French existentialist was 'not a strong philosopher'
(Link via Maud Newton.)
Also at A Piece of Monologue:
30.4.11
29.4.11
Beckett and Krapp as Artists
What Krapp's Last Tape might tell us about Beckett as an artist
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| John Hurt in Samuel Beckett's Krapp's Last Tape (dir. Atom Egoyan) |
Beckett is the Type IIb artist, keenly self-aware, and attuned to the dangers of illusion and delusion found at every turn in the work on one’s self, on the road to health. For Beckett, it is neither the fire in him, nor yet the fire he passes through that matters. It is the passage itself.Also at A Piece of Monologue:
There are no guarantees as to what awaits us on the other side, but can the alternative—to avoid this challenge—truly be called living?
Trial by Ink: From Nietzsche to Belly Dancing
An eclectic collection of essays from Yahia Lababidi
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| Yahia Lababidi, Trial by Ink: From Nietzsche to Belly Dancing |
Essai is French for “trial.” In his collected Essais, published in 1580, Michel de Montaigne admirably set out to interrogate and discover himself and, in the process, minted a new literary form: the essay. “I cannot give an account of my life by my actions… I do so by my thoughts,” he stated in his celebrated essay, On Vanity (though he may as well have been declaring the intent of his entire project). In “How Beautiful It Is…” a more recent practitioner of this literary art, Daniel Mendelsohn, offers us another useful etymology: namely that ‘the word critic is indirectly derived from the Classical Greek word krino, “to judge.” Mendelsohn then goes on to introduce his work thus: “This book is a collection of judgments: which is to say, a collection of essays by a critic.” [...] These are my trials, where I am simultaneously scratching my head and my pen across paper, to determine what I think about a given subject.Publisher's website: The Humanities: Yahia Lababidi, Trial by Ink: From Nietzsche to Belly Dancing
28.4.11
Things Unspeakable: Theatre after 1945
An international, interdisciplinary conference on theatre and human rights
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| Things Unspeakable: Theatre after 1945 |
7-9 October 2011
Registration is now open for ‘Things Unspeakable: Theatre after 1945’, an international, interdisciplinary conference on theatre and human rights at the University of York (7-9 October 2011).
What have theatre and performance brought to our understanding of the unspeakable? To what degree has the realm of the unspeakable gained new currency within established and emerging trends in theatre? What is the relation between enshrined understandings of the unspeakable and the resurgence of plays and performances about torture, war and genocide?
This three-day conference gathers artistic practitioners and academic researchers engaged in the creation of new approaches to theatre, performance and human rights. The conference features 11 keynote speakers, a platform conversation between Albie Sachs and David Edgar on The Jail Diary of Albie Sachs, a performance of Asylum Monologues by theatre company Ice and Fire, and presentations on theatre and torture; theatre and censorship; discourses of the unspeakable; theatres of the body and silence; theatre, law and the unspeakable; theatres of witness, war and genocide; contemporary political theatre; theatre after 9/11.
Participants and speakers include:
- Ice and Fire Theatre Company
- Professor Cathy Caruth, Emory University
- Professor Catherine Cole, Berkeley
- David Edgar, playwright
- Professor Erik Ehn, Brown
- Dr Mark Fleishman, University of Cape Town
- Dr Carol Martin, New York University Professor
- Professor Gay McAuley, University of Sydney
- Nighat Rizvi, actress and activist, Pakistan
- Rt Hon. Albie Sachs, South Africa
- Professor Carole-Anne Upton, editor of Performing Ethos, University of Ulster
- Katharine Viner, Deputy Editor, Guardian
Conference Directors
- Professor Mary Luckhurst, Department of Theatre, Film and Television, University of York, UK
- Dr Emilie Morin, Department of English and Related Literature, University of York, UK
Registration
To register, and for further information, please go to http://www.york.ac.uk/tftv/news-events/events/2011/theatre-and-human-rights-conferenceLocation: Department of Theatre, Film and Television, University of York
Email: thingsunspeakable@gmail.com
About the Conference
This conference addresses the terrain of the unspeakable in relation to theatre and performance. It invites reflection upon the idea of the unspeakable as it has been represented in the theatre, both in European and non-European contexts.In his 1947 memoir, L’Espèce Humaine (The Human Race), Robert Antelme pinpoints the ‘unimaginable’: the moment of confrontation between the concentration camp detainee and the liberator, the American soldier. In the wake of accounts from survivors of the concentration camps, the term ‘unspeakable’ has taken precedence in our collective imaginary when describing moments of unfathomable suffering. It has also informed renewed philosophical debate about history, representation and ethics. Philosophers such as Theodor Adorno and Sarah Kofman have reflected upon the singular tension, evoked by Antelme, between the unspeakable and systems of representation, and upon the horror that demands to be represented but cannot be.
