{"title":"“In Control … Under Control”","authors":"Hannah Simpson","doi":"10.1163/18757405-03401003","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1163/18757405-03401003","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000 Allusions to gendered violence and sexual assault in Samuel Beckett’s works raise difficult questions in today’s classroom and theatre auditoria. So too does the physical subjugation that Beckett’s female actors often endure on stage. How far might our post-#MeToo sensibilities usefully inform our reading of instances of gendered subjugation and sexualised violence in Beckett’s theatre? This article focuses on Not I as a playtext that combines intimations of sexual assault with a history of female actors suffering physically in performance. It uses the lens of rape play—enacted for therapeutic value within the BDSM community for sexual assault survivors—to read Not I as an embodied trauma narrative, and to open up discussion of forms of coercion and consent in Beckett’s work.","PeriodicalId":53231,"journal":{"name":"Samuel Beckett Today/Aujourd''hui","volume":"11 2 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.2,"publicationDate":"2022-04-25","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"78310979","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Self Re-writing and Self Un-writing","authors":"Georgina Nugent-Folan","doi":"10.1163/18757405-03401013","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1163/18757405-03401013","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000 This essay analyses the imbalance identifiable in critical approaches to the gendering of Beckett’s influences with respect to his autographic writing. Contrasting Beckett’s Company with Gertrude Stein’s The Autobiography of Alice B. Toklas, I unravel the particulars that have led to Stein’s marginalisation as a figure against which we can situate Beckett’s autographic writings, with a view to further understanding why the remarkable correspondence between Beckett and Stein’s autographic praxes has continually evaded critical attention. Building on Porter Abbott’s description of autography as self-writing, I propose that Stein’s autography be considered an example of self-rewriting, and Beckett’s of self-unwriting.","PeriodicalId":53231,"journal":{"name":"Samuel Beckett Today/Aujourd''hui","volume":"266 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.2,"publicationDate":"2022-04-25","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"73057936","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Samuel Beckett and the Impasses of Sexuation in How It Is","authors":"Llewellyn Brown","doi":"10.1163/18757405-03401009","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1163/18757405-03401009","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000 The confusion of sexual identities in How It Is testifies to the collapsing of the imaginary register that situates male and female as distinct and complementary in society. The body as a specular whole thus gives way to a relationship to language, where the universal ‘phallic’ register inscribes irreducible feminine alterity. The tormentor/tormented couplings, as well as the serial expansion of crawlers compose fictional attempts revealing a fundamental failure to institute sexual complementarity. The sexual is thus shown to reside within speech itself, pointing to the text’s very engendering. The impossible “sexual rapport” is thus the source of creation.","PeriodicalId":53231,"journal":{"name":"Samuel Beckett Today/Aujourd''hui","volume":"70 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.2,"publicationDate":"2022-04-25","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"81805570","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Samuel Beckett, les calmes déserts du sexe","authors":"Bruno Geneste","doi":"10.1163/18757405-03401010","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1163/18757405-03401010","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000 Le Dépeupleur est un texte central sur la question du sexe. Son acmé poétique se situe dans les calmes déserts de la vaincue. L’ objet de ce travail est la mise en perspective de la qualité que revêt le Nord du sexe pour Beckett, le ferment qu’ il constitue pour sa poétique. L’ accent est mis sur l’ objet vide et sur “La femme qui n’ existe pas”, et ce pire donne le cap du dire poétique. Nous y étudierons le voisinage avec ce que Lacan nomme “non-rapport sexuel”.","PeriodicalId":53231,"journal":{"name":"Samuel Beckett Today/Aujourd''hui","volume":"633 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.2,"publicationDate":"2022-04-25","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"74736031","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Celia’s Delighted Hips","authors":"Michela Bariselli","doi":"10.1163/18757405-03401008","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1163/18757405-03401008","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000 This article analyses the figure of Celia, questioning the description that emerges from the main account of Beckett’s early women. This account, originally developed by Bryden (1993), claims that women in Beckett’s early prose are represented through the filter of the male gaze, and are constructed in opposition to, and as an obstacle for, the male hero. This article argues that, in Murphy, the mechanisms set to reduce