Abstract
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Journal | Law Culture and the Humanities |
| Early online date | 5 Jul 2018 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | E-pub ahead of print - 5 Jul 2018 |
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Keywords
- Beckett
- prison
- justice
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‘That vaulty night’: Trials, testimonies, and critiques of justice in Beckett’s panoptican prison-stages’. / Diver, Alice.
In: Law Culture and the Humanities, 05.07.2018.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article
TY - JOUR
T1 - ‘That vaulty night’: Trials, testimonies, and critiques of justice in Beckett’s panoptican prison-stages’
AU - Diver, Alice
PY - 2018/7/5
Y1 - 2018/7/5
N2 - Beckettian justice avoids the usual scripts of judicial processes: his trials and punishments merge, as his captive characters lock themselves into eerily repetitive, self-questioning loops of semi-existence. His prison-cell courtrooms critique the wider socio-cultural symbolism associated with indefinite incarceration and unduly harsh sentences, questioning whether retributive sanctions have the power to redeem, or to spark atonement. By turning vague but terrifying recollections into accusatory witness statements, Beckett crafts purgatories grounded in endless perception. Audiences must therefore act as jurors and gaolers: by witnessing the various “crimes” of omission (neglect, abandonment, unintentional cruelty) we are perhaps better placed to judge our own failings and frailties and capacity for resilience.
AB - Beckettian justice avoids the usual scripts of judicial processes: his trials and punishments merge, as his captive characters lock themselves into eerily repetitive, self-questioning loops of semi-existence. His prison-cell courtrooms critique the wider socio-cultural symbolism associated with indefinite incarceration and unduly harsh sentences, questioning whether retributive sanctions have the power to redeem, or to spark atonement. By turning vague but terrifying recollections into accusatory witness statements, Beckett crafts purgatories grounded in endless perception. Audiences must therefore act as jurors and gaolers: by witnessing the various “crimes” of omission (neglect, abandonment, unintentional cruelty) we are perhaps better placed to judge our own failings and frailties and capacity for resilience.
KW - Beckett
KW - prison
KW - justice
U2 - https://doi.org/10.1177/1743872118786230
DO - https://doi.org/10.1177/1743872118786230
M3 - Article
JO - Law, Culture and the Humanities
JF - Law, Culture and the Humanities
SN - 1743-8721
ER -