Beckett and Aesthetics [Hardcover]

This 2003 book engages with radio, film, television, prose and drama and shows Beckett as a sophisticated theorist of aesthetics.As a young man, Beckett hoped that writing could provide psychic authenticity and true representation of the physical world; instead he found himself immersed in artificialities, self-enclosed word games. Daniel Albright argues that Beckett escaped from this bind by allegories of artistic frustration and through an art of non-representation and estrangement. Albright shows Beckett experimenting with the notion that an artistic medium might itself be made to speak. Engaging with radio, film, and television, prose and drama, Albright's Beckett becomes a sophisticated theorist of the very notion of the aesthetic.As a young man, Beckett hoped that writing could provide psychic authenticity and true representation of the physical world; instead he found himself immersed in artificialities, self-enclosed word games. Daniel Albright argues that Beckett escaped from this bind by allegories of artistic frustration and through an art of non-representation and estrangement. Albright shows Beckett experimenting with the notion that an artistic medium might itself be made to speak. Engaging with radio, film, and television, prose and drama, Albright's Beckett becomes a sophisticated theorist of the very notion of the aesthetic.As a young man, Samuel Beckett (1906-89) hoped that writing could provide psychic authenticity and true representation of the physical world. Instead, he found himself immersed in artificialities and self-enclosed word games. Daniel Albright argues that Beckett sought escape through allegories of artistic frustration and the art of non-representation and estrangement. Albright depicts Beckett experimenting with the concept that an artistic medium might be made to speak. Engaging with radio, film, television, prose and drama, Albright's Beckett becomes a sophisticated theorist of the very notion of the aesthetic.Illustrations; Muslc!