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Samuel Beckett and trauma is the first book that specifically addresses the question of trauma in Beckett, taking into account the recent rise of trauma studies in literature. Beckett is an author whose works are strongly related to the psychological and historical trauma of our age. His works not only explore the multifarious aspects of trauma but also radically challenge our conception of trauma itself by the unique syntax of language, aesthetics of fragmentation, bodily malfunctions and the creation of void. Instead of simply applying current trauma theories to Beckett, this book provides new perspectives that will expand and alter them by employing other theoretical frameworks in literature, theatre, art, philosophy and psychoanalysis. It will inspire anybody interested in literature and trauma, including specialists and students working on twentieth-century world literature, comparative studies, trauma studies and theatre /art.

Sartre's The Flies reflects the author's philosophical ideas in Being and Nothingness, in which he emphasises transcending what simply is, or Being-initself, entailing bad faith and pain, by means of Being-for-itself, which involves action to realise freedom for humanity. Beckett's Victor in Eleutheria, on the other hand, who is also suffering from the pain other people inflict upon him, desires to overcome Being-in-itself in order to seek freedom in inaction. In the play, Beckett ridicules early Sartrean heroes trapped between two opposing values and questions Sartre's heroic commitment for the betterment of the future as philosophised in Being and Nothingness. Les Mouches de Sartre reflètent les idées philosophiques exposées dans L'Etre et le Néant. Il y met en valeur la transcendance de l'Etre-en-soi, qui engendre mauvaise foi et douleur, par l'Etre-pour-soi qui implique qu'on agit au profit de la libération de l'Homme. En revanche, dans Eleutheria de Beckett, Victor qui lui aussi souffre de la douleur qu'autrui lui inflige, désire dépasser l'Etreen-soi afin de trouver la liberté dans l'inaction. Beckett, dans cette pièce, tourne en dérision les premiers héros de Sartre qui sont pris entre des valeurs opposées, et met en cause l'engagement héroïque de Sartre pour un avenir meilleur tel qu'il est prôné dans L'Etre et le Néant.

Samuel Beckett and Pain is a collection of ten essays which explores the theme of pain in Beckett's works. Experiencing both physical and psychological pain in the course of his life, Beckett found suffering in human life inevitable, accepted it as a source of inspiration in his writings, and probed it to gain deeper insight into the difficult and emotionally demanding processes of artistic creation, practice and performance. Acknowledging the recent developments in the study of pain in literature and culture, this volume explores various aspects of pain in Beckett's works, a subject which has been heretofore only sporadically noted. The topics discussed include Beckett's aesthetics and pain, pain as loss and trauma, pain in relation to palliation, pain at the experience of the limit, pain as archive, and pain as part of everyday life and language. This volume is characterized by its plural, interdisciplinary perspectives covering the fields of literature, theatre, art, philosophy, and psychoanalysis. By suggesting more diverse paths in Beckett studies, the authors hope to make a lasting contribution to contemporary literary studies and other relevant fields.

All that fall, a radio play, shows an elderly couple, Mr and Mrs Rooney’s discomfort in speaking ‘archaic’ language, reflecting its author Samuel Beckett’s experience of being born in Ireland where language was historically repressed under the British rule and of struggling with foreign language as an expatriate author. Pain in speaking language, often expressed as speech physically unfit, is also explored in Waiting for Godot, the first play produced in postwar France. Translated in 1960 the play was influential to the Japanese theatre, especially to the avant-garde theatre started in the 1960s as a departure from the already established

The Holocaust and the development of nuclear weapons changed the world at the end of the Second World War. These two horrific events still weigh heavily on our lives. As Theodor Adorno warned, ‘Today something worse than death is to be feared’ (2001: 106). Both events proved that human beings can be infinitely savage and that we can potentially even destroy our species. Referring to his own famous words, ‘After Auschwitz one could no longer write poetry’ (2001: 110), Adorno explains that the statement does not deny art but ‘[i]t is the question whether one can live after Auschwitz’ (110).