The Aged Radio Body: Corporeality and Old Age in Beckett's All That Fall. Issue 2 (September 2020)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Querido, Pedro
• Is Part Of: Journal of Beckett studies. Volume 29:Issue 2(2020)
• Page Start: 216
• Page End: 232
• Publication Date: 2020-09
• Subjects: All That Fall -- corporeality -- embodiment -- old age -- lived time; English literature -- Periodicals; French literature -- Periodicals; Periodicals; 848.91409
• DOI: 10.3366/jobs.2020.0312
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0309-5207

Abstract

Abstract : This article sets out to examine the aged radio body in Samuel Beckett's All That Fall . Its main argument is that there is a conceptual symbiosis between the radiogenic problematisation of corporeality and the deliberate thematisation of old age in All That Fall . The two main issues explored in this article – which are inextricably intertwined – concern the notion of reluctant corporeality, that is, the idea that the radiophonic body in All That Fall is very real but also frail and therefore resented; and the understanding of old age as a crucial theme that can and should be interpreted in the light of different age theories, such as disengagement theory, irremediable regret, and the réveil mortel .