英文摘要 |
In What Where Beckett firmly claims, "[m]ake sense who may, I switch off." It is not only a prompt response to the proliferation of criticism surrounding his works, but also an overt expression of sound as a fundamental element of his art. This paper targets Ohio Impromptu to further the investigation of this issue. This paper delineates the rich theatrical sounds in this minimalist play-performative voice, sound effects accompanied by theatrical actions, theatrical echoes, physical language, or even sounds of silence-and how they accentuate theater as a visual and acoustic imaginative space. The first part of this paper illustrates the juxtaposition of literacy and orality in Ohio Impromptu and how it stages the dual identity of drama as both a scripted text and an oral performance. The second half of the paper employs Walter Ong's secondary orality to explicate how the complementary relationships between the documented text and the performed action in the play enrich theatrical sounds. The medium of orality possessed by Beckett's character in Ohio Impromptu not only renders him free to perform the reading ritual with certain variation, but also opens up what seems to be the impasse in the completed, printed text. It is hoped that the attempt to incorporate Ong's theory of secondary orality while accommodating Beckett's strong emphasis on sound may contribute to the reading of Ohio Impromptu, one of his most compact plays with vague characterizations and nonlinear rhythmic narration. |