015
Original language	English
Sponsors	Vice Chancellor's Research Scholarship (VCRS)
Supervisor	GERALD MACKLIN (Supervisor), BRUCE STEWART (Supervisor), Elmer Kennedy-Andrews (Supervisor), Frank Ferguson (Supervisor) & Kathryn White (Supervisor)