Le terme désœuvrement apparaît comme une des grandes notions qui peuplent la critique littéraire du 20ème siècle. Il marque la mise en mouvement de l'absence de l’œuvre dans laquelle l'écriture tend vers l'espace où rien ne peut être fait. La Trilogie romanesque de Beckett et les romans de Blanchot se croisent dans cet espace du désœuvrement. Les deux écrivains tentent de faire opérer la fin de la littérature en cherchant une nouvelle forme qui réalise le chaos. Dans leur œuvre, le temps, l'espace, la narration et le langage sont mis en redéfinition en abandonnant tous leurs caractères traditionnels. L’œuvre s'approche donc du fragmentaire. / The term worklessness became one of the main concepts in the literary criticism of the 20th century. It marked the absence of the work on the way to a literary space where nothing can be done. Both Beckett and Blanchot tried to put an end to literature by creating a new form that could express the chaos. In theirs novels, time, space, narration and language no longer remain their traditional characteristics. The works of the two authors are close to what we call fragmented novel.

Among the Voices Voiceless is a composition for flute (doubling piccolo), clarinet (doubling bass clarinet), viola, cello, percussion, piano, and electronics, based on the poem "What would I do without this world faceless incurious" by Samuel Beckett. The piece is a setting for disembodied voice: the vocal part exists solely in the electronics. Having no physical body, the voice is obscured as the point of empathy for the audience. In addition, instrumental solos compete for focus during the work's twenty minute duration. In passages including a soloist, the soloist functions simultaneously as antagonist and avatar to the disembodied voice. Spoken word recordings and electronic manipulation of instrumental material provides further layers of ambiguity. The companion critical essay "Among the Voices Voiceless": Setting the Words of Samuel Beckett proposes the distillation of Beckett's style into the elements of prosaicness, repetition, fragmentation, ambiguity, and symmetry. Discussions of Beckett's works such as Waiting for Godot and Molloy demonstrate these elements in his practice. This framework informs the examination of two other musical settings of Beckett's poetry: Neither by Morton Feldman and Odyssey by Roger Reynolds. Finally, these elements are used to analyze and elucidate the compositional decisions made in Among the Voices Voiceless.

La première partie de ce document est constitué de la pièce de théâtre Hiver. Cette pièce relate l’histoire de Felipe, Musina et Gilles, trois sans-abri qui vivent ensemble l’espace de quelques jours. Felipe a été recueilli par Musina après que sa mère biologique l’ait abandonné au cours d’une tempête de neige, alors qu’il était allé se réchauffer dans les toilettes d’un restaurant. Depuis ce temps, Felipe et Musina sont devenus très proches. Musina aime Felipe à la fois comme un frère, comme un ami et comme un fils. Quant au petit, il est amoureux de Musina. Gilles se greffe à eux pendant trois jours. C’est alors qu’il sera confronté à son lourd passé. La pièce se termine tragiquement par le suicide de Felipe et de Musina et l’arrestation de Gilles. La seconde partie du document comprend l’essai. Il porte sur la figure du sans-abri dans Fragment de théâtre I de Samuel Beckett, L’opéra de quat’sous de Bertolt Brecht et Hiver, notre pièce de théâtre. On y dissèque ce type de personnage pour en comprendre les fonctions, les particularités et la symbolique. Cette seconde partie est elle-même divisée en deux chapitres. Le premier retrace les caractéristiques des personnages de Fragment de théâtre I et de L’opéra de quat’sous et tente de préciser si l’on peut les qualifier de sans-abri. Quant au deuxième chapitre, il identifie les points de convergences et de divergences entre Fragment de théâtre I de Samuel Beckett, L’opéra de quat’sous de Bertolt Brecht et Hiver.

