Dr Brenda O'Connell

This article considers Samuel Beckett's representation of the ageing feminine in his plays All That Fall (1057) and Not I (1972). In a close reading through the lens of age studies, I argue that both plays deal with the embodied experiences of ageing women and their sense of longing. scant critical attention has been paid to female ageing in Beckett's work, since much of his writing focuses upon issues to do with men's ageing. in All That Fall, however, Beckett's first radio play, he places the ageing Maddy Rooney at the centre of the work.  The play, which is concerned with old age, abandonment and the end of sexual reproduction, enabled Beckett to access Maddy's inner world, via the medium of radio. Through the medium of sound, Maddy emerges as a complex experience of embodiment, in which her sexuality remains problematically vital. in the televsed adaptation of Not I, the camera focuses exclusively upon Mouth, which dominates the entire screen, and the shadowy figure of the silent supplicant is omitted entirely. In consequence, Mouth resembles a vagina, an image which borders on obscenity. Drawing on Julia Kristeva's notion of abjection, I argue that this play represents ageing in its most abject form in Beckett's theatre. In both plays, female ageing and  sexuality are portrayed by Beckett as much as a force of resistance, as of a condition to be resisted.

The portrayal of the maternal figure in Samuel Beckett's work is central but often ambiguous, where the mother represents both nurturing and stifling traits. This paper analyses the politics of maternity and motherhood in the novella 'First Love' where, along with the obsession with the maternal, the text displays a recurring motif of the narrative space of the womb.  Drawing on French feminist writer and psychoanalyst Julia Kristeva and her theories on abjection, motherhood and the semiotic chora, I argue that the fear and misogyny often displayed towards the mother could be read as fear of the 'archaic mother' which turns out to be 'fear of her generative powers' (Kristeva). Judging from the negative attitude displayed towards the female characters in Beckett's early prose and the awkward sexual encounters between men and women, a general fear of the female sex and her generative power may be one of the stimuli for Beckett's art.

The portrayal of the maternal figure in Beckett’s work is central but often ambiguous, where the mother represents both nurturing and stifling traits. This chapter argues for the need to engage more rigorously with issues around gender and sexuality in Beckett’s work, and his treatment of maternity and motherhood, which have not been addressed sufficiently in Beckett criticism. This chapter analyses the politics of maternity and motherhood in “First Love”. Drawing on French feminist writer and psychoanalyst Julia Kristeva and her theories on abjection, motherhood and the semiotic chora, this chapter argues that the fear and misogyny often displayed towards the mother could be read as fear of the “archaic mother” which turns out to be “fear of her generative powers” (77).

The portrayal of the maternal figure in Beckett’s work is central but often ambiguous, where the mother represents both nurturing and stifling traits. This chapter argues for the need to engage more rigorously with issues around gender and sexuality in Beckett’s work, and his treatment of maternity and motherhood, which have not been addressed sufficiently in Beckett criticism. This chapter analyses the politics of maternity and motherhood in “First Love”. Drawing on French feminist writer and psychoanalyst Julia Kristeva and her theories on abjection, motherhood and the semiotic chora, this chapter argues that the fear and misogyny often displayed towards the mother could be read as fear of the “archaic mother” which turns out to be “fear of her generative powers” (77).