The Making of Samuel Beckett's Not I / Pas moi, That Time / Cette fois and Footfalls / Pas
Published on 13. July 2023
Book
Paperback/Softback
520 pages
978-1-350-26905-7 (ISBN)
Description
This volume of the BDMP series charts the genesis of three iconic Beckett plays: Not I (1973), That Time (1976) and Footfalls (1976), all translated into French by their author. Including analyses of abandoned archival precursors - the 'Kilcool' drafts (1963) and the 'Petit Odeon' Fragments (1967-1968) - the book covers a crucial period in Beckett's playwriting career, during which his long-held ambition to stage a mouth babbling in the dark became a catalyst for some of his most innovative work. This volume provides a comprehensive guide to the history of the three plays, tracking their development from compositional manuscripts through to publication and performance.
The book contends that these plays should be seen as stagings of the subject-object breakdown explored in Beckett's early writing. Drawing on the notes he took on psychology and psychoanalysis in 1934-1935, it examines the many psychological and psychoanalytic concepts that are used in the author's later stagings of the mind. The plays are analysed through the lens of enactive cognition: not as representations of particular psychological conditions, but as pieces which encourage active interpretation on the part of their audiences. By staging minds in states of breakdown that resist diagnosis, Not I / Pas moi, That Time / Cette fois and Footfalls / Pas enact the subject-object breakdown that is such a key part of Beckett's aesthetics.
The book contends that these plays should be seen as stagings of the subject-object breakdown explored in Beckett's early writing. Drawing on the notes he took on psychology and psychoanalysis in 1934-1935, it examines the many psychological and psychoanalytic concepts that are used in the author's later stagings of the mind. The plays are analysed through the lens of enactive cognition: not as representations of particular psychological conditions, but as pieces which encourage active interpretation on the part of their audiences. By staging minds in states of breakdown that resist diagnosis, Not I / Pas moi, That Time / Cette fois and Footfalls / Pas enact the subject-object breakdown that is such a key part of Beckett's aesthetics.
Reviews / Votes
With this monograph, Little effectively convinces us that the successive drafts offer evidence of a heightening of interpretive ambiguity and uncertainty that blurs the line between self and other, inside and outside, reality and fiction. "Doing this", Little concludes, "will probably not solve the questions asked by these works - Who is Godot? What happened to Mouth in the field? Is May alive or dead? - but it can help us better understand how these questions are posed" (483). For all these reasons, this volume in the BDMP series is without doubt a highly commendable and very rewarding read for those researchers interested in an in-depth foray into Beckett's late theatre and creative mind. * Textual Cultures * Little's book represents a significant addition to the branches of Beckett studies looking at the mind and cognitive processes on their own and in/for performance ... Beyond the field, it is a key publication for interdisciplinary research that puts performance and epistemology in dialogue, and it will also be of interest to theatre historians of modernism ... All in all, Little's monograph is yet another proof of the ground-breaking affordances of genetic criticism and digital humanities combined at the service of other disciplines and practices. * Digital Humanities Quarterly *More details
Series
Language
English
Place of publication
London
United Kingdom
Publishing group
Bloomsbury Publishing PLC
Target group
College/higher education
Product notice
Paperback (trade)
Unsewn / adhesive bound
Dimensions
Height: 216 mm
Width: 170 mm
Thickness: 25 mm
Weight
454 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-350-26905-7 (9781350269057)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Person
James Little is a postdoctoral researcher at Masaryk University, Brno and Charles University, Prague, Czech Republic, where his research focuses on Irish writing, genetic criticism and performance. He is the author of Samuel Beckett in Confinement: The Politics of Closed Space (2020).
