Az Eszterházy Károly Tanárképző Főiskola Tudományos Közleményei. 2004. Vol. 4. Eger Journal of English Studies. (Acta Academiae Paedagogicae Agriensis : Nova series ; Tom. 30)

TIBOR TÓTH Beckett and the Poetics of the Absurd

Eger Journal of English Studies IV (2004) 31-44 Beckett and the Poetics of the Absurd Tibor Tóth Beckett's poetry was produced predominantly in the 1930s, with a further substantial return in the 1940s, and occasional poems followed in the mid1970s. But his poetic experiments never really ceased to contribute to the creative energies moulding his novels and dramas. Beckett's composing his poetry in both French and English led to 'selftranslations', which are not only telling examples of the essential separation of poetry and verse, but they also illustrate that the overall structure in his poetry is mainly determined by an image, sound effect or a tradition resistant counterpoint rather than by implied poetic meaning obeying to established poetic structures, a story-line, or 'that willing suspension of disbelief for the moment, which constitutes poetic faith' and to which all else can be rendered subservient. The above formulated generalization inevitably brings to one's to mind Beckett's writings in prose and for the stage. Because, just for the sake of an arch-known example, the 'nothing happens

—twice' as Beckett stated speaking about Waiting for Godot formulates the lack of importance of narrative in the play, as well as the increased number of possible interpretations. The minimal utterances between stops and silences, Lucky's speeded-up verbalizations draw our attention as much to the rhythm as to the meaning of the play, creating a characteristic lack of coincidence between action and word. There is a similar lack of coincidence between Beckett's poetry and his poems close to the lack of coincidence between dramatic form and play in his works written for the stage. Since Beckett wrote many of his poems in French, his self-translations can be used as eloquent examples of creative 'making of one's own' and stress the multilingual, multicultural nature so relevant in his works and his philosophy. Most of his poems were written earlier than his other works, which means that they illustrate his apprenticeship, the starting points of a process, and reveal some of his initial attitudes that might have contributed to his later ventures. His early poem the "Whoroscope" (CP, 1-6)

1 displays Beckett's conscientious handling of the ironies of his text. The pun of the title and 1 Beckett, Samuel. 1996. Versek angol, magyar, francia nyelven. (

Poems in English,