Donaldson v Beckett

In disregarding, and arguably transcending, many of the novel’s comforts and seemingly essential characteristics, Beckett frequently presented a premise and its immediate contradiction. As Robbe-Grillet (1957, p.53) aptly observes, “Even in Beckett, there is no lack of events, but these events are constantly in the process of contesting themselves, jeopardizing themselves, destroying themselves, so that the same sentence may contain…

The most prominent theme in the Catcher in the Rye from the very beginning is the idea of alienation and Holden’s use of humor to mask it. Right from the first page the reader is introduced to Holden with little prelude. This lack of introduction of who Holden is a person and the way that he uses humor and avoidance as a mask. The ironic thing is that his alienation is the thing that is causing his pain because of the way he ignores his own issues. Some of the things that Holden uses avoidance…

Elusive and transitory in nature, modernism is less of an artistic genre, and more of a philosophical movement that rejects understood notions of the traditional while redefining literature, art, and their boundaries. Seeking to make sense of a changing world, the early modernist revolution saw drastic departures from traditional forms of art, literature, architecture, religion, philosophy, social values, and the sciences. Moreover, among the many factors that shape modernist art and literature…

Research Note #2: “The Most Photographed Barn in America” Paragraph A: In this passage extracted from the novel White Noise, the author, Don Dellilo describes Jack and Murray’s visit to a tourist attraction known as the most photographed barn in America to exhibit the significance of perception in addition to humanity’s lack of awareness regarding reification. The first paragraph establishes the scene in a countryside with a “MOST PHOTOGRAPHED BARN IN AMERICA” sign, the presence of animals and…

Airport Fiasco Every summer since I was ten years old I have gone to my dad’s house for the summer. It used to be a lengthy, mudane car ride to Idaho, but I didn’t mind because my mom always bought us snacks for the drive and I would sleep most of the way there. It was completely stress-free trip, there and back, until about three years ago. That’s when my dad moved to New Hampshire, which is about a thirty-three hour drive, and my mom was not up for it. That meant my sister and I would have…

Postmodernism is a late-20th-century movement in the arts, architecture, and criticism that was a departure from modernism. Postmodernism was a movement in architecture that rejected the functionalist, modernist ideals of rationality and also used to describe a dissatisfaction with modern architecture. Postmodernism is characterized by the return of ornament and symbol to form. The aims of the postmodernism was look back to the past for inspiration of history and tradition, ideas of…

In the play Endgame, written by Samuel Beckett, there is a particular passage that involves two harmless characters, Nagg and Nell, giggling over their sons’ sadness and woeful state of mind. When reproducing the dialogue between these two parents, this passage conveys how these two laugh and make fun of their own son while he sinks into depression. In addition, Nell, the mother, oddly compares suffering with happiness and positive feelings. Because, in her own way it is allowing her to escape…

Evaluate how challenges to certainty are shaped by and reflected in the ways texts in this elective experiment with language and form. Textual dynamic texts convey the stark departure from established ideologies such as humanism, capitalism and the notion of progress following the events of World War II that induced a loss of faith in humanity and science. Composers experimented with language and form, attempting to communicate the postmodernist concerns of epistemological uncertainty through…

James Joyce is said to be one of the most innovative and influential writers of the modern time. He was a novelist, poet, short story writer, and a playwright. Joyce made “the modern world possible for art,” according to T.S. Elliot (Litz 16). James Joyce was an Irish modernist writer. His writing was known for its intricacy and vulgar comedy. He pushed the limits with books such as Ulysses and Finnegans Wake. In his writings, Joyce was always meeting himself “in ways which must at times have…

grim, much different than Stoppard comedic tragedy. This difference may have to do with the personal background of each playwright. Tom Stoppard was a child during the outbreak of World War II but Samuel Beckett was an active member of the French Resistance. As an Irishman helping the French, Beckett fearfully watched WWII much like his characters Vladimir and Estragon fearfully watched the episodes of Pozzo and Lucky. In contrast, Stoppard was a child still discovering the world during WWII.…