Absorption and Theatricality: On Ghost Trio

Conor Carville

doi:10.1017/9781009000369

Series: Elements in Beckett Studies

Absorption and Theatricality

On Ghost Trio

Published online by Cambridge University Press: 17 February 2022

Conor Carville

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Conor Carville: Affiliation:
University of Reading

Summary

Samuel Beckett's 1976 Television play Ghost Trio is one of his most beautiful and mysterious works. It is also the play that most clearly demonstrates Beckett's imaginative and aesthetic engagement with the visual arts and the history of painting in particular. Drawing on the work of Stanley Cavell and Michael Fried, On Ghost Trio demonstrates Beckett's exploration of the relationship between theatricality, absorption and objecthood, and shows how his work anticipates the development of video and installation art. In doing so Conor Carville develops a new and highly original reading of Beckett's art, rooted in both archival sources and philosophical aesthetics.

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Beckett aesthetics art Cavell Fried

Type: Element
Information: Series: Elements in Beckett Studies

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781009000369 [Opens in a new window]

Online ISBN: 9781009000369

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Print publication: 17 March 2022

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