Beckett, Performance and the Miming Body in Theatre, Film and Television
Seiten
2026
Edinburgh University Press (Verlag)
978-1-3995-5129-8 (ISBN)
Edinburgh University Press (Verlag)
978-1-3995-5129-8 (ISBN)
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Explores Samuel Beckett’s use of the miming body across theatre, film and television as a philosophical meditation on mid- to late twentieth-century being.
Taking Beckett’s mimes as a departure point, this book questions the value of his close attention to and choreography of the body for performance. It examines how Beckett’s encounters with the traditions of twentieth-century French mime impacted his theatrical imagination and directorial practices, exploring his uses of the miming body across a wide range of postwar works for theatre, film and television. Investigating the significances of movement, gesture and posture, the study emphasises what is embodied, kinetic and performed in Beckett’s work, keeping a steady gaze on the peculiarities of miming bodies to tease out and turn over their expressive capacities. Drawing on phenomenological philosophy, poststructural theory, performance analysis and historical literature, Jonathan McAllister argues that Beckett’s dramatic works provide a bodily commentary on being in mid- to late twentieth-century Europe: they constitute an embodied philosophical inquiry into the questions and anxieties for a generation experiencing a profound crisis of meaning.
Taking Beckett’s mimes as a departure point, this book questions the value of his close attention to and choreography of the body for performance. It examines how Beckett’s encounters with the traditions of twentieth-century French mime impacted his theatrical imagination and directorial practices, exploring his uses of the miming body across a wide range of postwar works for theatre, film and television. Investigating the significances of movement, gesture and posture, the study emphasises what is embodied, kinetic and performed in Beckett’s work, keeping a steady gaze on the peculiarities of miming bodies to tease out and turn over their expressive capacities. Drawing on phenomenological philosophy, poststructural theory, performance analysis and historical literature, Jonathan McAllister argues that Beckett’s dramatic works provide a bodily commentary on being in mid- to late twentieth-century Europe: they constitute an embodied philosophical inquiry into the questions and anxieties for a generation experiencing a profound crisis of meaning.
Jonathan McAllister is a supervisor in English Studies at the University of Cambridge, where he was awarded a PhD in 2024. His research focuses on twentieth-century theatre and performance, with a particular interest in the politics, aesthetics and philosophies of the body. He has written theatre and book reviews for the Journal of Beckett Studies, Theatre Survey, The Beckett Review and The Modernist Review.
List of Figures
List of Abbreviations
Series Editor’s Preface
Acknowledgements
Notes
Introduction: Beckett’s Miming Bodies
Part I. Mimes
1. Beckett and Mime
Part II. Plays
2. Movement: Performing Impotential
3. Gesture: Being-in-a-Medium
4. Posture: Humanity in Ruins
Conclusion: ‘Where now? Who now? When now?'
Bibliography
Index
| Erscheint lt. Verlag | 31.7.2026 |
|---|---|
| Reihe/Serie | Other Becketts |
| Zusatzinfo | 20 black & white illustrations |
| Verlagsort | Edinburgh |
| Sprache | englisch |
| Maße | 156 x 234 mm |
| Themenwelt | Geisteswissenschaften ► Sprach- / Literaturwissenschaft ► Anglistik / Amerikanistik |
| Geisteswissenschaften ► Sprach- / Literaturwissenschaft ► Literaturwissenschaft | |
| ISBN-10 | 1-3995-5129-9 / 1399551299 |
| ISBN-13 | 978-1-3995-5129-8 / 9781399551298 |
| Zustand | Neuware |
| Informationen gemäß Produktsicherheitsverordnung (GPSR) | |
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Buch | Hardcover (2023)
De Gruyter (Verlag)
CHF 83,90
