Jak człowiek Becketta zrodził się z Keatona, czyli absurdalna Księga Rodzaju

• Authors: Paulina Malczewska

Title variants

EN

How Beckett’s Man Was Born from Keaton, or an Absurdist Book of Genesis

• Languages of publication: PL

Abstracts

PL

How Beckett’s Man Was Born from Keaton, or an Absurdist Book of Genesis “How Beckett’s Man Was Born from Keaton, or an Absurdist Book of Genesis” is an attempt to find the origins of Beckettian characters in cinematic tradition. The choice of Buster Keaton is intentional, as it was him – proud and headstrong and not the overly sentimental Chaplin – who introduced the sphere of the essence of existence (stemming from the antic tragedy) into the world of slapstick (a part of low culture). Keaton – the deadpan comedian from his serious comedies and Samuel Beckett – the creator of the theatre where lack of action forms the bulk of the action both entered the field of eschatological reflections while contradicting the form they both had been using. Experimenting with Time as a matter in the work they achieved a narrative breakthrough – Beckett by stretching it to the unbearable, never-ending “here and now”, Keaton by shrinking it, so that the hero could never keep up with the events or the viewer’s perception. All in the name of absurd, the sense of which both Beckett and Keaton shared to a surprising extent.

EN

“How Beckett’s Man Was Born from Keaton, or an Absurdist Book of Genesis” is an attempt to find the origins of Beckettian characters in cinematic tradition. The choice of Buster Keaton is intentional, as it was him – proud and headstrong and not the overly sentimental Chaplin – who introduced the sphere of the essence of existence (stemming from the antic tragedy) into the world of slapstick (a part of low culture). Keaton – the deadpan comedian from his serious comedies and Samuel Beckett – the creator of the theatre where lack of action forms the bulk of the action both entered the field of eschatological reflections while contradicting the form they both had been using. Experimenting with Time as a matter in the work they achieved a narrative breakthrough – Beckett by stretching it to the unbearable, never-ending “here and now”, Keaton by shrinking it, so that the hero could never keep up with the events or the viewer’s perception. All in the name of absurd, the sense of which both Beckett and Keaton shared to a surprising extent.

Keywords

PL

narrative breakthrough; negation of form; time; absurd; slapstick; theater of the absurd; Samuel Beckett; Buster Keaton; Waiting for Godot; The General; Generał; Czekając na Godota; teatr absurdu; negacja formy

• Publisher: Uniwersytet im. Adama Mickiewicza w Poznaniu
• Journal: Images. The International Journal of European Film, Performing Arts and Audiovisual Communication
• Year: 2009
• Volume: 7
• Issue: 13-14
• Pages: 211-223

Dates

published

2009-06-13

Contributors

author

Paulina Malczewska

• Katedra Filmu, Telewizji i Nowych Mediów, Uniwersytet im. Adama Mickiewicza w Poznaniu

References

• J. Błoński i M. Kędzierski, Samuel Beckett,Warszawa 1982, s. 45.
• J.-P. Coursodon, Buster Keaton, przeł. A. Konicki, „Kuiturafiimowa" 1969, nr 3 (127), s. 57.
• G. Królikiewicz, Wielka Kamienna Twarz - próba analizy filmu „Generał "Buster Keatona, Łódź 1996, s. 153.
• A. Camus, Mit Syzyfa i inne eseje, przeł. J. Guze, Warszawa 1999, s.149.
• S. Beckett, Wybór tekstów, w: J. Błoński i M. Kędzierski, Samuel Beckett, Warszawa 1982.
• S. Beckett, Czekając na Godota, przeł. J. Rogoziński, Warszawa 1973, s.8.
• D.P. Klimczak, Śmiertelnicy. Teatr Absurdu Samuela Becketta w przestrzeni Misterium Mortis, Kraków - Warszawa 2006, s. 75.

Identifiers

DOI

10.14746/i.2009.13.14.17