Merging ‘the Zephyrs of Purgatory’ and ‘Old [Chinese] K’in Music’: The Modernist as Mystic Purist in Beckett’s Dream of Fair to Middling Women
This article explores the global influences of Chinese mysticism latent in Chinese K’in music and Christian mysticism on Beckett’s composition of Dream of Fair to Middling Women. I argue that Beckett’s portrayal of Belacqua as a mystic purist is the direct result of his creative appropriation of K’i...
| Published in: | Literature and theology |
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| Main Author: | |
| Format: | Electronic Article |
| Language: | English |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Journals Online & Print: | Drawer...
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| Fernleihe: | Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste |
| Published: |
Oxford University Press
[2020]
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| In: |
Literature and theology
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| RelBib Classification: | AG Religious life; material religion CB Christian life; spirituality KBM Asia NCA Ethics |
| Online Access: |
Presumably Free Access Volltext (Verlag) Volltext (doi) |
| Summary: | This article explores the global influences of Chinese mysticism latent in Chinese K’in music and Christian mysticism on Beckett’s composition of Dream of Fair to Middling Women. I argue that Beckett’s portrayal of Belacqua as a mystic purist is the direct result of his creative appropriation of K’in music, Taoism, and Christian mysticism on the one hand, and his equally creative appropriation of the modernist legacy of inner fiction exemplified by the fiction of Proust and Joyce on the other. By revealing the hybrid roots of Belacqua’s mystic quest, this essay presents a compelling case that unfolds not only Beckett’s interesting relation to China, but modernism’s ethical and aesthetic inclusion in a global context. |
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| ISSN: | 1477-4623 |
| Contains: | Enthalten in: Literature and theology
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| Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.1093/litthe/fraa007 |