Beckett, Wittgenstein and Blanchot: Language Games from Text to Theatre

Abstract

Beckett’s first major work in French, Mercier et Camier, written in 1946 but not published until 1974, in many ways foreshadows En attendant Godot (1953) and includes stylistic elements later found in the trilogy (Molloy 1951, Malone meurt 1951, L’innommable 1953). Mercier et Camier represents Beckett’s first radical encounter with nihilism and absurdity in relation, specifically, to language play in a Wittgensteinian and Blanchotian sense. In this stylistic shift from the form of Mercier et Camier as a novel to the theatre of En attendant Godot, performance as non-performance becomes central, announcing that the spectacle no longer tells the story, but, rather, the story can only ever insufficiently be told. This article focuses on the significance of silence and language in Beckett’s transition toward the theatre, paying specific attention to possible intertextual relations with Wittgenstein and Blanchot and the significant overlap between their work concerning the impossible role of language and writing the self.

Keywords

• philosophy and literature
• language games
• literary criticism
• modern literature
• 20th century literature
• 20th century theatre