ベケットの『オハイオ即興劇』における作家の自画像

―「盲人の手」、「作家の手」が描く虚構の他者について

抄録

Ohio Impromptu (1981) was written at the request of S. E. Gontarski for the world symposium held in order to celebrate Beckett's 75^th birthday. Although Ohio Impromptu is a play, no conspicuous movements occur on the stage, except for a hand that knocks on a table and a hand that turns some pages. We are obliged to see only the static postures of the two protagonists, who are distinguishable only as a Listener and a Reader, and to hear the voice reading the book. In this play, two images overlap: one is the still, picture-like stage image, while the other is the image built up as the story is read.

I will investigate the hands, which are the most important performing part in the play, and the difference between the mirror-images and the images reflected in the water. Furthermore, I will also look into the “separation” that ultimately opens up the door through which we can get to the place where “nothing is left tell,” namely, borrowing Jacques Derrida's description, “pure absence.” In this play, the performing hands and the “absence” are strongly linked with the act of “writing” that is represented on the stage.