The Example of Samuel Beckett. A Translingual Work: “Imaginez”

Abstract

This paper explores how the notions of “translingualism” and “translingual imagination” (Kellman) can by applied to the understanding of Beckett’s bilingual work. To do so, the first part of the paper focuses on the interrelated issues of bilingualism and self-translation within his oeuvre and on the possible uses of the concept of “translingualism” to better define both their nature and their results. The focus is then shifted, in the second and third parts of the article, on Imagination morte imaginez and on the English version of this text, Imagination Dead Imagine. The purpose of these analyses is to explore one of Beckett’s representations of imagination and to underline, through a comparison of the different versions of this short work, its unique translingual nature.