Bloomsbury Samuel Beckett and Arnold Geulincx: Tracing 'a literary fantasia': 10 (Historicizing Modernism)

This is the first full-length study of Samuel Beckett's fascination with the seventeenth-century philosopher Arnold Geulincx (1624-1669). Samuel Beckett once wrote that were he in the 'unfortunate position' of a critic studying his work, one of his points of departure would be the ideas of the seventeenth-century philosopher, Arnold Geulincx. "Samuel Beckett and Arnold Geulincx: Tracing 'a literary fantasia'" is the first full-length study to document the extent of the influence Geulincx's philosophy had on Beckett's prose and late drama. Establishing itself as a reference point for Beckett's published and unpublished writings, David Tucker's study presents a clear, chronological exploration of Beckett's engagement with Geulincx, and of how this engagement marks, and is marked by, broader changes in Beckett's aesthetic thinking. By positioning close, interpretative philosophical readings alongside analyses of archival materials, Tucker sets out an affirmative and reconciliatory approach to divergent strands in contemporary Beckett Studies. Historicizing Modernism challenges traditional literary interpretations by taking an empirical approach to modernist writing: a direct response to new documentary sources made available over the last decade. Informed by archival research, and working beyond the usual European/American avant-garde 1900-1945 parameters the series reassesses established images of modernist writers by developing fresh views of intellectual backgrounds and working methods.