Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

The Intuition of Loss in Beckett’s Radio Plays

  • Chapter
  • First Online:
Beckett's Intuitive Spectator

  • 184 Accesses

Abstract

Beckett’s dramatization of ‘blindness’ in his radio plays triggers the listener’s intuition of loss. This blindness is explored as ‘blind faith’ in the various narrative systems that frame our understanding of reality. Divided into three parts, the first explains how the radio play listener is really a spectator observing the sounds and images that play out in her mind. The second section demonstrates how the spectator intuits as ‘a loss of meaning’ the discordance between these images generated by Beckett’s radio plays and their habitual faith in teleological systems. Part three equates this intuition of loss to getting back in touch with an intuitive center of flux, as posited by Bergson.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution
eBook
USD 16.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD 64.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book
USD 89.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

Notes

  1. 1.

    Henri Bergson, An Introduction to Metaphysics, trans . T. E. Hulme (New York: Liberal Arts Press, 1949), 24.

  2. 2.

    Ibid., 23.

  3. 3.

    Ibid., 24.

  4. 4.

    Ibid.

  5. 5.

    Ibid., 5.

  6. 6.

    Anthony Uhlmann, Samuel Beckett and the Philosophical Image (Cambridge and New York: Cambridge University Press, 2006), 116.

  7. 7.

    Drew Leder, The Absent Body (London: University of Chicago Press, 1990), 21.

  8. 8.

    Ibid., 24–5.

  9. 9.

    Steven Connor, “‘I Switch Off’: Beckett and the Ordeals of Radio,” in Broadcasting Modernism, ed. Debra Rae Cohen, Michael Coyle and Jane Lewty (Florida: University of Florida, 2013), 274–94 (275).

  10. 10.

    Ibid., 276.

  11. 11.

    Ibid.

  12. 12.

    Ibid.

  13. 13.

    Ibid.

  14. 14.

    Ibid.

  15. 15.

    Tim Crook, Radio Drama Theory and Practice (London: Routledge, 1999), 54.

  16. 16.

    Ibid., 63.

  17. 17.

    Ibid., 66.

  18. 18.

    Ibid.

  19. 19.

    Ibid.

  20. 20.

    Junko Matoba, “Religious Overtones in the Darkened area of Beckett’s Later Short Plays,” in Beckett and Religion, ed. Marius Buning, Matthijs Engelberts and Onno Kosters, Samuel Beckett Today/Aujourd’ hui 9 (Amsterdam and New York: Rodopi, 2000), 31–42 (32).

  21. 21.

    Xerxes Mehta, “Ghosts,” in Directing Beckett, ed. Lois Oppenheim (Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 1994), 170–85 (170).

  22. 22.

    Julie Campbell, “‘Close your eyes and listen to it’: Embers and the Difficulties of Listening,” in Samuel Beckett: Debts and Legacies, ed. Peter Fifield and David Addyman (London, New York: Bloomsbury Methuen Drama, 2013), 133–52 (148).

  23. 23.

    All That Fall in The Original Broadcasts (hereafter TOB), directed by Donald McWhinnie (1957; London: British Library Publishing Division, 2006), CD.

  24. 24.

    For textual references, please refer to All that Fall, in The Complete Dramatic Works (hereafter CDW) (London: Faber and Faber, 2006), 169–99 (172).

  25. 25.

    Everett C. Frost, “Fundamental Sounds: Recording Beckett’s Radio plays,” Theatre Journal 43, no. 3 (Oct. 1991): 361–76 (375), accessed May 8, 2013, http://www.jstor.org/stable/3207590

  26. 26.

    Brian McHale, Postmodern Fiction (London: Routledge, 2001), 113.

  27. 27.

    All that Fall (1957); for textual reference please refer to All that Fall in CDW, 172; 174; 177.

  28. 28.

    Joseph S. O’Leary, “Beckett and Radio,” Journal of Irish Studies, 23 (2008): 3–11(7), accessed May 8, 2013, http://www.jstor.org/stable/27759603

  29. 29.

    Introduction to Metaphysics, 71.

  30. 30.

    Samuel Beckett, quoted in Mary Bryden, Samuel Beckett and the Idea of God (London: Macmillan Press; New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1998), 1; French original from Charles Juliet, Rencontre avec Samuel Beckett (Paris: Editions Fata Morgana, 1986), 50: “dans mon comportement extérieur, sans doute…. Mais pour le reste…”.

