Time and Modernism in Samuel Beckett's "Waiting for Godot"

Time and Modernism in Samuel Beckett's Author: Lindsey McIntosh
Publisher: GRIN Verlag
ISBN: 3668432961
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 9

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Book Description
Essay from the year 2013 in the subject English - Discussion and Essays, grade: 73, University of Strathclyde, course: English Literature, language: English, abstract: At the turn of the 20th century, a crisis in Enlightenment humanism had began to emerge; from the ashes of a dying romantic era, a cultural revolution known as the modernist movement arose as ‘a progressive force promising to liberate humankind from ignorance and irrationality’ (Taket and White, p. 869). Weary from the weak, unchanging patterns of Victorian writing, a collection of writers sought to break away from pre-existing ‘dead-end’ methods of creating literature by exploring new styles which were expressed in their prose and poetic works. Placing a greater emphasis upon experimentation, modernist writers took a great interest in purposely disorientating their readership with fragmentation and elements of the absurd. A conscious experimentation with language to express both its powers and limitations became apparent components in a vast body of modern literature. Whilst the previous era embodied a strong connection to nature in the belief this relationship was crucial for man’s development as an individual, modern writers displayed little interest towards the natural world. Instead, an established vein of modern thought developed that progress as an individual was dependent upon directing the eye inward.

Time and Modernism in Samuel Beckett's "Waiting for Godot"

Time and Modernism in Samuel Beckett's Author: Lindsey McIntosh
Publisher: GRIN Verlag
ISBN: 3668432961
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 9

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Book Description
Essay from the year 2013 in the subject English - Discussion and Essays, grade: 73, University of Strathclyde, course: English Literature, language: English, abstract: At the turn of the 20th century, a crisis in Enlightenment humanism had began to emerge; from the ashes of a dying romantic era, a cultural revolution known as the modernist movement arose as ‘a progressive force promising to liberate humankind from ignorance and irrationality’ (Taket and White, p. 869). Weary from the weak, unchanging patterns of Victorian writing, a collection of writers sought to break away from pre-existing ‘dead-end’ methods of creating literature by exploring new styles which were expressed in their prose and poetic works. Placing a greater emphasis upon experimentation, modernist writers took a great interest in purposely disorientating their readership with fragmentation and elements of the absurd. A conscious experimentation with language to express both its powers and limitations became apparent components in a vast body of modern literature. Whilst the previous era embodied a strong connection to nature in the belief this relationship was crucial for man’s development as an individual, modern writers displayed little interest towards the natural world. Instead, an established vein of modern thought developed that progress as an individual was dependent upon directing the eye inward.

Waiting for Godot

Waiting for Godot PDF Author: Samuel Beckett
Publisher: Grove/Atlantic, Inc.
ISBN: 9780802198822
Category : Drama
Languages : en
Pages : 128

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Book Description
From an inauspicious beginning at the tiny Left Bank Theatre de Babylone in 1953, followed by bewilderment among American and British audiences, Waiting for Godot has become of the most important and enigmatic plays of the past fifty years and a cornerstone of twentieth-century drama. As Clive Barnes wrote, “Time catches up with genius … Waiting for Godot is one of the masterpieces of the century.” The story revolves around two seemingly homeless men waiting for someone—or something—named Godot. Vladimir and Estragon wait near a tree, inhabiting a drama spun of their own consciousness. The result is a comical wordplay of poetry, dreamscapes, and nonsense, which has been interpreted as mankind’s inexhaustible search for meaning. Beckett’s language pioneered an expressionistic minimalism that captured the existential post-World War II Europe. His play remains one of the most magical and beautiful allegories of our time.

Beckett and Modernism

Beckett and Modernism PDF Author: Olga Beloborodova
Publisher: Springer
ISBN: 3319703749
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 295

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Book Description
This book of collected essays approaches Beckett’s work through the context of modernism, while situating it in the literary tradition at large. It builds on current debates aiming to redefine ‘modernism’ in connection to concepts such as ‘late modernism’ or ‘postmodernism’. Instead of definitively re-categorizing Beckett under any of these labels, the essays use his diverse oeuvre – encompassing poetry, criticism, prose, theatre, radio and film – as a case study to investigate and reassess the concept of ‘modernism after postmodernism’ in all its complexity, covering a broad range of topics spanning Beckett’s entire career. In addition to more thematic essays about art, history, politics, psychology and philosophy, the collection places his work in relation to that of other modernists such as T. S. Eliot, James Joyce, Wyndham Lewis, Gertrude Stein and Virginia Woolf, as well as to the literary canon in general. It represents an important contribution to both Beckett studies and modernism studies.

Samuel Beckett

Samuel Beckett PDF Author: Anthony Cronin
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 676

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Book Description
This is an affectionate yet clear-eyed biography of Beckett, written by poet, broadcaster and comic novelist Anthony Cronin. Whilst recognising Beckett's achievements, Cronin attempts to look beyond the myths and stereotypes.