Debating points might be:
- What particular issues of form and performance arise in relation to representations of the unspeakable in the theatre?
- What is the relation between enshrined understandings of the unspeakable and the resurgence of plays and performances about torture, war and genocide?
- To what degree has the realm of the unspeakable gained new currency within established and emerging trends in political theatre?
- To what degree have playwrights and other artistic practitioners drawn upon the vocabulary deployed in accounts of the Nazis’ Final Solution when reflecting upon war, genocide and the repetition of catastrophe?
- theatres of witness, war, and genocide
- theatre and censorship
- theatre, law, and the unspeakable
- theatres of the body and silence
- theatre and philosophical discourses of the unspeakable
- verbatim theatre
- theatre companies working in human rights contexts
- theatre and 9/11
- theatre and torture
- theatre and apophasis in religious and philosophical history
- the unspeakable and contemporary political theatres
Jacques Derrida on Photography
An interview with the late deconstructionist thinker
(Link via Shrink at Large.)
Also at A Piece of Monologue:
New edition of Wilde's The Picture of Dorian Gray
An uncensored version of Oscar Wilde's The Picture of Dorian Gray published by Harvard University Press
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| Oscar Wilde. Photograph: Corbis |
27.4.11
Alain Badiou on Slavoj Žižek
One modern philosopher reflects on another
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| Slavoj Žižek (left) and Alain Badiou (right) |
Also at A Piece of Monologue
Lawrence Ferlinghetti on San Francisco
Beat Generation poet gives audio tour of favourite SF locations
 |
| Bob Donlin, Neal Cassady, Allen Ginsberg, Robert La Vigne, Lawrence Ferlinghetti, San Francisco 1956 Standing in front of City Lights Bookshop |
Producer Jim McKee captures Ferlinghetti chatting over coffee at the Growers' Market with his friend, dramatist Erik Bauersfeld, as he explores the city and examines how his relationship with water and the sea emerge in his poems and paintings. (Link via thebookslut.)
Listen: Ferlinghetti: San Francisco Locations
Also at A Piece of Monologue
26.4.11
Samuel Beckett and the Literary Marketplace
Stephen John Dilks' reading of Beckett and publicity
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| Samuel Beckett |
The result of his research has been published in a new study, Samuel Beckett and the Literary Marketplace, which promises to shed light on some previously unconsidered elements of the writer's private and public life. This should be of interest not only to Beckett fans, but anyone curious about what it means to be a literary celebrity.
On the subject of publicity, The Kansas City Star has promoted Dilk's book in a rather sensationalist fashion:
In 2006, after three years of writing, University of Missouri-Kansas City professor Stephen John Dilks completed a manuscript, “Samuel Beckett in the Literary Marketplace.” After reading it, the Beckett estate prevented its release, believing that publication would change the image of Beckett, winner of the 1969 Nobel Prize for Literature and one of the 20th century’s well-known literary figures, as a reclusive writer who shunned the spotlight.Who would have thought a study of this kind could cause such controversy? Keen to get the scoop on this latest piece of Beckett-gossip, I got in touch with the professor supposedly in opposition to Dilks' new book, Mary Bryden. She responded succinctly: 'Just to confirm that my feathers are perfectly smooth. Steve is a fine scholar, and I'm looking forward to reading his book.' So, I suppose that settles it. I would like to add, I'm looking forward to reading it, too.
“He hated publicity,” Dilks says, “but he seemed to get a lot of it.”
Without the Beckett estate’s blessing — or the ability to republish any of Beckett’s 15,000 letters — Dilks rewrote his book, sticking with the idea that the author of “Waiting for Godot” and other modernist works took an active role in perpetuating the myth of a reclusive writer who cared little for money or fame.
Dilks’ book, just published by Syracuse University Press ($45), looks at the playwright’s life during 1929-1969, the period in which the majority of his works were published.