  31. 31.

    Pierre Bourdieu, Outline of a Theory of Practice, trans. Richard Nice (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1977; reprint, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2003), 78.

  32. 32.

    Quoted in Kristin Morrison, “Neglected Biblical Allusions in Beckett’s Plays: ‘Mother Pegg’ Once More,” in Samuel Beckett: Humanistic Perspectives, ed. Morris Beja, S. E. Gontarski and Pierre Astier (Ohio State: Ohio State University Press, 1983), 91–8 (93).

  33. 33.

    Jean-Françoise Lyotard, Introduction to The Postmodern Condition: A Report on Knowledge, trans. Geoff Bennington and Brian Massumi (Manchester: Manchester University Press, 1984), xxiv.

  34. 34.

    Brendan Sweetman, “Lyotard, Postmodernism, and Religion,” Philosophia Christi 7, no. 1 (2005): 139–51 (140).

  35. 35.

    Ibid.

  36. 36.

    Perez Zagorin, How the Idea of Religious Toleration Came to the West (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2003), 29.

  37. 37.

    John K Ryan, Introduction to The Confessions of St Augustine, trans. John K Ryan (New York: Doubleday Religion, 1960), xxix.

  38. 38.

    St Augustine , On Grace and Freewill, trans. Peter Holmes and Robert Ernest Wallis. (Louisville: GLH Publishing Reprint, 2017), 29. This reprint edition was sourced from A Select Library of the Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers of the Christian Church, Volume 5, ed. by Philip Schaff (New York: Christian Literature Publishing Co., 1887), 441–465.

  39. 39.

    Beckett , Waiting for Godot, in CDW, pp. 7–88 (p. 14).

  40. 40.

    Bryden, 110.

  41. 41.

    Ibid.

  42. 42.

    Samuel Beckett, quoted in Michael Worton , “Waiting for Godot and Endgame: Theatre as Text,” in The Cambridge Companion to Beckett, ed. by John Pilling (Cambridge: Cambridge U Press, 2005), 67–87 (75).

  43. 43.

    Rough for Radio in TOB, directed by Martin Esslin (1976; London: British Library Publishing Division, CD 4, 2006), CD.

  44. 44.

    Beckett, Rough for Radio II, in CDW, pp. 273–284 (p. 280).

  45. 45.

    Ibid, 281.

  46. 46.

    Ibid, 284.

  47. 47.

    Ibid, 277.

  48. 48.

    J. Moltmann, “The Crucified God”, Theology Today 31, no. 1 (1974): 6–18 (16), accessed July 15, 2014, https://doi.org/10.1177/004057367403100102.

  49. 49.

    John Calder, The Philosophy of Samuel Beckett (London: Calder, 2003), 15.

  50. 50.

    Morrison, 92.

  51. 51.

    Ibid.

  52. 52.

    Søren Kierkegaard, Concluding Unscientific Postscript, ed. by Alastair Hannay (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2009), 171–2.

  53. 53.

    Bryden, 110.

  54. 54.

    Robert L. Palmer, 40 Questions about Interpreting the Bible (Michigan: Kregel Publications, 2010), 274.

  55. 55.

    Ibid.

  56. 56.

    Scott Breuninger, Recovering Bishop Berkeley: Virtue and Society in the Anglo-Irish Context (New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2010), 140.

  57. 57.

    Branka Arsić, The Passive Eye: Gaze and Subjectivity in Berkeley (via Beckett) (California: Stanford University Press, 2003), 94.

  58. 58.

    Ibid., 95.

  59. 59.

    All That Fall (1957); text from CDW, 183.

  60. 60.

    Ibid.

  61. 61.

    Ibid.

  62. 62.

    Ibid., 254.

  63. 63.

    Ibid.

  64. 64.

    Ibid., 260.

  65. 65.

    Cascando in TOB, directed by Donald McWhinnie (1964; London: British Library Publishing Division, CD 4, 2006), CD; textual references from Cascando, in CDW, 295–304 (302).

  66. 66.

    Ibid., 297.

  67. 67.

    Martin Esslin, “Samuel Beckett and the Art of Radio,” in On Beckett: Essays and Criticism, ed. by S. E. Gontarski (London: Anthem Press, 2012), 273–91 (285).

  68. 68.

    Ibid.

  69. 69.

