A Taste for the Negative
Beckett and Nihilism

Shane Weller

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Legenda (General Series)

Legenda

4 February 2005  •  224pp

ISBN: 1-904713-08-4 (paperback)  •  RRP £75, $99, €85

ModernEnglishDrama

Since the mid-1950s, when the works of Samuel Beckett began to attract sustained critical attention, commentators have tended either to dismiss his Oeuvre as nihilist or defend it as anti-nihilist. On the one side are figures such as Georg Lukács; on the other, some of the most influential philosophers and literary theorists of the post-war era, from Theodor Adorno to Alain Badiou. Taking as his point of departure Nietzsche's description of nihilism as the 'uncanniest of all guests', Weller calls this critical tradition into question, arguing that the relationship between Beckett's texts and nihilism is one that will always be missed by those who are simply for or against Beckett.

Shane Weller is a Lecturer in English at St Hilda's College, Oxford.

Bibliography entry:

Weller, Shane, A Taste for the Negative: Beckett and Nihilism (Legenda, 2005)

First footnote reference: 35 Shane Weller, A Taste for the Negative: Beckett and Nihilism (Legenda, 2005), p. 21.

Subsequent footnote reference: 37 Weller, p. 47.

(To see how these citations were worked out, follow this link.)

Bibliography entry:

Weller, Shane. 2005. A Taste for the Negative: Beckett and Nihilism (Legenda)

Example citation: ‘A quotation occurring on page 21 of this work’ (Weller 2005: 21).

Example footnote reference: 35 Weller 2005: 21.

(To see how these citations were worked out, follow this link.)

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