Celia to a stereotypical Woman, are foregrounded, and hence disrupted, by the presence of several contradicting perspectives, including Celia’s own perspective.","PeriodicalId":53231,"journal":{"name":"Samuel Beckett Today/Aujourd''hui","volume":"61 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.2,"publicationDate":"2022-04-25","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"86786359","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Growing Up Absurd","authors":"James Baxter","doi":"10.1163/18757405-03401012","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1163/18757405-03401012","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000 This article explores the curious interface between Beckett’s writing and the male-orientated magazine culture of the United States. Throughout the 1960s, Beckett would be solicited for articles by Esquire (advertised as ‘The Magazine for Men’) including an unlikely invitation to cover the 1968 Democratic Convention. By 1969, a write-up of Kenneth Tynan’s Oh! Calcutta! (for which Beckett would contribute the opening skit) would feature prominently in the October issue of Playboy magazine. Despite his often-perplexed reactions, this article suggests that the appeal of Beckett to commercial men’s magazines may help to situate the author within mid-century discourses around sexual freedom and ‘hip’ masculinity.","PeriodicalId":53231,"journal":{"name":"Samuel Beckett Today/Aujourd''hui","volume":"13 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.2,"publicationDate":"2022-04-25","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"75903696","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Gendering Waiting for Godot in the Socio-political Context of Pakistan","authors":"M. Nasir, Umar Shehzad","doi":"10.1163/18757405-03401006","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1163/18757405-03401006","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000 This paper focuses on an adaptation of Beckett’s Waiting for Godot in the Muslim context of Pakistan. Firstly, it looks at previous performances of the play with female actors. Secondly, it examines why female characters are introduced in the adaptation, which is strikingly opposite to Beckett’s idea of characterization in Waiting for Godot. Thirdly, it explores how such alteration is significant in the context of the Muslim culture of Pakistan. Finally, the play thus adapted for a local audience is read in a political light.","PeriodicalId":53231,"journal":{"name":"Samuel Beckett Today/Aujourd''hui","volume":"21 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.2,"publicationDate":"2022-04-25","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"84172311","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Bande et contrebande","authors":"S. Houppermans","doi":"10.1163/18757405-03302010","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1163/18757405-03302010","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000 Après avoir interrogé la notion freudienne d’ Unheimlich, je procède à une revue des représentations de La dernière bande après 2000 en tentant de les considérer sous l’ angle de l’ Unheimlich. Une expérience personnelle avec la pièce de Beckett permet d’ introduire mon affect subjectif.","PeriodicalId":53231,"journal":{"name":"Samuel Beckett Today/Aujourd''hui","volume":"29 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.2,"publicationDate":"2021-09-14","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"76584103","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"La mise en scène de Fin de partie par Alain Françon","authors":"Matthieu Protin","doi":"10.1163/18757405-03302006","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1163/18757405-03302006","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000 A première vue, la mise en scène par Alain Françon, en 2011, de Fin de partie sur la scène du théâtre de la Madeleine, paraît s’ inscrire dans la tradition des mises en scène françaises soucieuses de respecter le texte, rien que le texte, et, évidemment, ses didascalies. Cependant, cette conformité n’ est qu’ apparente. En prenant en compte les mises en scène réalisées par Beckett lui-même, en établissant le texte à partir des réécritures opérées à l’ occasion de celles-ci, Alain Françon opère une véritable révolution – au sens de renversement du regard – dans l’ appréhension non seulement de l’ œuvre, mais de l’ auteur lui-même. Ainsi s’ opèrent un nombre de ruptures significatives qui la rendent à la fois exemplaire, et profondément singulière.","PeriodicalId":53231,"journal":{"name":"Samuel Beckett Today/Aujourd''hui","volume":"53 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.2,"publicationDate":"2021-09-14","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"90406955","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"De la page au plateau, Beckett auteur – metteur en scène de son premier théâtre","authors":"M. Mégevand","doi":"10.1163/18757405-03302013","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1163/18757405-03302013","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":53231,"journal":{"name":"Samuel Beckett Today/Aujourd''hui","volume":"117 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.2,"publicationDate":"2021-09-14","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"79847336","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}