Beckett Beyond the Normal

Product Description


Explores Beckett’s artistic vision at the intersection of queer, disability and posthumanist studies
The first volume to address norms and normalcy as an enduring target of Beckettian skepticism
Shifts the emphasis from generic talk of ‘Other Becketts’ to specific accounts of the queer, the disabling, the abnormalising aspects of the mature works
Absorbs and transcends the philosophy/history binary that has shaped the last twenty years
Brings Beckett Studies into the twenty-first century as the first intersectional volume to address queerness, disability and biopolitics together

This book examines why Beckett’s writing is so queer, so disabled and disabling. Why did Beckett write so often about mental illness, disability, perversion? Why did he take such an interest in ‘abnormals’ and ‘degenerates’? How did he reconceive ‘the human’ in the wake of Hitler and Stalin? Drawing on Beckett’s voluminous archive, as well as his primary texts, the authors use psychoanalysis, queer theory, disability theory and biopolitics to push Beckett studies beyond the normal.


Review


These needle-sharp essays pierce the skin. They tattoo anew Beckett’s utter disdain for redemptive art and liberal humanism. Torture, starvation, disability are not metaphors. More, the essays shatter pieties in contemporary criticism: from autism studies to queer studies; from historical to psychoanalytic approaches. Once again, Seán Kennedy disorders the discipline.,
James McNaughton, University of Alabama


From the Inside Flap


Explores Beckett’s artistic vision at the intersection of queer, disability and posthumanist studiesThis book examines why Beckett’s writing is so queer, so disabled and disabling. Why did Beckett write so often about mental illness, disability, perversion? Why did he take such an interest in ‘abnormals’ and ‘degenerates’? How did he reconceive ‘the human’ in the wake of Hitler and Stalin? Drawing on Beckett’s voluminous archive, as well as his primary texts, the authors use psychoanalysis, queer theory, disability theory and biopolitics to push Beckett studies beyond the normal.Seán Kennedy is Professor of English and Coordinator of Irish Studies at Saint Mary’s University, Halifax, Nova Scotia.


From the Back Cover


Explores Beckett’s artistic vision at the intersection of queer, disability and posthumanist studies This book examines why Beckett’s writing is so queer, so disabled and disabling. Why did Beckett write so often about mental illness, disability, perversion? Why did he take such an interest in ‘abnormals’ and ‘degenerates’? How did he reconceive ‘the human’ in the wake of Hitler and Stalin? Drawing on Beckett’s voluminous archive, as well as his primary texts, the authors use psychoanalysis, queer theory, disability theory and biopolitics to push Beckett studies beyond the normal. Seán Kennedy is Professor of English and Coordinator of Irish Studies at Saint Mary’s University, Halifax, Nova Scotia.


About the Author


Seán Kennedy is Professor of English with a specialisation in modern Irish literature and culture. He has published widely on the work of Samuel Beckett in Irish contexts, including Mercier and Camier by Samuel Beckett, edited with a preface (Faber and Faber, 2010), Beckett and Ireland (Cambridge University Press, 2010) and Samuel Beckett: History, Memory, Archive, with Katherine Weiss (Palgrave, 2009). He is the founder of the binennial Queering Ireland conference organisation (2009-present), and is interested in psychoanalysis, queer studies and feminisms.