Suffering fiction in The Unnamable

    Research output: Contribution to journalReview articlepeer-review

    Abstract

    The fictions of The Unnamable are examined through the works of Arthur Schopenhauer and Otto Rank. It is argued that embodied suffering is inevitably generated through "aesthetic reproduction," thus challenging Rank's contention that art can offer a means of overcoming the trauma of birth and Schopenhauer's assertion that the will can be momentarily escaped through aesthetic means. The Unnamable, rather than adhering to any identification predicated on such suffering, attempts to assert his difference by refusing embodiment and remaining within the voice, yet such an aesthetic and ethical purity is seen to be an impossibility within the novel as the voice - and fiction itself - inevitably generates embodied suffering.

    Original languageEnglish
    Pages (from-to)165-177
    Number of pages13
    JournalSamuel Beckett Today - Aujourd'hui
    Volume26
    Issue number1
    DOIs
    Publication statusPublished - 2014

    Fingerprint

    Dive into the research topics of 'Suffering fiction in The Unnamable'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

    Cite this