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Limitation of Language in Samuel Beckett's Happy Days

Limitation of Language in Samuel Beckett's Happy Days . 9843009 Naphia. Samuel Beckett (1906~1989). Happy Days (1961) Absurd: "out of harmony with reason or propriety, incongruous, unreasonable, illogical" (Martin Esslin,2001)

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Limitation of Language in Samuel Beckett's Happy Days

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  1. Limitation of Language in Samuel Beckett's Happy Days 9843009 Naphia

  2. Samuel Beckett (1906~1989) Happy Days (1961) Absurd: "out of harmony with reason or propriety, incongruous, unreasonable, illogical" (Martin Esslin,2001) => rejects language as an instrument for expressing meanings in its deepest levels

  3. Fritz Mauthner Critique of Language one of the first works: "fallibility of languageas a medium for the discovery and communication of metaphysical truths"

  4. Beckett... • poverty of language • 'reducing knowledge to speaking' • 'that the writer could merely allow characters to speak and their words would become signs, not of knowledge, but rather of the failure of knowledge'

  5. Happy Days Winnie - immobile, stuck in the mound - non-stop talking - optimistic Willy - most of the time invisible - Winnie's attempted interlocutor

  6. Winnie • immobility • reliance on speech

  7. Winnie:...What is that unforgettable line? [Pause. Eyes right.] Willie. [Pause. Louder.] Willie. [Pause. Eye front.] May one still speak of time? [Pause.].. (Beckett, 1986:160)

  8. 'the old style' • no certainty • failure in recalling and accessing to a time or space • confusion of time

  9. I Speak, therefore You Are Winnie: 'I say I used to think that I would learn to talk alone. [Pause.] By that I mean to myself, the wilderness. [Smile.] But no. [Smile broader.] No no. [Smile off.] Ergo you are there. [Pause.]'(Beckett, 1986:160)

  10. Irony • vulnerability of man of reliance on language • language fails

  11. Language as a capital or object Winnie: 'Something says, Stop talking now, Winnie, for a minute, don't squander all your words for the day...' (Beckett, 1986:155) • Talking • Trivial actions with limited objects from her bag

  12. Language Instrument of communication? language is 'all one can do' (Beckett, 1986:145) Treated as a Tool for survival to pass her days

  13. Language [Pause.] • fragments of uncertain source • short memories • disintegration

  14. Subjectivity • essential to the existence • nature of language: complementary "ego" and "you" (interlocutor)

  15. Subjectivity • must be ensured by the accessibility of the others • individual v.s society

  16. Subjectivity • Winnie's one-sidedness: • she 'can well imagine what is passing through your [his] mind...Well it is very understandable.' • avoidance of failure • 'fictional interlocutor' • no relevance to reality

  17. Optimism • Belief? World View? • lack of relevance to reality • no productivity • empty refrains

  18. Limitation of Language • senseless, meaningless, absurd world • unlived life with no actual transmission and reception of inner message

  19. References • Ben-Zvi, "Samuel Beckett, Fritz Mauthner and the Limits of Language" • Johnson, Julian. "The Breaking of the Voice" Nineteeth-Century Music Review. Cambridge University Press, 2011. • Esslin, Martin. The Theatre of the Absurd. 3rd ed. London: Pelican, 2001. Print. 86. • Beckett, Samuel. "The Complete Dramatic Works" (1986) England: Clays, 1990. Print. • Carrière, Julien F. "Samuel Beckett and Bilingualism: How the Return to English Influences the Later Writing Style and Gender Role of All That Fall and Happy • Days" (2005), 154 • Pavel, Thomas G. "Understanding Narrative". 7. Naturallizing Molloy The Ohio State University Press. Web. 1994. • Brown, Llewellyn. "Cliche and Voice in Samuel Beckett's Happy Days"

  20. The End

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