The Representation of Anacoluthon in Waiting for Godot by Samuel Beckett

Abstract

An absurdist play entitled Waiting for Godot by Samuel Beckett (1906-1989) has had received many interpretations and criticism covering a wide range of issues since its first premiere in 1953 in the Théâtre de Babylone, Paris. The play offers varying approaches for appreciating the significance of historical context in interpretation as well as the relevance of linguistic and unconscious components of the text. For instance, the play is interpreted in term of politics, religion, psychoanalytic, homoerotic and philosophical approaches among many others. However, the play is not examined in relation to the functions of ‘anacoluthon’, a linguistic term which can generally be defined as an unexpected discontinuity or disjointedness in the expression of ideas within a sentence by giving rise to a form of words in which there is logical incoherence of thought. Accordingly, in this paper firstly the demarcations between ‘language’ and ‘culture’ are exposed briefly as both of the conceptions are heavily dealt with the term ‘anacoluthon’. Secondly, anacoluthon is elucidated in terms of its use and function with reference to its historical context. However, the main purpose of this paper is to unveil the functions of anacoluthon by making a classification and also to expose intra-textual functions of anacoluthon by exemplifying the discourses in order to shed light into the psychological situations of the characters and figurative meaning of the play.

Keywords

• Samuel Beckett,Waiting for Godot,anacoluthon,language

References

1. Akhter, J. (2015). Waiting for Godot: A disparate text. International Journal of Research in Social Sciences and Humanities, 5(2), 3-15.
2. Anacoluthon. (2008). The Oxford dictionary of literary terms. Baldick, C. (ed.) USA: Oxford University Press.
3. Anacoluthon. (2012). Dictionary of literary terms and literary theory. Cuddon, J. A. John. (eds.). New York: Wiley & Sons.
4. Anacoluthon. (2012). The Princeton encyclopedia of poetry & poetics. G, Roland, Cushman, S. (eds.). Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
5. Anacoluthon. (2015). Princeton encyclopedia of poetry & poetics. Preminger, A., Warnke, F. J., & Hardison Jr, O. B. (eds.). Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
6. Anacoluthon. (2016). In Merriam-Webster.com. Retrieved May 5, 2016, http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/anacoluthon.
7. Asmus, W.D. (2008). Becket Directs “Godot”. In Samuel Beckett’s Waiting for Godot. Harold Bloom (ed.). New York: Bloom’s Literary Criticism.
8. Bakker, E. J. (1997). Grammar as interpretation: Greek literature in its linguistic contexts (Vol. 171). Brill: Leiden-New York- Köln.

9. Banerjee, A. (1991). Stir within stasis in Waiting for Godot. English Studies, (72), 6. 520-530.
10. Barry, P. (2002). Beginning theory: An introduction to literary and cultural theory. Manchester: Manchester University Press.
11. Beckett, S. (1956). The complete dramatic works. United Kingdom: Faber and Faber.
12. Berlin, N. (1999, Autumn). Traffic of our stage: Why Waiting for Godot? The Massachusetts Review.