Beckett died in 1989, and Dilks got his idea after reading obituaries.
“All the obituaries said he hated to be photographed,” Dilks says, “but each one had a different photograph of him.”
As Dilks looked into this incongruity, he found that the way Beckett was photographed was similar to that of a movie star — posed and carefully crafted by his personal photographer, John Minihan, to perpetuate an aura of celebrity.
Dilks writes that the methods used for these photos “documents a moment in his private life in order to reinforce his public image as a man averse to intrusions into his public life.”
Aside from using photographs, Dilks looked at royalty statements, book contracts and other business-related documents archived in places like Trinity College in Dublin and Reading University. The documents show that Beckett worked with agents and book publishers to perpetuate a mysterious persona and gain a larger share of the literary marketplace.
Dilks’ findings have ruffled some feathers, especially on the other side of the Atlantic.
“In England,” he says, “they seemed interested in someone who had no interest in fame or money.”
A 1991 article on Beckett in the British newspaper Evening Standard contained a quote from Mary Bryden, a University of Reading professor and the current president of the Samuel Beckett Society, saying, “He was never very interested in money.”
To Dilks, his book just fills in the gaps left by other Beckett biographies, most notably James Knowlson’s “Damned to Fame,” which Beckett himself requested be written.
“It really is a biography of Beckett as a professional writer,” says Dilks of his book. “It supplements the other biographies.”
In June, Dilks, a British native who landed at UMKC in 1997, will be attending a conference at the University of York, in England, to present a summary of his work to possible critics like Bryden. He knows winning the support from other Beckett supporters will be a tough task. [Read more]
Postscript: Stephen John Dilks has since been in touch with A Piece of Monologue (see comments), and added the following: 'As the author of this book, I must thank Noah Homola for the first review. Let me reiterate a point I made when Homola interviewed me: the book is intended to be a partial biography of Beckett as a professional writer (it surveys the period from 1929-1969; I am very aware that there is much to be done to develop a fuller understanding of Beckett's career). I wrote the book to supplement the existing biographies, not to displace them. I have great respect for James Knowlson, author of the authorized biography, as well as for Mary Bryden, who is, herself, an excellent scholar.'
Also at A Piece of Monologue:
PJ Harvey on Pinter, Joyce and Yeats
Music star Polly Jean Harvey shares her love of literature
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| PJ Harvey |
"Pinter leaves me speechless. Just unbelievable. A poem like 'American Football' or 'The Disappeared'. TS Eliot of course. Ted Hughes. WB Yeats. James Joyce." She leans forward, freshly excited. "Just that feeling of reading something profound and having your breath quite literally taken away by the end of a piece. I'm reading John Burnside's poems at the moment. Do you know his work? I'm getting that feeling – just reaching the end of every poem, going 'Oh my God!'" She clutches her chest and laughs. "And all of these writers offer me a greater understanding of what it is to be alive, and that is such an incredible thing art can do for other people. It made me want to try and get close to this strange, mysterious thing that people can do with words." [Read more]Source: Dorian Lynskey, 'PJ Harvey: 'I feel things deeply. I get angry, I shout at the TV, I feel sick', The Observer, 24 April 2011
25.4.11
Will Self on the Aerotropolis
British writer reviews Aerotropolis: The Way We’ll Live Next
Read the article: Will Self, 'The Frowniest Spot on Earth' in The London Review of Books, Vol. 33 No. 9 · 28 April 2011, pages 10-1.
24.4.11
Werner Herzog, The Cave of Forgotten Dreams
Bavarian director discusses his new documentary on NPR
Click here to hear the interview. (Link via Biblioklept.)
Disjecta: This week's links
Your guide to this week's best cultural links
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| James Joyce. Photograph: Roger Viollet/AFP/Getty |
Literature:
Ready Steady Book: A crisp new designSamuel Beckett: Research Day Seminar at the University of Reading, May 2011
Samuel Beckett: Nohow On: Company, Ill Seen Ill Said, Worstward Ho (PDF)
Samuel Beckett: The novelist, poet and playwright discusses form with Harold Pinter
Samuel Beckett: Thomas Pors Koed on impersonal subjectivity and The Unnamable
Samuel Beckett: Continuum offers a free online extract from Jonathan Boulter's study, Beckett: A Guide for the Perplexed
Writers and Kitties: Includes Samuel Beckett, Joyce Carol Oates, William S. Burroughs and others
James Joyce: Finnegans Wake and the Nazi Occupation
James Joyce: Passages from Finnegans Wake: The Film
James Joyce: Singer Kate Bush given permission to use extracts from Ulysses by the Joyce estate
An annotated, online edition of Finnegans Wake
Anaïs Nin’s Silver Lake Home
Penguin Threads Deluxe Classics: Embroidered covers of classic novels
A Bookless Library?
