Metalanguage in Waiting for Godot of Samuel Beckett

• Grant number: 22/12477-5
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Scientific Initiation
• Start date: January 01, 2023
• End date: December 31, 2023
• Field of knowledge: Linguistics, Literature and Arts - Literature - Literature Theory
• Principal Investigator: Cláudia Maria de Vasconcellos
• Grantee: Gustavo Santana Cirino
• Host Institution: Faculdade de Filosofia, Letras e Ciências Humanas (FFLCH). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). São Paulo , SP, Brazil

Abstract

This research's proposition is to analyze the metalinguistic elements present in Waiting for Godot by Samuel Beckett in order to observe and describe how the text brings formal innovations to the contemporary dramatic genre. With that intent, Theodor W. Adorno's considerations in Notes to Literature and Notes sur Beckett and Hugh Kenner's in Samuel Beckett: A Critical Study will serve as the initial theoretical support. To these authors we will oppose Peter Szondi from Theory of Modern Drama and Martin Esslin from The Theater of the Absurd. From the analysis and comparison between different theories about Waiting for Godot, it is possible to understand the crisis of dramatic form - theorized by Szondi - and the aesthetic novelty of Samuel Beckett.