The Making of Samuel Beckett's Play/Comedie and Film

Samuel Beckett's short play Play / Comedie and his only film Film were written around the same time (1962-1963). They both have self-referential titles that invite meditation on the genres they represent. Although medium-specific opportunities and challenges underlie their very different geneses, they have influenced each other in terms of both form and content. In more ways than one, Film continues where Play left off. Whereas in Play the genesis shows a steady increase in speech tempo to the point of near unintelligibility, the silent Film radically eliminates speech from the outset. Conversely, the cinematic element is also clearly present in Play , notably in the crucial role assigned to the light beam as the mechanical, mindless inquisitor. Both works are grounded in technology and rely heavily on explanatory notes for the members of their production teams, thus exposing the inherently collaborative nature of such projects. The genetic critical analysis of the manuscripts of Play / Comedie and Film not only contributes to the interpretation of each work separately but also considers the two works together through the prism of Beckett's multimedial authorship.

Product details

• Authors: Olga Beloborodova, Georgina Nugent-Folan
• Assisted by: Dirk Van Hulle (Editor), Mark Nixon (Editor), Dirk Van Hulle (Editor)
• Publisher: Bloomsbury Academic
• Languages: English
• Product format: Paperback / Softback
• Released: 30.11.2019
• EAN: 9781472534965
• ISBN: 978-1-4725-3496-5
• No. of pages: 352
• Dimensions: 170 mm x 216 mm x 20 mm
• Series: Beckett Manuscript Project; The Beckett Manuscript Project
• Subjects: Humanities, art, music > Linguistics and literary studies > English linguistics / literary studies; LITERARY CRITICISM / General, Literature: history & criticism, Literature: history and criticism