Contouring the Essence of Nothingness in Beckett’s Texts for Nothing
Contouring the Essence of Nothingness in Beckett’s Texts for Nothing

Author(s): Mariia Kokh
Subject(s): Language and Literature Studies, Studies of Literature, Theory of Literature, British Literature
Published by: Univerzita Palackého v Olomouci
Keywords: Nothingness; texts; context; meaninglessness; expression; Samuel Beckett;
Summary/Abstract: On the international literary scene Samuel Beckett has, to a considerable degree, established himself as a connoisseur of nothingness. Although this fact manifests itself primarily through his dramas, even a cursory glance at Beckett’s prosaic works would allow the reader to uncover mentioned problem in an unapologetically explicit context. This work is devoted to the outlining of the essence of nothingness in Samuel Beckett’s collection Texts for Nothing. Based on the series of thirteen texts, it analyzes the core of the named concept not only from the semantical and contextual viewpoints, but also linguistically. The language is being put under scrutiny both in terms of the narrator’s language competence and, generally, as a phenomenon and namely as the contour for delineatingthe essence of the notion as abstract as “nothing” – if not innately given, then obtained in the process of interpretation. The analysis also takes into the account such problematic aspects as the assumed, inherently impossible expression of nothingness and the failure of verbalization brought about by such a process.

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