IMAGES OF MOTION IN SAMUEL BECKETT’S NOVEL ‘MURPHY’ (1938)
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.17072/2073-6681-2020-1-120-126Keywords:
Beckett, phenomenology, motion images, cyclicity, plot conception, Murphy.Abstract
The article focuses on the images connected with motion in S. Beckett’s novel Murphy (1938). During the period of writing the book, the author wanted to free himself from the influence of James Joyce and to develop his own conception. He chose a popular Irish name for his main hero and added to the portrait some details from his own biography. The protagonist of the novel, Murphy, is one of the typical Beckettian characters (Belacqua, Watt, Molloy, Malone), who realize the infinite distance between themselves and the outer world. They prefer staying isolated in the mental space of their own imagination and are indifferent to what is happening outside of it. Murphy is disgusted by endless cyclic processes that physical life consists of. He tries not to be involved in them. The impossibility of the complete indifference, on the one hand, and the protagonist’s obsession with self-contemplation, on the other hand, lead him to death. Biographical comments to the novel, made by famous literary critics, may be supplemented with observations on the specific nature of S. Beckett’s phenomenology and poetology, offered by scholars in recent years.Based on the phenomenological analysis, the article aims to discover how the images of motion are engaged in the process of revealing Murphy’s inner conflict. Among the elements of Beckett’s conception, we can single out the ‘big world’ and the ‘small world’, which are filled with different spatial images and images of objects. The plot of the novel is connected with Murphy’s conscious efforts to interact with specific moving objects for obtaining corporal calmness, giving him freedom of staying in his mental world. Significant characteristics of the motion images in the novel are the following: controlled and uncontrollable cyclicity, desirable immobility, and destroying chaotic nature.References
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Schmitt A. The Phenomenology of Autobiography: Making It Real. N. Y.; L.: Routledge, 2017. 178 p.
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References
Ackerley C. J. Demented Particulars: The Annotated ‘Murphy’. Edinburgh, Edinburgh University Press, 2004. 264 p. (In Eng.)
Beckett S. Murphy. London, Faber & Faber, 2009. 224 p. (In Eng.)
Cohn R. Samuel Beckett: the Comic Gamut. New Brunswick, Rutgers University Press, 1962. 340 p. (In Eng.)
Fletcher J. Novels of Samuel Beckett. New York, Barnes & Noble, 1965. 264 p. (In Eng.)
Graver L., Federman R. Samuel Beckett: The Critical Heritage. New York and London, Routledge, 1979. 392 p. (In Eng.)
Harrison R. L. Samuel Beckett’s Murphy: A Critical Excursion. Athens, University of Georgia Press, 1968. 99 p. (In Eng.)
Hoffman F. Samuel Beckett: The Language of Self. Carbondale, Southern Illinois University Press, 1962. 177 p. (In Eng.)
Kaelin E. F. The Unhappy Consciousness: The Poetic Plight of Samuel Beckett. Berlin, Springer Science & Business Media, 2012. 326 p. (In Eng.)
Kennedy S. Murphy’s Bed: A Study of Real Sources and Sur-real Associations in Samuel
Beckett’s First Novel. Lewisburg, Bucknell University Press, 1971. 325 p. (In Eng.)
Kenner H. A Reader’s Guide to Samuel Beckett. Syracuse, Syracuse University Press, 1996. 208 p. (In Eng.)
Maude U., Feldman, M. Beckett and Phenomenology. London, A&C Black, 2009. 212 p. (In Eng.)
Mildenberg A. Modernism and Phenomenology. London, Palgrave Macmillan, 2017. 183 p. (In Eng.)
Nixon M. George Reavey – Beckett’s first literary agent. Publishing Samuel Beckett. London, British Library, 2011, pp. 41–55. (In Eng.)
Schmitt A. The Phenomenology of Autobiography: Making It Real. New York and London, Routledge, 2017. 178 p. (In Eng.)
Webb E. Samuel Beckett: A Study of his Novels. Seattle, University of Washington Press, 2014. 192 p. (In Eng.)
