Staging the subject–object breakdown in Samuel Beckett’s Not I / Pas moi, That time / Cette fois and Footfalls / Pas

This thesis charts the genesis of Samuel Beckett’s late plays Not I, That Time and Footfalls, which were written and first published in English: Not I in 1973; That Time and Footfalls in 1976. All three were published in French translations made by Beckett himself: Not I as Pas moi in 1975; Footfalls as Pas in 1977; and That Time as Cette fois in 1978. Accompanied by a genetic edition, which will be made available online as part of the Beckett Digital Manuscript Project (www.beckettarchive.org), this study provides a comprehensive guide to the history of these three texts using the tools of genetic criticism, tracking their development from compositional manuscripts through to publication and performance. Following the two-part structure of genetic criticism (record and interpretation), the study of each play is divided in two: first, a ‘Documents’ section gives an account of all the extant compositional manuscripts and published editions in English and French; then, a ‘Genesis’ section tells the story of its composition. Based on this manuscript evidence, the thesis contends that Beckett’s three late plays should be seen as stagings of the subject–object breakdown explored in his early writing. To do so, it draws on the notes he took on psychology and psychoanalysis in 1934–5, pointing to the many psychological and psychoanalytic concepts that are used in the author’s later stagings of the mind. Rather than taking a diagnostic approach to these staged minds, the plays are analysed through the lens of enactive cognition – that is, not as representations of a particular psychological condition, but as pieces which encourage active interpretation on the part of their audiences. In Not I / Pas moi, That Time / Cette fois and Footfalls / Pas, Beckett invites his audiences to enact the subject–object breakdown that is such a key part of his aesthetics.

Publication year:2021

Keywords:Doctoral thesis

Accessibility:Closed