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ULRIKA MAUDE. Beckett, Technology and the Body. Cambridge:
Cambridge
University Press, 2009. Pp. 209, illustrated. $81.00 (Hb).
Reviewed by Jessica Prinz, The Ohio State University
The books that came out in honour of Samuel Becketts centenary
fall into
two broad categories. There are new considerations of already
well-covered
topics, such as Beckett and Joyce (P.J. Murphys Becketts
Dedalus), Beckett
and Proust (Mary Bryden and Margaret Toppings Becketts
Proust/Deleuzes
Proust), Beckett and Death (Steven Barfield, Matthew Feldman,
and Philip
Tew), and Beckett and Decay (Kathyrn White). There are new
works
linking Becketts oeuvre to current theoretical approaches, such
as post-
colonialism (Patrick Bixbys Samuel Beckett and the Postcolonial
Novel),
masculinity studies (Jennifer Jefferss Becketts Masculinity),
and ethics(Russell Smiths Beckett and Ethics). Such theoretical
applications and
interventions sometimes offer either skewed interpretations of
the literary
texts, on the one hand, or distortions of the theory, on the
other. Ulrika
Maudes book on Beckett and the body, however, suffers from
neither of
these failures, successfully combining literary analysis with
theoretical
insights.
Maudes book responds to the entire history of Beckett criticism
that
focuses on the influence of Descartes and the cogito on Becketts
writing.
As Maude points out, Beckett studies foreground processes of
thought, cog-nition, and logic (as well as their breakdown) in
characters speech, motion,
and disintegration. That the body experiences these
transformations along
with the mind is obvious once pointed out, and Maudes study ably
applies
current theories of the body to works undeniably concerned with
the body
and its meanings. Her precisof theory are clear and concise,
while her close
readings are both creative and convincing. The books greatest
strength is in
its organization: it addresses, in the ordering of its own
chapters, the
processes of the human body and its senses.
The first chapter explores the intersection of the body and
memory (inthe thought of Merleau-Ponty, in particular) via an
analysis of the
phantom limb in Krapps Last Tape. The second chapter plumbs the
con-
nections between Merleau-Pontys views of vision and Cezannes
non-
representational landscapes. Maude first links these to Becketts
novella
The Calmative, which thematizes aspects of vision such as
blurring;
then, she illuminates Becketts interweaving of vision, sight,
spectatorship,
perception, and self-perception through her detailed
consideration ofFilm.
She concludes that the Beckettian eye is embodied, fallible, and
subject to
damage and decay (46).The third, equally coherent and compelling
chapter concerns hearing,
most notably in Becketts first two radio plays, All That Fall
and Embers.
REVIEWS
Modern Drama, 53:3 (Fall 2010) 415
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both Beckett scholars and general readers have much to ponder in
Beckett,
Technology and the Body, which is well worth close reading and
further dis-
cussion.
ANNA MCMULLAN and S.E. WILMER, eds. Reflections on Beckett: A
Centenary
Celebration. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 2009. Pp.
xiv 241.
$65.00 (Hb).
Reviewed by Michael Y. Bennett, University of Hartford
The years since 2006, Samuel Becketts centenary, have seen an
outpouringof scholarship. This particular collection contains
wonderful essays by
some leading Beckett scholars, taken from conferences at Trinity
College
Dublin, Becketts alma mater, and the annual Samuel Beckett
Lecture
Series. It is divided into two sections: Interconnections (in
which
essays look comparatively at Beckett and another writer or
thinker) and
Beckett in Practice (in which essays examine Beckett from the
perspective
of theatre practice). While each section makes sense and the
essays con-
tained in each section fit its theme, the two sections sit
strangely together:
Beckett in Practice would better complement Beckett in Theory,
forexample, just as Interconnections might complement essays on
Beckett
as a solitary figure. However, as long as readers are aware that
this collec-
tion has two purposes and understands what each section does,
they will be
well rewarded.
The book begins with a forward by Dennis Kennedy. For a reader
who
has not read Brigitte Le Juezs book Beckett avant la lettre
(2007) (Beckett
Before Beckett: Samuel Becketts Lectures on French Literature
[2008]),
Kennedy provides a wonderfully succinct history of Becketts
early years
at Trinity College Dublin and as a young academic. This forward
is followedby an introduction by the editors, whose prevailing
theme is that an
abiding characteristic of Becketts work is its contrariness or
contradictory
features (1). McMullan and Wilmer discuss many of the
contradictions
that feature in Becketts work: between self and other, liveness
and spectral-
ity, sound and silence, humour and tragedy, birth and death,
real and ima-
gined, and so on (2 3). The authors stress that these
contradictions create
enormous scope for scholarly and philosophical enquiry (3).
The first section, Interconnections, begins with an essay by
Linda Ben-
Zvi entitled Becketts Bodies, or Dr. Johnsons Anatomy Lesson.
Ben-Zviargues that, after 1946, Beckett began an investigation into
what it means
to have a body, how that body is constructed, how it struggles
to emerge,
[and] how it is thwarted by its own corporeal limitations (26).
Ben-Zvi
REVIEWS
Modern Drama, 53:3 (Fall 2010) 417
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