Emptied of Theatre: Breath and the Phenomenology of Disembodiment
Sozita Goudouna
Beckett's Breath March 1, 2018 DOI: 10.3366/edinburgh/9781474421645.003.0005 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Theoretical or philosophical paper Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Topics | Philosophy of mind |
| Key points | Argues that Beckett's "representational reduction"—evading figuration, withdrawing from representation, and suspending the mimetic—generates a decentered subject with ambiguous modes of absence and presence. Contends that the play Breath is "intrinsically intermedial," operating between presence and absence/emptiness and between embodiment and the ambiguity of corporeal experience, and links this to the quasi-generic and inter-generic features of Beckett's late theatrical style. |
Abstract
The fourth chapter examines the variety of means that Beckett applies so as to generate that lack of the subject. The evasion of figuration, the withdrawal from representation and the abeyance of the mimetic are related facets of Beckett’s method of representational reduction. The chapter examines the de-centred field of subjectivity and its polysemous modes of absence and presence and argues that Breath is intrinsically intermedial given that is operates in-between presence and absence/emptiness, in-between embodiment and ambiguity of corporeal experience. Intermediality is traced in the context of the quasi-generic and inter-generic features of Beckett’s late style in the theatre, the de-centred field of subjectivity and its polysemous modes of absence and presence.
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