    Words and Music in TOB, directed by Michael Bakewell (1962; London: British Library Publishing Division, CD 3, 2006), CD.

  70. 70.

    Words and Music, in CDW, 285–94 (287).

  71. 71.

    Ibid., 288.

  72. 72.

    Ibid., 289.

  73. 73.

    Ibid., 291–3.

  74. 74.

    Ibid., 294.

  75. 75.

    Kevin Branigan, Radio Beckett: Musicality in the Radio Plays of Samuel Beckett (Oxford: Peter Lang, 2008), 145; Esslin (2012, 281).

  76. 76.

    Esslin (2012, 281).

  77. 77.

    Cascando, in CDW, 300 and 302.

  78. 78.

    Ibid., 302.

  79. 79.

    Esslin (2012, 281).

  80. 80.

    Bergson, 25.

  81. 81.

    Ibid.

  82. 82.

    Ibid.

  83. 83.

    Ibid.

  84. 84.

    Ibid., 27.

  85. 85.

    Paul Ardoin, “Perception Sickness: Bergsonian Sensitivity and Modernist Paralysis,” in Understanding Bergson, Understanding Modernism, ed. by Paul Ardoin, S. E. Gontarski, and Laci Mattison (London and New York: Bloomsbury, 2014), 128–40 (131).

  86. 86.

    Bergson, 38.

  87. 87.

    Rough for Radio (1976); CDW, 284.

  88. 88.

    Ibid.

  89. 89.

    Ibid.

  90. 90.

    Paul Stewart, Sex and Aesthetics in Samuel Beckett’s Work (New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2011), 12.

  91. 91.

    Sinéad Mooney, “Ghost writer: Beckett’s Irish Gothic,” in Beckett and Ireland, ed. by Sean Kennedy (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2010), 131–49 (139).

  92. 92.

    Quoted in James Knowlson, Damned to Fame: The Life of Samuel Beckett (London: Bloomsbury, 1996), 485.

  93. 93.

    For a more detailed exploration of Dan’s potential act of murder, you may wish to refer to my essay “The Crime of ‘Making Real’ in All That Fall,” in Special Issue: Endlessness of Ending: Samuel Beckett and the Mind/Samuel Beckett et les extensions de l’esprit, ed. by Arka Chattophadhyay Samuel Beckett Today/Aujourd’hui (Amsterdam and New York: Rodopi, 2017), 211–22.

Bibliography

  • Ardoin, Paul. 2014. Perception Sickness: Bergsonian Sensitivity and Modernist Paralysis. In Understanding Bergson, Understanding Modernism, ed. Paul Ardoin, S.E. Gontarski, and Laci Mattison, 128–140. London/New York: Bloomsbury.

    Google Scholar 

  • Arsić, Branka. 2003. The Passive Eye: Gaze and Subjectivity in Berkeley (Via Beckett). California: Stanford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bakewell, Michael, dir. 2006. Words and Music in The Original Broadcasts, 1962. London: British Library Publishing Division. CD.

    Google Scholar 

  • Beckett, Samuel. 2006. The Complete Dramatic Works. London: Faber and Faber.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bergson, Henri. 1949. An Introduction to Metaphysics. Trans. T. E. Hulme. New York: Liberal Arts Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bourdieu, Pierre. 2003. Outline of a Theory of Practice. Trans. Richard Nice. 1977. Reprint, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Branigan, Kevin. 2008. Radio Beckett: Musicality in the Radio Plays of Samuel Beckett. Oxford: Peter Lang.

    Google Scholar 

  • Breuninger, Scott. 2010. Recovering Bishop Berkeley: Virtue and Society in the Anglo-Irish Context. New York: Palgrave Macmillan.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Bryden, Mary. 1998. Samuel Beckett and the Idea of God. London/New York: Macmillan Press/St. Martin’s Press.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Calder, John. 2003. The Philosophy of Samuel Beckett. London: Calder.

    Google Scholar 

  • Campbell, Julie. 2013. ‘Close Your Eyes and Listen to It’: Embers and the Difficulties of Listening. In Samuel Beckett: Debts and Legacies, ed. Peter Fifield and David Addyman, 133–152. London/New York: Bloomsbury Methuen Drama.

    Google Scholar 

  • Connor, Steven. 2013. ‘I Switch Off’: Beckett and the Ordeals of Radio. In Broadcasting Modernism, ed. Debra Rae Cohen, Michael Coyle, and Jane Lewty, 274–294. Florida: University of Florida.

