Searching for Beckett's Play "Waiting for Godot"
Going Beyond the Shelves of Waiting for Godot
Delve into the intriguing world of Samuel Beckett's classic play, Waiting for Godot, as we explore the complexities of its authorship and theatrical collaboration.
Where is Godot to be found? Pondering this question requires more than just answering; it calls for a deeper, thoughtful examination. Indeed, Godot's whereabouts is a subject tackle, debated, and scrutinized in Bernard Frechtman's insightful exploration, Beckett's Co-authors: Rewriting Waiting for Godot.
Let's go back to the basics. When we say we own Waiting for Godot, we're usually referring to the physical book we bought from a bookstore or found on the supermarket racks. But who really wrote this renowned play? Books, playscripts, are just incomplete, unrealized works; they become art only when performed on stage. So, what truly "wrote" Waiting for Godot?
The question of authorship in theater is a fascinating one, especially given the evolution of language and its intended meanings, as John Searle's work on speech-acts demonstrates. Searle underscores the distinction between "sentence" and "utterance," revealing how the same sentence can evoke drastically different meanings.
In the case of Waiting for Godot, the material text has its own intricacies. George Bornstein raises intriguing questions about the material text in theater, suggesting that we look to the original Pied Bull Quarto or the First Folio for Shakespeare's King Lear, but those "originals" might themselves be inferior copies or far from the ideal print versions.
In Beckett's time, the transmission history of his early dramas was not exactly smoother. Six "Bad Quartos" – corrupted publications of Waiting for Godot – existed, and they each presented their own deficiencies. Several of these questionable editions have been widely circulated and published.
Whether we're considering the text or the performance, the concept of multiple authorized versions becomes crucial. We must know about alternate versions of the text that may exist, especially for productions staged from these literary artifacts.
Further complicating matters is the technology of mechanical textual reproduction. Walter Benjamin saw this process as weakening the aura of a work, and the exhibited versions of Beckett's texts often evoke this idea. The play's initial version, whether handwritten, typed, or printed, holds a particular allure.
In Beckett's case, the issues are further muddied by mimeography technology, as many of the early productions of Waiting for Godot were staged without professionally printed versions. As a result, each version performed had its unique characteristics.
Some texts were indeed censored, while others were radically localized for performance, overwritten, and improved to meet current theatrical standards. These corrupted and revised versions continue to circulate, available in libraries, drama societies, schools, and personal collections, waiting to be borrowed and repurposed.
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About the Author
S. E. Gontarski is the Robert O. Lawton Distinguished Professor of English at Florida State University. He has written over 40 books, including The Beckett Critical Reader: Archives, Theories, and Translations, The Edinburgh Companion to Samuel Beckett and the Arts, Creative Involution: Bergson, Beckett, Deleuze, Beckett Matters: Beckett's Late Modernism, and Revisioning Beckett: Samuel Beckett's Decadent Turn.
Books like "Beckett's Co-authors: Rewriting Waiting for Godot" offer valuable insights into the complexities of Samuel Beckett's play, "Waiting for Godot". These books provide entertainment not only through the reading of the narrative but also by delving into the behind-the-scenes details of the authorship and theatrical collaboration, broadening our understanding of the play.