Content
Acknowledgements
List of Abbreviations
Note on the Transcriptions
List of Illustrations
Introduction: Beckett's Breakdowns
PART I
The Making of Not I / Pas moi
1 Documents
1.1 Autograph Manuscripts
1.1.1 English
1.1.2 French
1.2 Typescripts
1.2.1 English
1.2.2 French
1.3 Setting Copies, Galleys and Annotated Copies
1.3.1 English
1.4 Pre-book Publications
1.4.1 French
1.5 Editions
1.5.1 English (UK)
1.5.2 English (US)
1.5.3 French
1.5.4 Multilingual
1.6 Playscripts and Production Notes
1.6.1 English
1.7 Genetic Map
2 The Genesis of Not I / Pas moi
2.1 Before Not I / Pas moi
2.1.1 'Kilcool'
2.1.2' Petit Odeon' Fragments
2.2 The Genesis of Not I
2.2.1 Chronology
2.2.2 Genesis
2.3 The Genesis of Pas moi
2.3.1 Chronology
2.3.2 Genesis
PART II
The Making of That Time / Cette fois
3 Documents
3.1 Autograph Manuscripts
3.1.1 English
3.1.2 French
3.2 Typescripts
3.2.1 English
3.2.2 French
3.3 Setting Copies and Galleys
3.3.1 English
3.3.2 French
3.4 Editions
3.4.1 English (UK)
3.4.2 English (US)
3.4.3 French
3.4.4 Multilingual
3.5 Playscripts and Production Notes
3.5.1 English
3.5.2 Multilingual
3.6 Genetic Map
4 The Genesis of That Time / Cette fois
4.1 The Genesis of That Time
4.1.1 Chronology
4.1.2 Genesis
4.2 The Genesis of Cette fois
4.2.1 Chronology
4.2.2 Genesis
PART III
The Making of Footfalls / Pas
5 Documents
5.1 Autograph Manuscripts
5.1.1 English
5.2 Typescripts
5.2.1 English
5.2.2 French
5.3 Setting Copies, Galleys and Page Proofs
5.3.1 English
5.3.2 French
5.4 Pre-book Publications
5.4.1 French
5.5 Editions
5.5.1 English (UK)
5.5.2 English (US)
5.5.3 French
5.5.4 Multilingual
5.6 Playscripts, Production notes and Annotated Copies
5.6.1 English
5.6.2 Multilingual
5.7 Genetic Map
6 The Genesis of Footfalls / Pas
6.1 The Genesis of Footfalls
6.1.1 Chronology
6.1.2 Genesis
6.2 The Genesis of Pas
6.2.1 Chronology
6.2.2 Genesis
Conclusion: Beckett's 'dark matter'
Works Cited
Index
List of Abbreviations
Note on the Transcriptions
List of Illustrations
Introduction: Beckett's Breakdowns
PART I
The Making of Not I / Pas moi
1 Documents
1.1 Autograph Manuscripts
1.1.1 English
1.1.2 French
1.2 Typescripts
1.2.1 English
1.2.2 French
1.3 Setting Copies, Galleys and Annotated Copies
1.3.1 English
1.4 Pre-book Publications
1.4.1 French
1.5 Editions
1.5.1 English (UK)
1.5.2 English (US)
1.5.3 French
1.5.4 Multilingual
1.6 Playscripts and Production Notes
1.6.1 English
1.7 Genetic Map
2 The Genesis of Not I / Pas moi
2.1 Before Not I / Pas moi
2.1.1 'Kilcool'
2.1.2' Petit Odeon' Fragments
2.2 The Genesis of Not I
2.2.1 Chronology
2.2.2 Genesis
2.3 The Genesis of Pas moi
2.3.1 Chronology
2.3.2 Genesis
PART II
The Making of That Time / Cette fois
3 Documents
3.1 Autograph Manuscripts
3.1.1 English
3.1.2 French
3.2 Typescripts
3.2.1 English
3.2.2 French
3.3 Setting Copies and Galleys
3.3.1 English
3.3.2 French
3.4 Editions
3.4.1 English (UK)
3.4.2 English (US)
3.4.3 French
3.4.4 Multilingual
3.5 Playscripts and Production Notes
3.5.1 English
3.5.2 Multilingual
3.6 Genetic Map
4 The Genesis of That Time / Cette fois
4.1 The Genesis of That Time
4.1.1 Chronology
4.1.2 Genesis
4.2 The Genesis of Cette fois
4.2.1 Chronology
4.2.2 Genesis
PART III
The Making of Footfalls / Pas
5 Documents
5.1 Autograph Manuscripts
5.1.1 English
5.2 Typescripts
5.2.1 English
5.2.2 French
5.3 Setting Copies, Galleys and Page Proofs
5.3.1 English
5.3.2 French
5.4 Pre-book Publications
5.4.1 French
5.5 Editions
5.5.1 English (UK)
5.5.2 English (US)
5.5.3 French
5.5.4 Multilingual
5.6 Playscripts, Production notes and Annotated Copies
5.6.1 English
5.6.2 Multilingual
5.7 Genetic Map
6 The Genesis of Footfalls / Pas
6.1 The Genesis of Footfalls
6.1.1 Chronology
6.1.2 Genesis
6.2 The Genesis of Pas
6.2.1 Chronology
6.2.2 Genesis
Conclusion: Beckett's 'dark matter'
Works Cited
Index