    Google Scholar 

  • Crook, Tim. 1999. Radio Drama Theory and Practice. London: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Esslin, Martin, dir. 2006. Rough for Radio in The Original Broadcasts, 1976. London: British Library Publishing Division. CD.

    Google Scholar 

  • ———. 2012. Samuel Beckett and the Art of Radio. In On Beckett: Essays and Criticism, ed. S.E. Gontarski, 273–291. London: Anthem Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Frost, Everett C. 1991. Fundamental Sounds: Recording Beckett’s Radio plays. Theatre Journal 43(3): 361–376. http://www.jstor.org/stable/3207590. Accessed 8 May 2013.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kierkegaard, Søren. 2009. In Concluding Unscientific Postscript, ed. Alastair Hannay. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Knowlson, James. 1996. Damned to Fame: The Life of Samuel Beckett. London: Bloomsbury.

    Google Scholar 

  • Leder, Drew. 1990. The Absent Body. London: University of Chicago Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lyotard, Jean-Françoise. 1984. The Postmodern Condition: A Report on Knowledge. Trans. Geoff Bennington and Brian Massumi. Manchester: Manchester University Press.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Matoba, Junko. 2000. Religious Overtones in the Darkened Area of Beckett’s Later Short Plays. In Beckett and Religion, Samuel Beckett Today/Aujourd’ hui, ed. Marius Buning, Matthijs Engelberts, and Onno Kosters, vol. 9, 31–42. Amsterdam/New York: Rodopi.

    Google Scholar 

  • McHale, Brian. 2001. Postmodern Fiction. London: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • McWhinnie, Donald, dir. 2006a. All That Fall in The Original Broadcasts. 1957. London: British Library Publishing Division. CD.

    Google Scholar 

  • ———. 2006b. Cascando in TOB. 1964. London: British Library Publishing Division. CD.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mehta, Xerxes. 1994. Ghosts. In Directing Beckett, ed. Lois Oppenheim, 170–185. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Moltmann, J. 1974. The Crucified God. Theology Today 31(1): 6–18. https://doi.org/10.1177/004057367403100102. Accessed 15 July 2014.

  • Mooney, Sinéad. 2010. Ghost Writer: Beckett’s Irish Gothic. In Beckett and Ireland, ed. Sean Kennedy, 131–149. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Morrison, Kristin. 1983. Neglected Biblical Allusions in Beckett’s Plays: ‘Mother Pegg’ Once More. In Samuel Beckett: Humanistic Perspectives, ed. Morris Beja, S.E. Gontarski, and Pierre Astier, 91–98. Columbus: Ohio State University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • O’Leary, Joseph S. 2008. Beckett and Radio. Journal of Irish Studies 23: 3–11. http://www.jstor.org/stable/27759603. Accessed 8 May 2013.

  • Palmer, Robert L. 2010. 40 Questions About Interpreting the Bible. Michigan: Kregel Publications.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ryan, John K. 1960. The Confessions of St Augustine. Trans. John K Ryan. New York: Doubleday Religion.

    Google Scholar 

  • St. Augustine. 2017. On Grace and Freewill. Trans. Peter Holmes and Robert Ernest Wallis. c1887. Reprint, Louisville: GLH Publishing Reprint.

    Google Scholar 

  • Stewart, Paul. 2011. Sex and Aesthetics in Samuel Beckett’s Work. New York: Palgrave Macmillan.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Sweetman, Brendan. 2005. Lyotard, Postmodernism, and Religion. Philosophia Christi 7 (1): 139–151.

    Google Scholar 

  • Uhlmann, Anthony. 2006. Samuel Beckett and the Philosophical Image. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Worton, Michael. 2005. Waiting for Godot and Endgame: Theatre as Text. In The Cambridge Companion to Beckett, ed. John Pilling, 67–87. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Zagorin, Perez. 2003. How the Idea of Religious Toleration Came to the West. Princeton: Princeton University Press.

    Book  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Nanyang Technological University, Singapore, Singapore

    Michelle Chiang

Authors
  1. Michelle Chiang
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2018 The Author(s)

About this chapter

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this chapter

Chiang, M. (2018). The Intuition of Loss in Beckett’s Radio Plays. In: Beckett's Intuitive Spectator. New Interpretations of Beckett in the Twenty-First Century. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-91518-0_2

Download citation

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation