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Introduction

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 May 2006

Steven Connor
Affiliation:
Birkbeck College, University of London
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Summary

“Finished, it's finished, nearly finished, it must be nearly finished,” Clov promises himself at the beginning of Beckett's Endgame. Surely, the first thing to be said about postmodernism, at this hour, after three decades of furious business and ringing tills, is that it must be nearly at an end. But in chess, from which Beckett's play takes its title, the endgame is not the end of the game, but the game of ending that forms part of it and may be looked towards from the beginning. Playing the game may become identical with playing the game out. There are strategies for managing the end of the game, including ways of deferring that ending, which come not after the game but in the thick of it. One is compelled to begin almost any synoptic account of postmodernism with such sunset thoughts, even as, in the very midst of one's good riddance, one senses that the sweet sorrow of taking leave of postmodernism may be prolonged for some time yet.

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Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2004

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  • Introduction
  • Edited by Steven Connor, Birkbeck College, University of London
  • Book: The Cambridge Companion to Postmodernism
  • Online publication: 28 May 2006
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CCOL0521640520.001
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  • Introduction
  • Edited by Steven Connor, Birkbeck College, University of London
  • Book: The Cambridge Companion to Postmodernism
  • Online publication: 28 May 2006
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CCOL0521640520.001
Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

  • Introduction
  • Edited by Steven Connor, Birkbeck College, University of London
  • Book: The Cambridge Companion to Postmodernism
  • Online publication: 28 May 2006
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CCOL0521640520.001
Available formats
×