This dissertation represents an interpretation of the different forms of negativity in the modernist work that can be understood in terms of that which is unsaid, unsayable, or any other means of refusing to give an affirmative proposition regarding the world the work describes. It explores this negativity as both a representation of that which cannot be represented, and as an operational negativity, or negation, that takes part in the unmaking of the work's figures. The function of this negativity, as interpreted in Marcel Proust's Remembrance of Things Past (1913-1927), James Joyce's Ulysses (1922) and Krapp's Last Tape (1959) by Samuel Beckett, is to rewrite the representations of the work. Negativity is then also understood as a transformation and conditioning of elements already present in the literary work, that lead to ambivalent and problematic representations in the work. In this sense, negativity can be understood as a form of rewriting of the work's representations. The interpretations of the works of Proust, Joyce and Beckett are guided by this understanding, as given in the introduction, of negativity. In the analysis of Proust's novel, in "The Unmaking of Proust: Negation and Errors in Remembrance of Things Past", this form of negativity is situated in relation to Proust's handling of epistemological questions and mimetic references to reality in his work. The analysis of Joyce's work in "The Wandering of Language in James Joyce's Ulysses" discusses his treatment of language and the origins of language as being characterized by a negation that increases the difficulty of the language, and attempts to negate its origins. Finally, in the analysis of Beckett's "Krapp's Last Tape", in "Beckett, Proust, and the End of Literature", it is shown that negativity conditions both the reception of the influence of Proust by Beckett, and the play's attempt to suggest the end of writing. In conclusion the dissertation returns to the idea of negativity as a form of rewriting, and briefly indicates that the function of negativity in these novels can be understood as a form of invention. / Thesis (M.A.)--Potchefstroom University for Christian Higher Education, 2000.

This dissertation represents an interpretation of the different forms of negativity in the modernist work that can be understood in terms of that which is unsaid, unsayable, or any other means of refusing to give an affirmative proposition regarding the world the work describes. It explores this negativity as both a representation of that which cannot be represented, and as an operational negativity, or negation, that takes part in the unmaking of the work's figures. The function of this negativity, as interpreted in Marcel Proust's Remembrance of Things Past (1913-1927), James Joyce's Ulysses (1922) and Krapp's Last Tape (1959) by Samuel Beckett, is to rewrite the representations of the work. Negativity is then also understood as a transformation and conditioning of elements already present in the literary work, that lead to ambivalent and problematic representations in the work. In this sense, negativity can be understood as a form of rewriting of the work's representations. The interpretations of the works of Proust, Joyce and Beckett are guided by this understanding, as given in the introduction, of negativity. In the analysis of Proust's novel, in "The Unmaking of Proust: Negation and Errors in Remembrance of Things Past", this form of negativity is situated in relation to Proust's handling of epistemological questions and mimetic references to reality in his work. The analysis of Joyce's work in "The Wandering of Language in James Joyce's Ulysses" discusses his treatment of language and the origins of language as being characterized by a negation that increases the difficulty of the language, and attempts to negate its origins. Finally, in the analysis of Beckett's "Krapp's Last Tape", in "Beckett, Proust, and the End of Literature", it is shown that negativity conditions both the reception of the influence of Proust by Beckett, and the play's attempt to suggest the end of writing. In conclusion the dissertation returns to the idea of negativity as a form of rewriting, and briefly indicates that the function of negativity in these novels can be understood as a form of invention. / Thesis (M.A.)--Potchefstroom University for Christian Higher Education, 2000.

Le roman La ballade de Gilbert raconte l’histoire d’un homme dont la tranquille normalité du quotidien est perturbée lorsqu’il découvre qu’un de ses collègues de longue date fréquente des prostituées. Afin de retrouver son confort, il incite clandestinement ce collègue à se chercher une conjointe, mais cette quête devient peu à peu une profonde obsession qui bouleverse encore plus l’équilibre de sa vie routinière. À travers ce récit s’articule une réflexion sur le quotidien, sur les limites entre l’ordinaire et l’extraordinaire, le familier et l’étrange. L’essai Le quotidien dans Molloy de Samuel Beckett reprend le thème du quotidien afin d’analyser le dialogue entre le familier et l’étrangeté dans ce roman. Molloy présente de nombreux scénarios communs (Eco), qui correspondent très sensiblement d’un point de vue cognitif aux habitudes qui façonnent le quotidien d’un individu. Cet essai explique comment Beckett subvertit ces scénarios pour laisser place à une étrangeté derrière laquelle le familier demeure reconnaissable. / The novel La ballade de Gilbert tells the story of a man whose quiet and ordinary life is troubled when he realises that one of his long time colleagues is seeing prostitutes. To re-establish his comfort, he secretly tries to encourage this colleague to find a mate, but this quest becomes a relentless obsession that overturns even more the order of his life. A reflection about everyday life and the limits between the ordinary and the extraordinary, the familiar and the uncanny, is proposed through this narrative. The essay Le quotidien dans Molloy de Samuel Beckett also touches everyday life by the analysis of the dialogue between familiarity and strangeness. Molloy shows numerous examples of common scenarios (Eco), which correspond very closely, from the cognitive point of view, to the habits that shape an individual’s everyday life. This essay explains how Beckett subverts these scenarios to show a strangeness behind which familiarity remains visible.

