‘분해하는 것’과 ‘사는 것’ 사이: 사뮈엘 베케트의 장애 재현 양상과 미학적 의미 고찰

Abstract

This paper delves into Samuel Beckett’s representations of disability in his works, examining both the mode and meaning behind them. Beckett’s works provide a comprehensive portrayal of how the idea of disability is woven into the structure of literary narrative. Beckett’s characters are disabled, as all seem caught in contexts in which both physical and cognitive activities appear restricted. Beckett does not use physical impairment as a primary source in determining their identity. As the events surrounding Molloy and Endgame demonstrate, the causes of character’s pain and impairment are never given to us and remain a matter of speculation. Suffering is not an integral part of the characterization, and there is a possibility that the phenomenological specificity of their impairments may be blurred and easily absorbed into philosophical categories. The hiatus created by the discursive absence of pain prevents his characters from being considered disabled. Their disabilities are characterized as something that can be dismissed the moment it is mentioned. The reason for this phenomenon is that the truth of the story is not provided by or within the messages delivered by Molloy, Hamm, and others. Rather, the truth lies on the unstable surface of their messages. Beckett’s representations of disability in his works are complex and multi-layered, offering insights into the human condition. His characters are disabled in various ways, and their disabilities are symbolic of their internal struggles and the human condition. Thus, we need to recognize the hiatus and understand it as one created by the hermeneutical ambiguity.