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A Language of the Unknown: Influence and Composition in the Work of Samuel Beckett
Andreas Barella
Synopsis "A Language of the Unknown: Influence and Composition in the Work of Samuel Beckett"
When dealing with Samuel Beckett, we miss an “accessus ad auctorem”, that is a general introduction made by the Author himself on the several levels of his work. Thus we have to build our own "accessus", if possible. Not an easy task if we think that Beckett tries to be omnipresent, omniscient and omninegating at the same time. How much is he refusing that consciousness that should lead him towards his "truth"? And how much is he ignoring it?This book is an attempt to describe the force that Beckett’s work communicates. There is a strong dichotomy between the greatness of the concepts treated by the Irish writer and the futility of some of the contents of his writings. In fact, his literal sense copes with a complete destruction (of traditional rules, of rationality, of sense), while the allegorical sense deals with something else, i.e. with an attempt to find something new, different, trying to accomodate chaos. Beckett's works describe something that he himself is not able to name, and that we will call the UNKNOWN.This book tries to clarify some aspects correlated with Beckett's quest for the source from which his work has sprung. Dr. Andreas Barella analyses how Beckett has carried out his research, the hindrances he has had to cope with, the results he has achieved. In Part 1, Dr. Barella tries to extrapolate from other sources some important aspects of Beckett's unexpressed theory of writing. He considers Plato and his idea that representation (by means of words) only slightly hints at real objects. In Part 1, Chapter 2, he analyses Beckett's work with the help of religious texts: the Bhagavad-Gita and a selection of medieval mystics.In Part 2, Barella concentrates on Beckett's writing process, on the levels on which the unknown produces a result. He considers how the Irish writer composes his works and which are (some of) the literary sources that have helped him to develop his way of expressing the unknown. In the first chapter, by applying some elements of Dante's view of poetry, Dr. Barella considers the two levels that can be found in Beckett's work: the literal one, which copes with the destruction of traditional rules, and the allegorical one, which hints at the spiritual part. Other authors considered in Part 2 include Francesco Petrarca, Giambattista Vico, and again Dante Alighieri and his Divine Commedy.In Part 3, in order to look for a practical application of the theoretical results achieved in Part 1 and Part 2, Dr. Barella concentrates on Beckett's trilogy of novels: "Molloy", "Malone Dies" and "The Unnamable". He considers the structure of the decreasing movement contained in the trilogy. In Part 3, Chapter 2, Barella considers how the tension, still unresolved at the end of the trilogy, has been developed in Beckett's "Endgame".ABOUT THE AUTHOR. The first part of Andreas Barella's education has been humanistic. He studied English literature and linguistics and Italian literature and linguistics at Zürich University (1988-1994). From 1994 to 1998 he wrote a Ph.D. for Zürich University on philosophical influences in the work of Samuel Beckett. In 1999 he published his first book "A Language of the Unknown. Influence and Composition in the Work of Samuel Beckett". The second part of his education - the experiential part - consists of the "Scuola di psicoterapia integrata" directed in Lugano by Dr. Med. Romano Daguet (1999-2002), and the Advanced Training of the "School of Gestalt and Experiential Teaching" of San Francisco, directed by Paul Rebillot. Since 2003 he is coaching, and he leads and assists workshops in Switzerland, Italy, France, Germany, Austria, and the US. His office is in Mendrisio, Switzerland. More info: www.andreasbarella.com
