Date of Award

Summer 1977

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Arts (MA)

Department

English

Committee Director

Philip Raisor

Call Number for Print

Special Collections; LD4331.E64W37

Abstract

Silence is an important aspect of modern literature. No other living writer has made more adept use of silence in his fictional works than has Samuel Beckett. In this thesis submitted in partial fulfillment for the M.A. degree in English, I provide an in-depth study of Beckett's use of silence both in his prose works and in his plays. Not only does this thesis provide an in-depth study of Beckett's use of silence, but it also provides a brief survey of how Beckets use of silence has gradually evolved in his fictional works, and comments on the significance of Beckett's use of silence as it applies to modern literature. I concern myself specifically with three areas of concentration, First, I discuss the artist's struggle with having nothing to say --a real dilemma of "silence" experienced by Beckett. Second, I develop the idea that "silence" in the Beckettian canon is more desirable than death. Third, I outline the new applications of "silence" used by Beckett to help phrase his presentations of reality. Since words no longer are able to create the total portrayal of the modern consciousness that Beckett deems valid, he integrates his works with silence. This artist's use of silence traces modern nan's rapidly disintegrating conception of "the self." My purpose in this thesis is to explain how Beckett succeeds in using silence to this purpose.

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DOI

10.25777/twmd-dn32

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