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Jessica Prinz
Modern Drama, Volume 53, Number 3, Fall 2010, pp. 415-417 (Review)
Access Provided by Virginia Commonwealth Univ Libraries & (Viva) at 11/04/10 12:36PM GMT
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Maude argues that the tympanum of the ear itself proves symbolic of
hearing, for it sustains a dialectic between inside and outside. Hearing, in
her view, is transgressive, blurring past and present, spatial and temporal,
interior and exterior. Maude also considers technologies of hearing, includ-
ing telephones, radios, televisions, audiotapes, and phonographs, each of
which mimics and enhances the human body’s process of, and potential
for, hearing. The sense finally helps to constitute and also undermine
notions of identity and subjectivity for Beckett’s unusual characters.
As Maude puts it, hearing reminds the subject of its “perpetual non-
coincidence with itself” (69).
A fourth chapter, entitled “Skin Deep,” discusses aspects of touch and
tactility in Beckett’s fiction, especially The Lost Ones. Oscillating between
one pole and another – inside/outside, for instance – the skin in Beckett
works similarly to linguistic categories (which break down) and the
dynamics of identity (which dissolves and “flickers” into what Maude
calls “an intricate web” [82]). The fifth chapter, “Come and Go,” concerns
all forms of movement (and compulsive motility) in the Beckett canon:
cycling, walking, swinging, trembling, rocking. The disintegration of the
body, along with its persistent journeying, is discussed in relation to the
ideas of, among others, Freud, Heidegger, Hubert Dreyfus, Gilles
Deleuze, and Georges Bataille. Movements such as falling, rolling,
shaking, or crawling suggest a failing and abject body (Julia Kristeva), a
sense of violence and horror (Michel Foucault), or a “shuddering” or trem-
bling body that ultimately undermines coherent identity (Theodor Adorno).
The “technology” of Maude’s title serves as a leitmotif that culminates in
the last chapter, which concerns technologies of the body unique to the
twentieth century: stereoscopes, telephones, chronophotography, x-rays,
and microscopes, for instance. Looking closely at Beckett’s television
plays, Maude creates a renewed sense of the novelty and originality of
these technologies, and especially of the alarming internal views of the
human body provided by x-rays. The book ends with two diametrically
opposed views of the body in Beckett. According to Maude, Nacht und
Träume presents a “comforting” fantasy of disembodiment, while What
Where (Beckett’s last play) offers a glimpse of the “horrors” of disembodi-
ment in Beckett’s work.
Maude is careful to limit her subject and concerns. At the same time,
some of her exclusions are acutely felt. Key texts are left out of the study,
such as Not I, Happy Days, Rockaby, Footfalls, and even Endgame. Maude
also notes, in her introduction, that the gendered body must remain
outside her area of interest. Perhaps she will write a sequel that concerns
the gendered body in some of Beckett’s most important and significant
works. There is certainly much to say on this subject, and Maude’s excel-
lent book suggests that she is the scholar to do so. In the meantime,
both Beckett scholars and general readers have much to ponder in Beckett,
Technology and the Body, which is well worth close reading and further dis-
cussion.