Language as Technology of Absence: A Deconstructive Reading of Samuel Beckett’s Selected Plays
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.31185/wjfh.Vol22.Iss4/Pt1.2154Keywords:
Samuel Beckett; Absence; Waiting for Godot; Endgame; Krapp’s Last Tape.Abstract
This article investigates structural and performative mechanisms through which language operates as a technology of absence in three canonical plays by Samuel Beckett: Waiting for Godot (1953), Endgame (1957), and Krapp’s Last Tape (1958). The approach is a qualitative library-based methodology, which is oriented toclose reading and theoretical interpretation. Situating each play within a unified Derridean analytical framework, the article follows a developmental path: the dialogic instability produced in Waiting for Godot through iterative deferral, the limited linguistic exhaustion and mechanical ritualism of Endgame, and the technological literalization of trace and supplementarity in Krapp’s Last Tape. The paper identifies a significant gap in existing Beckett scholarship: whereas critics have extensively noted the effect of absence in these plays, few studies have methodically explored the precise mechanisms through which this effect is produced.
Downloads
References
Abd-Zaid Okab, J., & Kareem Abd- Aun, R. (2023). Female Agency in Diana Glancy’s The Woman Who Was A Red Deer Dressed for the Deer Dance. Journal of College of Education, 53(1), 633-644. https://doi.org/10.31185/eduj.Vol53.Iss1.3119
Akhter, T. (2015). Waiting for Godot: A theatrical expression of Derrida’s critique of logocentrism. European Academic Research, 2(11), 14164–14173.
Austin, J. L. (1962). How to do things with words. Oxford University Press.
Beckett, S. (1953). Waiting for Godot: A tragicomedy in two acts. Grove Press.
Beckett, S. (1957). Endgame: A play in one act. Grove Press.
Beckett, S. (1958). Krapp’s last tape and other dramatic pieces. Grove Press.
Bloom, H. (Ed.). (1985). Samuel Beckett: Modern critical views. Chelsea House Publishers.
Charalambous, S. (2020). Beckett’s technology of memory: Prosthesis, supplementarity and the archive in Krapp’s Last Tape. Journal of Beckett Studies, 29(1), 23–40.
Chatterjee, S. (2013). Camus’ absurdity in Beckett’s plays: Waiting for Godot and Krapp's Last Tape. IOSR Journal of Humanities and Social Science, 17(3), 57–60.
Cohn, R. (Ed.). (1987). Beckett: Waiting for Godot. Macmillan Education.
Connor, S. (1988). Samuel Beckett: Repetition, theory, and text. Basil Blackwell.
Culler, J. (1982). On deconstruction: Theory and criticism after structuralism. Cornell University Press.
Derrida, J. (1973). Speech and phenomena (D. B. Allison, Trans.). Northwestern University Press.
Derrida, J. (1976). Of grammatology (G. C. Spivak, Trans.). Johns Hopkins University Press.
Derrida, J. (1982). Margins of philosophy (A. Bass, Trans.). University of Chicago Press.
Derrida, J. (1988). Limited Inc (S. Weber & J. Mehlman, Trans.). Northwestern University Press.
Esslin, M. (1961). The theatre of the absurd. Anchor Books.
Habib, M. A. R. (2005). A history of literary criticism: From Plato to the present. Wiley-Blackwell.
Jani, D. (2013). Futility, hopelessness and meaninglessness: Central forces leading towards absurdity in Beckett’s Waiting for Godot. Research Journal of English Language and Literature, 1(3), 232–236.
Malkin, J. R. (1997). Matters of memory in Krapp’s Last Tape and Not I. Journal of Dramatic Theory and Criticism, 11(1), 25–40.
Rakwal, K. (2014). Today’s fear of being in Samuel Beckett’s Waiting for Godot. Research Journal of English Language and Literature, 2(2), 2321–3108.
Saussure, F. de. (1966). Course in general linguistics (W. Baskin, Trans.). McGraw-Hill.
Selden, R. (1989). A reader’s guide to contemporary literary theory. Harvester Wheatsheaf.
Shahid, A. (2018). Towards a deconstructive text: Beyond language and the politics of absences in Samuel Beckett’s Waiting for Godot. International Journal and Cognitive and Language Sciences, 12(1): 108-113.
Uhlmann, A. (1999). Beckett and poststructuralism. Cambridge University Press.
Weiss, K. (2012). The aesthetics of absence: Beckett’s self and the trace in Endgame and Krapp’s Last Tape. Journal of Beckett Studies, 21(2), 115–132.
Downloads
Published
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2026 Jinan Abd Zaid Okab , Ali Taghizadeh , Seyyed Rahim Mousavinia
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
