Beckett and Death

This is a collection of research by leading international scholars on Beckett, as well as younger academics, analyses a number of Beckett's poems, plays and short stories through consideration of mortality and death. Death is indisputably central to Beckett's writing and reception. This collection of research considers a number of Beckett's poems, novels, plays and short stories through considerations of mortality and death. Chapters explore the theme of deathliness in relation to Beckett's work as a whole, through three main approaches. The first of these situates Beckett's thinking about death in his own writing and reading processes, particularly with respect to manuscript drafts and letters. The second on the death of the subject in Beckett links dominant 'poststructural' readings of Beckett's writing to the textual challenge exemplified by the "The Unnamable". A final approach explores psychology and death, with emphasis on deathly states like catatonia and Cotard's Syndrome that recur in Beckett's work."Beckett and Death" offers a range of cutting-edge approaches to the trope of mortality, and a unique insight into the relationship of this theme to all aspects of Beckett's literature.

... a highly original and compelling collection of essays... a very strong collection, shedding new and original critical light on this so fundamental yet so highly contested element of Beckett's work.--Sanford Lakoff, 'The sheer breadth of material and approaches identifies this collection as a useful resource for Beckettians of all critical persuasions.'--Sanford Lakoff

Steven Barfield is Senior Lecturer in English Literature at the University of Westminster, UK. Matthew Feldman is Lecturer in Twentieth-Century History at the University of Northampton, UK. Philip Tew is Professor of English (Post-1900 Literature) at Brunel University, UK, Director of Brunel's Centre for Contemporary Writing and Director of the UK Network for Modern Fiction Studies.