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  • © 2006

Beckett, Literature and the Ethics of Alterity

Palgrave Macmillan

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Table of contents (8 chapters)

  1. Front Matter

    Pages i-ix
  2. Introduction: Literature and Alterity

    1. Introduction

      • Shane Weller
      Pages 1-30
  3. In Other Words: On the Ethics of Translation

    1. Front Matter

      Pages 31-32
    2. Translation and Difference

      • Shane Weller
      Pages 33-56
    3. Translation and Negation

      • Shane Weller
      Pages 57-79
  4. The Laugh of the Other: On the Ethics of Comedy

    1. Front Matter

      Pages 81-81
    2. Pratfalls into Alterity

      • Shane Weller
      Pages 83-110
    3. Last Laughs

      • Shane Weller
      Pages 111-133
  5. The Difference a Woman Makes: On the Ethics of Gender

    1. Front Matter

      Pages 135-135
    2. Feminine Alterities

      • Shane Weller
      Pages 137-163
    3. ‘As If the Sex Mattered’

      • Shane Weller
      Pages 164-191
    4. Conclusion

      • Shane Weller
      Pages 192-195
  6. Back Matter

    Pages 196-218

About this book

In Beckett, Literature and the Ethics of Alterity Weller argues through an analysis of the interrelated topics of translation, comedy, and gender that to read Beckett in this way is to miss the strangely 'anethical' nature of his work, as opposed to the notion that the literary event constitutes the affirmation of an alterity.

Reviews

'The book offers a challenge to the deconstructive readings of Benjaminian translation, an exhaustive account of the ethics of comedy, and an insightful survey and analysis of 'feminine alterities', with useful readings of Irigaray, Cixous, and Kristeva. Weller's performance of the anethical throughout the text produces an argument that will come as a surprise to many Beckett critics - a surprise because it maintains a critical reading that is neatly positioned 'between' the conventional approaches to Beckett and ethics. I strongly recommend this book.'

- Professor Richard J. Lane, Malaspina University-College, Canada

'This is an extremely well-researched and thought-out work of Beckett criticism. The chapter organization in which each of the three chosen themes is treated first from a theoretical perspective, followed by specific examples taken from Beckett, is limpid and the argument always clearly signposted. This makes the book accessible even to the reader unfamiliar with the vast array of Western thought Shane Weller summons effortlessly.'

- Helen Penet-Astbury, Études irlandaises

Authors and Affiliations

  • School of European Culture and Languages, University of Kent, Canterbury, UK

    Shane Weller

About the author

SHANE WELLER is a Lecturer in Comparative Literary Studies in the School of European Culture and Languages at the University of Kent, Canterbury, UK. He is the author of A Taste for the Negative: Beckett and Nihilism (2005).

Bibliographic Information

Buy it now

Buying options

eBook USD 39.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book USD 54.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book USD 54.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Other ways to access