Imagination Dead Imagine
Encyclopedia
Imagination Dead Imagine is a short prose text by Samuel Beckett
first published in French in Les Lettres nouvelles in 1965. Its first English publication was a translation in The Sunday Times
in 1965 followed by a trade edition by Beckett's London-based publisher, Calder and Boyars, later that year.
, and consistent with Beckett's preoccupation with cylinders and closed spaces in his work of the 1960s, the text explores "the theme of the dying imagination yet conscious of its own activity". Two white bodies are situated back to back inside a skull-like rotunda or vault. On the verge of extinction, the imagination of an unspecified being succeeds in imagining two bodies enclosed in a silent and motionless black and white environment subject to varying degrees of heat and cold with a brief interlude of grey.
According to the painter Avigdor Arikha
, an intimate of the author, the rotunda was inspired by the Val-de Grâce church in Paris which Beckett could see from his study window. In an imaginative transposition of reality, Beckett reduced the actual dome to a skull-sized vault that "has the ring of bone to it". The bodies of the two figures remain inert while their left eyes open in turn and stare for lengthy periods. The imagination of the invisible and nameless narrator constantly shifts position to examine, like a miniature camera, the two foetus-like figures in their stark environment. In effect, the figures "are like embryos waiting either for birth or for extinction". The text ends with the identities of the two figures appearing to merge to form a "white speck lost in whiteness".
, the work was directed by Ruth Maleczech
with holographic design by Linda Hartinian. Hartinian later explained that such a design was considered impossible as "a hologram could only be seen by one person at a time. I didn't depend totally on the 3 dimensional effect, I used theatre. I ran the audience in a cone, because I do know enough physics to understand optical laws". Reviewing for The New York Times
, critic Mel Gussow
described the production as "a paradigmatic example of the Mabou Mines mastery of technology in the name of art".
Samuel Beckett
Samuel Barclay Beckett was an Irish avant-garde novelist, playwright, theatre director, and poet. He wrote both in English and French. His work offers a bleak, tragicomic outlook on human nature, often coupled with black comedy and gallows humour.Beckett is widely regarded as among the most...
first published in French in Les Lettres nouvelles in 1965. Its first English publication was a translation in The Sunday Times
The Sunday Times
The Sunday Times is a British Sunday newspaper.The Sunday Times may also refer to:*The Sunday Times *The Sunday Times *The Sunday Times *The Sunday Times...
in 1965 followed by a trade edition by Beckett's London-based publisher, Calder and Boyars, later that year.
Plot
Developed as an off-shoot of the longer prose work, All Strange AwayAll Strange Away
All Strange Away is a short prose text by Samuel Beckett first published in English in 1964. A special signed edition with illustrations by Edward Gorey was published in 1976, and in a trade edition by Grove Press of collected texts titled, Rockaby and Other Short Pieces in 1981...
, and consistent with Beckett's preoccupation with cylinders and closed spaces in his work of the 1960s, the text explores "the theme of the dying imagination yet conscious of its own activity". Two white bodies are situated back to back inside a skull-like rotunda or vault. On the verge of extinction, the imagination of an unspecified being succeeds in imagining two bodies enclosed in a silent and motionless black and white environment subject to varying degrees of heat and cold with a brief interlude of grey.
According to the painter Avigdor Arikha
Avigdor Arikha
Avigdor Arikha was a painter, draughtsman, printmaker, and art historian.-Biography:Avigdor Arikha was born to German-speaking Jewish parents in Rădăuţi, but grew up in Czernowitz , in Bukovina, Romania., His family faced forced deportation in 1941 to the Romanian-run concentration camps of...
, an intimate of the author, the rotunda was inspired by the Val-de Grâce church in Paris which Beckett could see from his study window. In an imaginative transposition of reality, Beckett reduced the actual dome to a skull-sized vault that "has the ring of bone to it". The bodies of the two figures remain inert while their left eyes open in turn and stare for lengthy periods. The imagination of the invisible and nameless narrator constantly shifts position to examine, like a miniature camera, the two foetus-like figures in their stark environment. In effect, the figures "are like embryos waiting either for birth or for extinction". The text ends with the identities of the two figures appearing to merge to form a "white speck lost in whiteness".
Adaptations
A 1984 theatrical adaptation of the work pioneered the use of holography in live theater. Produced by the experimental theater group Mabou MinesMabou Mines
Mabou Mines is an avant-garde theatre company founded in 1970 and based in New York City.-History:Mabou Mines is a collaborative, avant-garde theater company based in New York City...
, the work was directed by Ruth Maleczech
Ruth Maleczech
Ruth Maleczech is an American avant-garde stage actress, whose most notable role may have been as King Lear, portrayed as an imperious Southern matriarch...
with holographic design by Linda Hartinian. Hartinian later explained that such a design was considered impossible as "a hologram could only be seen by one person at a time. I didn't depend totally on the 3 dimensional effect, I used theatre. I ran the audience in a cone, because I do know enough physics to understand optical laws". Reviewing for The New York Times
The New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
, critic Mel Gussow
Mel Gussow
Melvyn H. Gussow was an American theater critic, movie critic, and author who wrote for The New York Times for 35 years.-Biography:...
described the production as "a paradigmatic example of the Mabou Mines mastery of technology in the name of art".
External links
- "Imagination Dead Imagine: the Microcosm of the Mind" by Susan Brienza