Since Beckett

Since Beckett PDF Author: Peter Boxall
Publisher: A&C Black
ISBN: 1441100679
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 398

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Book Description
Samuel Beckett is widely regarded as 'the last modernist', the writer in whose work the aesthetic principles which drove the modernist project dwindled and were finally exhausted. And yet despite this, it is striking that many of the most important contemporary writers, across the world, see their work as emerging from a Beckettian legacy. So whilst Beckett belongs, in one sense, to the end of the modernist period, in another sense he is the well spring from which the contemporary, in a wide array of guises, can be seen to emerge. Since Beckett looks at a number of writers, in different national and political contexts, tracing the way in which Beckett's writing inhabits the contemporary, while at the same time reading back through Beckett to the modernist and proto-modernist forms he inherited. In reading Beckett against the contemporary in this way, Peter Boxall offers both a compelling re-reading of Beckett, and a powerful new analysis of contemporary culture.

A New-Historicism and Reader-Response Exploration of Samuel Beckett's "Waiting for Godot"

A New-Historicism and Reader-Response Exploration of Samuel Beckett's Author: Nnadube Ejiogu
Publisher:
ISBN: 9783346402431
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
Academic Paper from the year 2021 in the subject Didactics - English - History of Literature, Eras, grade: 2.5, University of Lagos, language: English, abstract: Samuel Beckett's Waiting for Godot occupies a reverend domain in literary history for reasons critics are quick to mention when the need arises. From its first premiere in 1953 to this current day, the text is still being highly reputed. The intention here is to attempt an investigation for such hallowed disposition in the oeuvre of literature through the application of New-Historicism and Reader-response criticsms. The research motivation stems from the interest in noting how Beckett is able to encode the prevailing manners of the Modernist literary era. Beyond this, the objective of generating subjective meaning through text-reader transaction adds to the sympathy of this study in that, it is the intention here to present the features that qualify the text as an Absurdist play.

Waiting for Godot by Samuel Beckett (Book Analysis)

Waiting for Godot by Samuel Beckett (Book Analysis) PDF Author: Bright Summaries
Publisher: BrightSummaries.com
ISBN: 2806294959
Category : Study Aids
Languages : en
Pages : 25

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Book Description
Unlock the more straightforward side of Waiting for Godot with this concise and insightful summary and analysis! This engaging summary presents an analysis of Waiting for Godot by Samuel Beckett, a play which follows a pair of tramps over two days of their lives as they wait for a mysterious man called Godot. Nothing else really happens, and that is exactly the point of play: through the somewhat ridiculous protagonists and the complete lack of action in Waiting for Godot, Beckett points out that life itself has no meaning, and we spend most of it waiting for something – or someone – to come along and change this. Premiered in Paris in 1953, Waiting for Godot met with astonishing success, and has since been the subject of various different interpretations and even been voted “most significant English language play of the 20th century” according to a poll conducted by the British Royal National Theatre. Although Beckett wrote the French version of his play before its English counterpart, he was actually born in Ireland. He spent most of his life in Paris, and is regarded as one of the most prominent writers of the 20th century, as well as one of the most important dramatists of the Theatre of the Absurd. Find out everything you need to know about Waiting for Godot in a fraction of the time! This in-depth and informative reading guide brings you: • A complete plot summary • Character studies • Key themes and symbols • Questions for further reflection Why choose BrightSummaries.com? Available in print and digital format, our publications are designed to accompany you on your reading journey. The clear and concise style makes for easy understanding, providing the perfect opportunity to improve your literary knowledge in no time. See the very best of literature in a whole new light with BrightSummaries.com!

Modernism in European Drama

Modernism in European Drama PDF Author: Frederick J. Marker
Publisher: University of Toronto Press
ISBN: 9780802082060
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 316

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Book Description
This collection of essays, originally published over the last forty years in the journal Modern Drama, explores the drama of four of the most influential European proponents of modernism in the European Drama: Ibsen, Strandberg, Pirandello and Beckett.

Samuel Beckett's 'Endgame'

Samuel Beckett's 'Endgame' PDF Author: Patrizia Demleitner
Publisher: GRIN Verlag
ISBN: 3638766365
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 46

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Book Description
Seminar paper from the year 2001 in the subject English Language and Literature Studies - Literature, grade: 1,7, University of Regensburg (Institut für Anglistik und Amerikanistik), course: Proseminar: From Modernism to Postmodernism, 10 entries in the bibliography, language: English, abstract: This peace of work deals with the question, whether Beckett's "Endgame" is a continuation of "Waiting for Godot". In order to answer it, both plays will be compared to work out similarities as well as differences. Godot will function as a basis and startingpoint for interpretation, that will then turn towards Endgame for comparison to come to a conclusion. Main features of the drama such as plot, setting, characters, action, language and time will be involved in this procedure of analysis. To a certain extent, this approach towards the two plays will also be related to the historical context of Postmodernism and the philosophical background of Existentialism, as well as to characteristics of the Theatre of the Absurd or the Expressionist Theatre.

En Attendant Godot

En Attendant Godot PDF Author: Samuel Beckett
Publisher: Grove Press
ISBN: 9780802118219
Category : Drama
Languages : en
Pages : 370

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Book Description
In honor of the centenary of Samuel Beckett's birth, this bilingual edition of "Waiting for Godot" features side-by-side text in French and English so readers can experience the mastery of Beckett's language and explore the nuances of his creativity.