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THE WORD IN CRISIS: Variations on a Theme by Samuel Beckett Livio Dobrez What could it mean to say that the word is in crisis? Or that Beckett appears as the best of all possible canaries in the worst of all possible mineshafts? Does it mean that linguistic usage is being debased by the postmodern consumer juggernaut? Why should not language adapt constructively to any historical situation? In which case the crisis of the word would be referable to another, more fundamental, malaise. This essay examines the commodification and technologizing of language in late twentieth century western culture with Beckett's writing as a touchstone. Is the word in crisis?1 What could it mean to say so? After all, we're still talking and, if it comes to that, more than ever writing bad prose and bad verse. Parliamentary debate continues (presently on the inexhaustible theme of terrorism). And Tolkien, talk-back, airport fiction and journalism are doing very well. What, in any case, is bad about bad writing, bad speech, if there are plenty of people to read or to listen? And yet some of us who, it seems, have nothing better to do are uneasy about the future of
Samuel Beckett Today / Aujourd'hui – Brill
Published: Dec 8, 2004
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