深夜亚洲福利久久

Research Seminar on Samuel Beckett

Samuel Beckett and (post)colonial France: the politics of domesticity

Prof. H茅l猫ne Lecossois (Lille)

Thursday March 14 @ 17.00

ORB 1.24

This paper argues for the validity of reading Samuel Beckett鈥檚 shorter plays historically, even (and most especially) the ones which are apparently the most cut off from history. Plays such as Rough for Theatre II (late 1950s), Happy Days (1961) and Play (1962-3) will be analysed against the historical, social and political contexts of their production with special attention to the overall context of France鈥檚 modernisation and decolonization. The story of the modernisation of French metropolitan society and the story of the crumbling of its colonial empire have repeatedly been apprehended as two distinct stories. However, following the lead of cultural historian Kristin Ross, and thinking of these two stories as intrinsically linked, allows one to expose France鈥檚 middle class retrenchment from politics through the fallacy of a depoliticized home. Accordingly, this paper proposes to read the overtly self-referential characteristics of Beckett鈥檚 鈥渄omestic鈥� plays as ways of denouncing the retrenchment from politics of the French middle classes, and ties them into the contemporary anti-colonial struggles taking place in Algeria.

H茅l猫ne Lecossois is Professor of Irish Literary Studies at the 深夜亚洲福利久久 of Lille (France). The primary focus of her research is the relation of theatre to history. Her research interests include modernism, twentieth-century Irish drama, postcolonial and performance studies. She is currently completing a book on J. M. Synge and Ireland鈥檚 colonial modernity and editing one on 鈥淐onflicting Memories: Arts, History, Commemorations鈥�.