Beckett and Cioran

By Steven Matthews

Elements in Beckett Studies

Cambridge University Press, 2024

Really enjoying this book. Hits on a lot of topics I run across in Beckett and Cioran. Stuff about their use of language is terrific. I am so far half way through.

TABLE of CONTENTS

1 Great Stuff here and there - Beckett + Cioran Together
  -  Dinners + Phonecalls - Personal Connections
  -  The Advantage of Exile - Becket + Cioran in Paris
  -  Beckett and the Métèque in Texts pour rien/Texts for Nothing

2 Not Forgiving Life - Pessimism and Scepticism
   - The Felt Need for Redemption
   - Philosophy in the Moment
   - The Fragment, The Aphorism, and the Philosophical

3 Form as Violence
   - How It Is and Fizzles, the Aphoristic and the Essayistic
   - Beckett - Cioran - Celan

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Summary: Book discusses the association between Samuel Beckett, and the Romanian-born philosopher, E. M. Cioran. It draws upon known biographical detail, and upon Beckett’s engagement with Cioran’s writings, from the 1950s to the 1970s.

Certain of Cioran’s key concepts, such as that of the ‘métèque’ (see below), and his ideas about philosophical scepticism, and how they resonated with Beckett, especially in his writing as evolved beyond the ‘siege in the room’.

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Have already gotten two books to read from it. Cioran’s first book Précis de décomposition – his first book in french, from what I understand, a philosophical essay. And Beckett’s Philosophical Notes which are supposed to be superb. Certainly cost enough!

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Métèque is a French word with a complex history. 

Ancient Greek Origin: The term comes from the ancient Greek word métoikos (μέτοικος), meaning “one who has changed their residence” or “resident alien.”

In ancient Greece, particularly in Athens, a metic was a foreigner living in a city-state who was not a citizen, could work, but not vote or own land. The term itself was neutral and descriptive. 

Modern French Connotation: In contemporary French, the word métèque has taken on a strong pejorative and xenophobic meaning.  It is used as an insult to describe an immigrant or foreigner.