Author Type

Graduate Student

Date of Award

1982

Document Type

Thesis

Publication Status

Version of Record

Submission Date

October 2026

Thesis/Dissertation Advisor [Chair]

Hokenson, Jan W.

Abstract

Samuel Beckett is generally considered to write in the pessimistic tradition. For his characters, life is a process of "dying on" in a chaotic universe. God, if he exists, is cruelly indifferent. Death has no purpose, and therefore life is pointless. Suffering is real, however, and made more painful by the knowledge that there is neither Savior nor Salvation. Nevertheless Beckett repeatedly examines the Christian concept of Salvation in his work. Indeed, it has become framework, linguistic storehouse, source of metaphor, and spiritual yardstick in much of his canon. The doctrine of Salvation raises "the old questions" regarding man's destiny which so preoccupy Beckettian man; their contemplation has provided the matter for Beckett's writing, and that writing itself has perhaps saved him from despair.

Extent

61 p.

Comments

Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters|Thesis (M.A.)--Florida Atlantic University, 1982.|FAU Electronic Theses and Dissertations Collection|Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters

Identifier

FADT14137

Format

pdf

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