The “Soul-Landscape” of Mud in How It Is
Michiko Tsushima
Samuel Beckett Today / Aujourd’hui March 12, 2026 DOI: 10.1163/18757405-03801008 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Theoretical or philosophical paper Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Key points | Argues that the world of mud in Beckett's How It Is functions as a psychic milieu essential to his aesthetic practice, and that it parallels Suzuki's 'earth' and 'material-spiritual' and Bion's analytic space shaped by Keats's 'negative capability.' These three milieus, the author contends, share conditions underlying artistic creation, religious experience, and psychoanalysis: suspending ordinary perception and intellect within temporal duration so another mode of perception and thought can emerge. |
Abstract
Abstract This article examines the world of mud in Beckett’s How It Is as a psychic milieu indispensable to his aesthetic practice. Through comparative analysis with Suzuki’s concepts of ‘earth’ and ‘material-spiritual,’ and Bion’s analytical space informed by Keats’s ‘negative capability,’ it argues that these three milieus reflect fundamental conditions underlying artistic creation, religious experience, and psychoanalytic practice. All operate through suspending ordinary sensory perception and intellect. This suspension unfolds within temporal duration, enabling another form of perception and thinking to emerge.