베케트와 산문의 윤리 - 『어떠한지』에 대한 바디우의 독해

Abstract

Samuel Beckett’s How It Is portrays the fundamental problematics of Beckett’s literature through bold condensation and ellipsis while expanding the boundary of the genre of novel into the unknown. The plot and characters are dramatically reduced while conversation and description are completely absent. What remains is an endless monologue without punctuation. What makes critics hesitate is not simply the profound convolution but also images of unprecedented violence and torture. Actions such as thrashing heads or poking the butt with a tin opener may seem like comic relief but in the end they produce an extremely dark and bizarre image along with the situation of the muddy field. One interesting point is that the negative attitude shared by critics is in stark contrast to the reaction shared by some philosophers on this particular work. In particular, Alain Badiou’s view is notable in that it expresses a differing thought from that of general Beckettian studies as well as other philosophers. Badiou suggests that Beckett has moved from the stage of dissolution of the subject to the stage of ‘affirmation’ of the other in the purest sense of the word. As such, it provides the opportunity for not the dissolution but the reaffirmation of the subject. For Badiou, the encounter with the other opens up the possibilities of event. Consequently, the subject is reborn through the fidelity toward the possibilities. What is more suggestive of Badiou’s approach is that such a perspective allows the negativity that has defined Beckett’s literature to transform into an affirmative ethics. Badiou’s analysis of How It Is is carried out through bold philosophical appropriation but can be viewed as the most innovative interpretation of the work.