Harold Pinter: Blake Morrison reviews a recent production of Pinter's Moonlight
Picture Books: A letter to the New York Times stresses the continuing importance of picture books
Will Self: Opposed to the idle life
Franz Kafka to the Bodleian
Franz Kafka: Sleep and transformation
Joyce Carol Oates: Miranda Popkey reviews Oates' recent memoir, A Widow's Story
Joyce Carol Oates: Julian Barnes reviews A Widow's Story
What makes literature literature?
Sylvia Plath: Jacqueline Rose on her conflict with the Plath estate
Philosophy & Critical Theory:
Modernism and Nihilism: A new study by Shane WellerAt home with Susan Sontag
Walter Benjamin: Illuminations: Essays and Reflections (PDF)
Jacques Lacan at UBUWeb
Maurice Blanchot: Review of the recently published Political Writings: 1952-1993
Maurice Blanchot: HTMLGiant reviews Blanchot's Aminadab
Dante Alighieri: Steve Donoghue reviews David Slavitt's new translation of La Vita Nuova
Theatre
Samuel Beckett: Continuum offers a free online extract from its Online Theatre Guide to Waiting for GodotHow Shakespeare Invented Teenagers
The Original Portrait of William Shakespeare
Film:
Woody Allen: The Guardian on Woody Allen's long association with the Windsor typefaceWilliam Shakespeare: Alan A. Stone reviews Julie Taymor's recent adaptation of Shakespeare's The Tempest
David Lynch: 60-Second claymation adaptation of Lynch's midnight movie classic, Eraserhead
Thank you to all link contributions, which can be found on the A Piece of Monologue Twitter page.
4.4.11
Getting Married
A brief announcement
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| Samuel Beckett relaxes on the set of Film (1964) |
In the meantime, please feel free to browse the archives!
2.4.11
Samuel Beckett Research Day Seminar: 2011
University of Reading, 7 May 2011
The Beckett International Foundation is pleased to announce that the next Beckett Research Seminar will take place on Saturday, 7 May 2011.
The event will be held in the Conference Room of Special Collections at the University of Reading. As in previous years, our speakers represent a mixture of both local and international research students as well as established scholars, reflecting the current research into Beckett's writing. It is our hope that the quality of the papers will, as in the past, attract a wide and varied audience. The charge for the day is £20 per participant (£15 unwaged), which includes lunch and refreshments throughout the day. Please note that parking facilities are available at the venue.
Timetable
Date: Saturday, 7 May 2011Time: 10.30 to 16.30
Venue: Conference Room, Special Collections, The University of Reading
| 10.30 - 11.00 | Coffee | |
| 11.00 - 11.30 | Peter Fifield, St John’s College, Oxford ‘“Loss and limitless degradation”: Beckett and Bataille’ | |
| 11.30 - 12.00 | Discussion | |
| 12.00 - 12.30 | John Pilling, University of Reading ‘“A faded kaleidoscope”: Beckett and Sainte-Beuve’s Volupté’ | |
| 12.30 - 13.00 | Discussion | |
| 13.00 - 14.30 | Lunch | |
| 14.30 - 15.00 | Derval Tubridy, Goldsmiths College ‘Bun-Ching Lam’s and Beckett’s Quatre Poèmes/Four Songs: Music, Image, Text’’ | |
| 15.30 - 16.00 | Sean Kennedy, St Mary’s University, Halifax ‘Edmund Spenser, famine memory and the discontents of humanism in Endgame’ | |
| 16.00 - 16.30 | Discussion |
Contact
For further information, please contact:Dr Mark Nixon
E: m.nixon@reading.ac.uk
Tel: +44 (0) 118 378 7010
By Post: The Beckett International Foundation
Department of English, University of Reading, Whiteknights
PO Box 218, Reading RG6 6AA
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