Iconic Spaces: The Dark Theology of Samuel Beckett's Drama - Softcover

Wynands, Sandra

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0268044104 ISBN 13: 9780268044107

Publisher: University of Notre Dame Press, 2007

Synopsis

Iconic Spaces looks at Samuel Beckett's mature theatrical work as a displaced theology of the icon. Sandra Wynands rejects conventional existentialist or nihilist interpretations of Beckett's work, arguing instead that beneath the text, in the depths of language and being, Beckett creates an absolutely irreducible, transcendent space. She traces a nondual model of perception and experience through a selection of Beckett's art-critical and dramatic works, focusing in particular on four minimalist plays: ""Catastrophe"", ""Not I"", ""Quad"", and ""Film"". ""Iconic Spaces"" makes an important contribution to scholars and students of literature, philosophy, theatre studies, and religion by giving them an exciting new way of reading and experiencing Beckett's work.

About this title

Review:

Wynands conceives of Beckett as a visual artist, even though he is a writer, and explains that paintings, not plays, were the source of Beckett's concept of what plays are . . . best suited to serious students of Beckett. "Choice""

An insightful and significant book within both Beckett studies and critical theory more generally. Wynands is at her most interesting in her concrete and detailed accounts of the stage images of Beckett's last plays and, what is more, her full knowledge both of Beckett scholarship and critical theory enables her to surpass them both so as to produce a reading of Beckett which raises the possibility of a non-religious parallel to negative theology-a 'literary apophaticism.' "Literature and Theology""

. . . Wynands leaves little doubt that Beckett, who once claimed to possess no religious feeling, is perhaps for that very reason a profound thinker of religion and the spiritual life a final paradox that should further inform and propel the endless investigation into the gift of Beckett s writing. "Journal of Religion""

"Wynands conceives of Beckett as a visual artist, even though he is a writer, and explains that paintings, not plays, were the source of Beckett's concept of what plays are . . . best suited to serious students of Beckett." --Choice

"An insightful and significant book within both Beckett studies and critical theory more generally. Wynands is at her most interesting in her concrete and detailed accounts of the stage images of Beckett's last plays and, what is more, her full knowledge both of Beckett scholarship and critical theory enables her to surpass them both so as to produce a reading of Beckett which raises the possibility of a non-religious parallel to negative theology-a 'literary apophaticism.'" --Literature and Theology

." . . Wynands leaves little doubt that Beckett, who once claimed to possess 'no religious feeling, ' is perhaps for that very reason a profound 'thinker of religion and the spiritual life'--a final paradox that should further inform and propel the endless investigation into the gift of Beckett's writing." --Journal of Religion

About the Author:

Sandra Wynands is an instructor in the department of English at Grant MacEwan College, Edmonton, Canada. She has published a number of articles and reviews on religion and literature.

About this edition

• Publisher: University of Notre Dame Press
• Publication date: 2007
• ISBN 10: 0268044104
• ISBN 13: 9780268044107
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 240