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Negativity in language and imagination with Beckett and Bion
From the point of view of « negativity », convergencies are examined between the use of language by the author Samuel Beckett and the psychoanalyst Wilfred Bion. Both share a deep distrust of language as it is formed by rational thought controlled by the cartesian « I-think ». Beckett however is a « cartesian centaur »; he believes that we have a body and a mind and at the same time he considers that ridiculous. The elaboration of « negativity » by the psychoanalyst and the literary artist fit together as they converge on the field of immediate experience hidden behind language. To be in contact with (« containing ») the experience of existential uncertainty hidden behind language is decisive for experiencing « nothing » as a stimulating space for curiosity, creativity and symbolisation, while the alienation of these experiences leads to an uncontained, unbearable state of mind in a psychotic stupor. In his literary style Beckett constantly tries to « unword » and « unwork » linear, rational thought by fragmenting and letting counter voices speak so as to nebulise « I » as well as an objectified view of the world. This is demonstrated by a close reading of the opening and final sentences of Beckett's novel The Unnamable (1953). Since consciousness (which knows itself as « self ») is formed by the style of our narratives, it is worthwhile for the psychoanalytical clinician to reflect on the style of our ever-continuing (internal and external) narratives.