13. Berlin, N. (2008). The Tragic Pleasure of Waiting for Godot. In Samuel Beckett’s Waiting for Godot. Harold Bloom (ed.). New York: Bloom’s Literary Criticism.
14. Bradby, D. (2001). Beckett: Waiting for Godot. United Kingdom: Cambridge University Press.
15. Brodersen, E. (2003). “You must go on” A Brief Biography of Samuel Beckett, Brodersen, E, Werner, J, Walsh P, Lenske, C. J. (ed.) Words on plays insights into the play, the playwright, and the production, America: American Conservatory Theatre.
16. Bühler, K. (1985). The Key Principle: The Sign-Character of Language, Robert E. Innis (ed.). Semiotics: An Introductory Anthology. Bloomington: Indiana University Press.
17. Burkman, H. K. (2008). The Nonarrival of Godot: Initiation into Sacred Void. In Samuel Beckett’s Waiting for Godot. Bloom, H. (ed.). New York: Bloom’s Literary Criticism.
18. Byram, M. (1989). Cultural studies in foreign language education (Vol. 46). Clevedon: Multilingual Matters.
19. D’Amato, B. (2014). Preoedipal longing and the dreamscape of Beckett's Waiting for Godot. Modern Psychoanalysis, 39(2).
20. Davis, N. (2015). “Not a soul in sight!”: Beckett's Fourth Wall. Journal of Modern Literature, 38(2), 86-102.
21. Derrida, J. (1982). Margins of philosophy. Brighton: Harvester Press. Dobson, M. (2001). The Oxford companion to Shakespeare. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
22. Douglas, B. (2007). Principles of language learning and teaching. (5th ed.). New York: Pearson Longman.
23. Dubois, D. (2011). The Absurd Imagination: Northrop Frye and Waiting for Godot. ESC: English Studies in Canada, 37(2), 111-130.
24. Freud, S. (1975). Psychopathology of everyday life (trans. A. Tyson), Harmondsworth. Middlesex: Penguin.
25. Fromkin, V., Rodman R., & Hyams, N. (2011). An introduction to language, (9th ed.). Canada: Wadsworth Cengage Learning.
26. Fromkin, V.A. (2009). Linguistics: An introduction to linguistic theory. USA: Blackwell Publishing.
27. Gordon, L. (2002). Reading Godot. New Haven & London: Yale University Press.
28. Hall, S. (1997). Representation: Cultural representation and signifying practices. London: Sage Publications.
29. Jaszczolt, K. (2002). Semantics and pragmatics: Meaning in language and discourse. Great Britain: Pearson Education.
30. Johannessen, J. B., & Jorgensen, F. (2006). Annotating and parsing spoken language. Copenhagen studies in language, 32, 83.
31. Klein, M. (1975). The writings of Melanie Klein: Envy and gratitude and other works 1946/1963. New York: The Free Press.
32. Lacan, J. (2001). The Norton anthology of theory and criticism. Leitch, V. B. (ed.). USA: Norton Comp. Inc.
33. Leckie, S. E. (2014). The House is the Place: Metaphoric Anacoluthon and Parabolic Narrative in Jenny Erpenbeck’s Visitation. The Albatross, 4(1), 25-34.
34. Lévi-Strauss, C. (1987). Anthropology and myth: lectures 1951-1982. Oxford: Basil Blackwell.
35. Lowe, N. F. (1995). The Dirty Jokes in “Waiting for Godot”. The Modern Language Review, 14-17.
36. Esslin, M. (2008). Introduction: The Absurdity of the Absurd. In Samuel Beckett’s Waiting for Godot. Bloom, H. (ed.). New York: Bloom’s Literary Criticism.
37. Matsumoto, D. (2000). Culture and psychology: People around the world. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth.
38. McGregor, W. (2012). Linguistics: An introduction. New York: Continuum
39. Mieszkowski, J. (2009). Who’s Afraid of Anacoluthon?. MLN, 124(3), 648-665.
40. Oppenheim, L. (2001). Object-representation; The Beckett-Bion case revisited. International Journal of Psychoanalysis, 82, 767-784.
41. Pinker, S. (1994). The language Instinct: How the mind creates language. New York: William Morrow.
42. Saussure, F. de (1974). Course in General Linguistics. London: Duckworth.
43. Schechner, R. (2008). There’s Lots of Time in Godot. In Samuel Beckett’s Waiting for Godot. Bloom, H. (ed.). New York: Bloom’s Literary Criticism.
44. Scott, A. (2013). A Desperate Comedy: Hope and alienation in Samuel Beckett’s Waiting for Godot. Educational Philosophy and Theory, 45(4), 448-460.
45. Zhu, H. (1978). The Theatre of the Absurd: A Review’. World Literature, 1, 213-5.