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
40 Tibor Tóth credentials of the absurd, the poetics of which, is in need of logical sequences thanatizing the thanatos. Occasionally, the double negation will have its effects in Beckett's works placed onto the linguistic sphere, that is, textuality is the cause and effect that is conferred authority. Rabinovitz, when analyzing the addenda to Watt 4 points out the fact that the poems included in the addenda offer possible interpretations for the crucial elements of Watt. The governing method of the three poems included in the addenda is certainly juxtaposition. Note how the names Watt and Knott are juxtaposed with the words "what" and "not" in the following poem: Watt will not abate one jot but of what of the coming to of the being at of the going from Knott's habitat (249) The suggestion underlying these possible redefinitions is characteristic of Beckett: identity is subject to interpretations, but interpretations are impossible because nothing can be trusted in his fictional world. Remember the possible, but uncertain definitions that are hinted at in the naming of Godot. The first part of Godot, tempts us to interpret the object of desire and waiting in the Almighty, an interpretation Beckett categorically refused. Similarly the interpretation of the English names Estragon and Vladimir, in the French phonetic context could lead to the definition of the two characters as representative of 'speech' and Toeing' respectively. This transcultural, inter and mtralinguistic attempt violates everyday logic, so, it cannot lead to reliable interpretation. Beckett fully employs the phonetic resources available to formulate later non-acknowledged implications of his text and this takes the text on a plane poetically higher than he is ready to admit. The gesture brings down the world to the state of desiring nothing else but non-being, and the text is consistent only in formulating the negation of hope and verisimilitude. Beckett's prose is alternatively evasive and concise and suggestive as a line of poetry, and Beckett at times deliberately encourages readers to jump to misleading conclusions to suggest their subsequent discoveries about the deceptive nature of face values. For 4 See Rabinovitz, Rubin, 1984. The Development of Samuel Beckett's Fiction, Urbana and Chicago: University of Illinois Press.
