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
Beckett and the Poetics of the Absurd 33 Oh. Weulles spare the blood of a Frank who has climbed the bitter steps, (René du Peron...!) and grant me my second starless inscrutable hour. (Whoroscope , lines 89-97. Versek , 12) Beckett's first poems are characterized by contradictory intensities formulating a passion for making words his own and the dilemmas of coming to terms with the previous existence of those words and their sociability as exchange, to protect and project the self by adopting a personae. There seems to be a sense of obligation that brings these multidirectional forces into focus, an obligation to self, to art, to society, nurtured by Protestantism and fostered by Geulincx, among others, in a sensitive mind certain of its powers but far from certain of their best orientation. 2 "Gnome" (CP, 7) describes the inescapable circularity central to Beckett's later aesthetics. The cliche formulating the years of learning penetrates another cliche, that of adult society. The clichés anchor the opening in traditional social attitudes, but "squandering" of "Spend the years of learning squandering" becomes the expression of "courage." The "years of wondering" define courage evoking the tradition of Goethe's Young Werther. Thus the interplay of positive and negative value judgments is perpetuated and leads back to the earlier challenged cÜché: society condemns the youth's antisocial preoccupations "politely turning / From the loutishness of learning". But "loutish" wets the term used by the Church when condemning Galileo's learning. And Galileo's knowledge of the universe managed to triumph over conventionalism: Spend the years of learning squandering Courage for the years of wandering Through a word politely turning From the loutishness of learning. (Gnome. Versek , 16) Similar revitalization of clichés characterizes Beckett's 1935 collection of poems Echo's Bones. On the walk of a few miles from south to west of Dublin, from Portobello along the canal and the river Liffey in "JEnueg /" (CP, 10-12) we meet an enigmatic child for whom 'want' and 'do' are as irreconcilable as for Beckett o See Little, Roger. 1994. "Beckett's poems and verse translations or: Beckett and the limits of Poetry." in Pilling, John ed. Beckett. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 184-196.