This paper is intended to compliment and describe the body of work that has been produced within the time I have been enrolled as a graduate student at Virginia Commonwealth University's Photography and Film department. The paper will include information on both my MFA candidacy presentation as well as a description of the evolution of my artistic endeavors. The main focus of this document is to discuss my formal examination of performance based video works pertaining to the absurd as described by Camus, and later expressed by Samuel Beckett, also the role of the masculine body's physicality within ritualized actions.

La notion de « scène » étant, comme le montre Esa Kirkkopelto dans son livre Le théâtre de l’expérience – Contributions à la théorie de scène, un concept-limite qui deviendrait distinguable de nos jours à cause de ou grâce à un certain effacement du théâtre, nous voilà étrangement confrontée à l’un de ses pans qui est celui du son et de la musique. Car si la scène semble aussi et surtout à voir avec le théâtre en ce qui concerne son côté optique, quel serait son rapport au sonore, et avec celui-ci, à la voix et à la musique, mais aussi au temps et à l’espace ? Cette recherche tâche de poursuivre ce questionnement en une étude kaléidoscopique qui sollicite, d’un côté, une partie de la philosophie de Deleuze et Guattari (notamment dans Mille plateaux) et ce qu’a pu formuler Sartre dans son livre L’imaginaire, et, de l’autre, l’enquête de certaines œuvres artistiques choisies de Beckett et de Feldman, mais aussi, de façon très ciblée, de Rilke et de Jaccottet. Dans ce parcours à maintes résonances, le projet était et est une première mise à l’épreuve de la notion de scénophonie vers laquelle la présente étude se dirige, mais qui en même temps lui a permis de se mettre en route ainsi que de poursuivre. Il s’agit d’une contribution aux recherches et aux sciences de la scène. / The notion of « scene » being, as has been shown by Esa Kirkkopelto in his book Le théâtre de l’expérience – Contributions à la théorie de scène, a concept-limite (a limit-concept) which becomes distinguishable nowadays because of or thanks to a certain seclusion of theatre, puts us in front of one of its threads which is the one of sound and of music. Because the scene, if it seems to also and mainly deal with theatre as for being concerned by its optical side, what about its relation to and with sound, and thus to and with voice and music, but also time and space ? This thesis project intends to follow up this problem in a kaleidoscopic study which, on one side, mobilizes some of the philosophy of Deleuze and Guattari (especially as to be found in Mille plateaux) as well as what Sartre has been able to formulate in his book L’imaginaire, and, on the other side, the investigation of some chosen artistic oeuvres by Beckett and Feldman, but also two texts of Rilke and Jaccottet. On this line of multiple resonances, the project put and puts to prove of value the notion of scénophonie (scenophony) towards which it runs, but which at the same time has allowed it to come into existence and to pursue. It is a contribution to the research and science of the scene.

