Samuel Beckett's Plays on Film and Television [Hardcover]

This is the first book devoted Beckett's innovative work for the big- and small-screens. Herren examines each of Beckett's film and television plays in depth, emphasizing the central role that memory plays in these haunting works.The Art of Memory and the Memory of Art in Beckett's Telegies Slouching Toward Television: Beckett's Apprenticeship in Mechanical Media 'The best's to come': Suicidal Fantasy in Eh Joe Echo Chamber: Patterns of Resistance in Ghost Trio Unclouded Judgment: Beckett's Telegiac Revision of Yeats in 'but the clouds' 'Mime the Gap': Beckett's Deviation in Quadrat 1 + 2 Beckettian Televangelism in Nacht und Tr?ume Re-Visionary Beckett: Past and Future Challenges for Screen Adaptations

This is a quality study on a neglected aspect of a major artist s work, and it has reach beyond a group of narrow specialists in Beckett.Clearly written and cogently argued, Herren reaches far beyond the television plays as he develops their interconnectedness both to the radio plays themselves and to Beckett s one film. - S. E. Gontarski, Sarah Herndon Professor of English; Editor, Journal of Beckett Studies An excellent contribution to the field and should benefit even those Beckett admirers who have little interest in his television plays. Herren provides a fascinating context for the progression of Beckett's work in television over several decades, deftly handles the daunting cultural and theoretical background required to understand Beckett's themes and allusions, and repeatedly employs clever turns of phrase, frequently relying on antithesis to sharpen his rhetoric. - Theatre Survey