The Death of Moran's Bees: Beckett and Adorno on the Dialectic of Subject and Object. Issue 2 (September 2021)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Kaushall, Justin Neville
• Is Part Of: Journal of Beckett studies. Volume 30:Issue 2(2021)
• Page Start: 156
• Page End: 173
• Publication Date: 2021-09
• Subjects: Adorno -- Beckett -- aesthetics -- Critical Theory -- modernism; English literature -- Periodicals; French literature -- Periodicals; Periodicals; 848.91409
• DOI: 10.3366/jobs.2021.0338
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0309-5207

Abstract

Abstract : In this article I argue that Adorno's dialectical principle that reason and nature co-constitute each other is evidenced in Beckett's novel Molloy . Adorno argues that reason regresses to myth – that is, it becomes irrational and reified – in modernity; and that, conversely, myth shows itself to be rational – that is, myth reveals that it has already inhabited enlightenment. In Molloy, Moran relies on dubious positive metaphysical principles in an attempt to spiritualise his bees; however, such spiritualisation leads directly to their death, because his experience of the bees is undialectical and static. Thus instead of the uncritical reproduction of conventional metaphysical principles, metaphysics must show itself to be damaged by historical events.