A PAIN IN THE NECK: Memory, Sores, and Setting in Samuel Beckett

The overlooked pervasiveness of chronie sores on the bodies of Beckett's characters offers new explanations for both the disappearance of a realistic setting – one located in a specific place and time – in his first "mature" works (Watt through the 'Trilogy' and early plays) and his use of repetition. Using statements about memory in Proust as evidence, this essay demonstrates that epidermal eruptions (like cysts), because their pains are repetitious, lead Beckett's characters to dull their sensory perceptions, resulting in a perception of a dulled world. Finally, these sores suggest an alternative understanding of repetition in Beckett's texts to that of postructuralist readings.