Em Busca de uma Poética do Vazio é uma pesquisa teórico-prática fomentada no Núcleo de Pesquisa Beckett-we – espaço de criação, desconstrução e de transbordamentos criativos a partir do universo de Samuel Beckett. Criado no ano de 2012 em Canoas/RS, o Núcleo dá voz aos aqui chamados esgotados, sujeitos contemporâneos que encontram em Beckett uma possibilidade de diálogo e caos. Os participantes não são atores, nem bailarinos, nem pesquisadores, são PIM: massa de corpos que não aguentam mais, unidos por uma pequena vida – extrato de existência em comum, que transcende as referências culturais, geográficas, étnicas ou históricas – PIM é plural. Este escrito é composto pelas vozes de esgotados, de Beckett, por minha voz, por fluxos de pensamento que me atravessaram durante a pesquisa e pela voz de referências significativas neste estudo: Gilles Deleuze, Suely Rolnik, Peter Pál Pelbart, dentre outros tantos. São analisadas performances criadas durante três anos do Núcleo, a partir dos textos: Todos os que Caem (Beckett - 1957) que se transformou em Eu, Ser Pulsante e Semivivo (2013) e Eleutheria (Beckett - 1947) metamorfoseado em sobre.vida (2015), Ensaio sobre a Liberdade (2014) e inspiração (2014). Buscando fazer um paralelo estrutural com a obra Como É (Beckett, 1961), que se passa em um buraco enlameado, no qual um personagem procura seu parceiro – PIM -, esta pesquisa se propõe a investigar os caminhos que foram inventados durante as práticas, visando se aproximar de uma possível metodologia que se encontra no vazio, buscando constantemente a instabilidade – seja através da tentativa de esvaziamento de referências, no diálogo com os esgotados que são desconhecedores de Beckett ou na renovação constante de PIM. No ato de esvaziar-se e se deixar atravessar pelas vozes e impulsos dos envolvidos, alimentados pelo universo beckettiano, esta dissertação sugere a figura do cartógrafo, desenvolvida por Rolnik, como um possível caminho para a prática criativa no vazio. / In Search of a Poetic of Emptiness is a theoretical-practical research fomented in the Núcleo de Pesquisa Beckett-we (Research Group Beckett-we) - space of creation, deconstruction and creative overflows based on the universe of Samuel Beckett. Created in the year of 2012 in Canoas/RS, the group gives voice to the ones here called the exhausted , contemporary subjects that find in Beckett a possibility of dialogue and chaos. The participants are not actors, nor dancers, nor researchers, they are PIM: a mass of bodies that cannot bear anymore, united by a little life - extract of a common existence, that transcends the cultural, geographical, ethnic or historical references - PIM is plural. This writing is composed by the voices of the exhausted, Beckett’s voice, my own voice, by flows of thoughts that crossed me while researching and by the voice of significative references in this study: Gilles Deleuze, Suely Rolnik, Peter Pál Pelbart, among so many others. Here we analyse performances created during the three years of the group, based on the texts: All that fall (Beckett - 1957) that became Eu, ser pulsante e semivivo [Me, pulsing being and halfalive (2013) and Eleutheria (Beckett - 1947) metamorphosed in sobre.vida [about.life] (2015), Ensaio sobre a Liberdade [Essay about Freedom] (2014) and inspiração [inspiration] (2014). Aiming to create a structural parallel with the work How it is (Beckett - 1961), that passes in a muddy hole, in which one character looks for his partner - PIM -, this research proposes itself to investigate the paths that were invented during the practices, aiming to approach a possible methodology found in the emptiness, searching constantly the instability - be it through the attempt of emptying references, in the dialogue with the exhausted who are unfamiliar with Beckett or in the constant renovation of PIM. In the act of emptying itself and letting it be crossed by the voices and impulses of the involved, fed by the beckettian universe, this dissertation suggests the figure of the cartographer, developed by Rolnik, as a possible path for the creative practice in the emptiness.

Lee, Tin Yan Grace. / Thesis (M.Phil.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2010. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves [106-111]). / Abstracts in English and Chinese. / Introduction --- p.1 / Chapter Chapter 1: --- Laughter and Man --- p.15 / Chapter Chapter 2: --- Laughter and Man's Obligation to Persist in Beckett's Endgame --- p.37 / Chapter Chapter 3: --- Laughter and Self-Knowledge in Pinter's The Birthday Party --- p.68 / Conclusion --- p.100