Journal Article

Exile Beyond Geography: Bilingualism, Self-Alienation, and the Poetics of Silence in Samuel Beckett

Papa, Erinda

2025

Overview

This article focuses on the experience of internal exile in Samuel Beckett’s work, focusing on two fundamental axes: bilingualism and silence. Beckett’s conscious switch from English to French after World War II is not an aesthetic or practical choice, but an act of linguistic self-exclusion, through which he repositions himself in the face of word and meaning. Drawing on Derrida’s concept of the “monolingualism of the other” and Kristeva’s definition of the foreigner, this study treats bilingualism not as an expressive enrichment, but as a sign of a deep division within the creative subject. Meanwhile, silence is not seen as an absence of speech, but as the most sincere form of expression, a way of giving voice to what cannot be said. Analyzing works such as The Unnamable, Not I, and Krapp’s Last Tape, the article argues that Beckett does not write about exile, but from a permanent state of exile, conditioned not by geographical space, but by separation from language, identity, and meaning. The article aims to bring a new approach to the literature of exile, considering it as a fundamentally linguistic and existential experience, beyond the usual framework of national identity or cultural affiliation.

• Publisher: MDPI AG
• Subject: Alienation / Beckett, Samuel / Beckett, Samuel (1906-1989) / Bhabha, Homi K / Bilingualism / Casanova, Pascale / Derrida, Jacques / French colonialism / Kristeva, Julia / Kristeva, Julia (1941- ) / Language / linguistic exile / Linguistics / Ontology / Poetics / Samuel Beckett / self-alienation / silence in literature / Speaking / Writing