Crossing the Borders of Language and Culture: Samuel Beckett’s Waiting for Godot

The aim of the paper is to compare four versions of the text of Waitingfor Godot: the French original, Beckett’s own translation into English and two Polish renderings done by Julian Rogoziński and Antoni Libera. The article starts with a short discussion concerning rules governing the translation process and then its evaluation. While working on the transposition of the French original into English, Beckett introduced numerous changes, this being due to his sensitivity to the very quality of each of the languages and specific references characteristic of the two cultures. Antoni Libera, an expert in Beckett’s oeuvre, argues that Beckett’s translations should be more adequately described as second language versions and that the artist recommended further translations based on his two language versions. Libera himself followed this recommendation while translating Beckett’s works into Polish. Upon publication, he provided illuminating notes, shedding light on the differences in Beckett’s versions and providing critical insight into the texts. Julian Rogoziński, on the other hand, based his translation of Waiting for Godot only on the French original. This accounts for the fact that, at times, his rendering of the text lacks precision and may not even be quite understandable. Rogoziński’s version is less satisfactory than that of Libera due to the fact that it was written earlier and by an older man, which at times results in the use of old-fashioned, outdated Polish diction and structures

In a World Characterized by Transience and Doomed to Extinction Some Old Women Still Need Love —Mrs Rooney from Samuel Beckett’s All That Fall

The article analyzes the world of transience, deterioration and death characteristic of Boghill, the place of action of Samuel Beckett’s short radio play-All That Fall. In a broadcast drama, existence is equivalent to being heard, the idea skilfully employed and commented upon by the playwright. The characters actually heard in the play are in most cases elderly or quite old and even the two young ones appear in the context of death. Numerous off-the-air individuals are dead, sterile or suffering from different illnesses. The two main characters’ situation is not different-Mr Rooney is blind, and his wife, Maddy, complains of many ailments. She is a woman in her seventies, overweight and having different kinds of health problems and thus, several times in the course of the play she expresses a wish to die. At the same time, however, in encounters with men on her way to the station she speaks in a manner characterized by numerous sexual innuendos. Furthermore, she expresses a strong yearning for love and hopes her unloving husband would show her some warm feelings. Thus she becomes a convincing illustration of Georges Bataille’s argument: “Eroticism, it may be said, is assenting to life up to the point of death” (11)

Blindness in the Beckettland of Malfunctioning

Many of Beckett characters suffer from different kinds of disabilities and impairments, this being one of the ways of punishing them for “the eternal sin of having been born.” The article discusses blindness in Waiting for Godot, Endgame and All That Fall. In the first of these plays blindness afflicts Pozzo during the interval between the two acts, that is during a single night. Combined with the loss of his watch it is indicative of his entering the subjective realm of timelessness. The blindness of Hamm in Endgame and his inability to walk make him dependant on Clov who is unable to sit, which recalls Pozzo’s dependence on Lucky in the second act. Similarly, the blind Mr Rooney also must get help from other people to be able to move around. In the case of all three plays blindness must be perceived on a literal, as well as metaphorical level

Pinteresque Dialogue

The expression “Pinteresque” describing the characteristic features of Harold Pinter’s artistic output, established its position as a literary critical denominator many years ago. The aim of this article is to analyze some of the specific aspects of the playwright’s use of language. On several occasions, the artist made comments pertaining to certain issues concerning communication. He rejected the idea of the alienation of language and promoted the concept of evasive communication, thus showing people’s unwillingness to communicate. He also spoke about two kinds of silence, the first referring to a situation where there is actual silence, when “no word is spoken,” and the second, when “a torrent of language is being employed” in order to cover the character’s “nakedness.” Accordingly, Pinter’s plays may, depending on their perspective, be treated as dramas of language or of silence. This led Peter Hall, Pinter’s favourite theatre director and also a close friend, to notice that in the playwright’s oeuvre there is a clear distinction beween three dots, a pause and a silence. This article discusses in detail the uneven distribution of pauses and silences in Harold Pinter’s 1977 play, Betrayal. It becomes evident that the use of different kinds of silence clearly indicates the emotional state of the characters at any given moment

Trace fossil curvolithus from the middle Jurassic crinoidal limestones of the Pieniny Klippen Belt (Carpathians, Poland)

The trace fossil Curvolithus simplex has been described for the first time in carbonate facies: the Bajocian crinoidal limestones of the Pieniny Klippen Belt. Curvolithus is typical of the Cruziana ichnofacies. This suggests deposition of the crinoidal limestones at shelf depths, below the fair-weather wave base. Curvolithus occurs exclusively in the lowermost part of the limestones, which are interpreted as having been deposited in the toes of migrating bars or banks of crinoidal sand. Such settings display increased preservational potential of trace fossils, and are preferred by the most probable Curvolithus tracemakers, that is, carnivorous or scavenging gastropods

A new etching trace from the Savignone Conglomerate (Oligocene), NW Italy, probably produced by limpet gastropods

A new ichnogenus and ichnospecies (Solealites ovalis) of etching trace is preserved on the surfaces of clasts from the Savignone Conglomerate (Oligocene) in the Palaeogene Piemonte Basin in NW Italy. It is a shallow, oval depression with a central elevation, which was produced probably by limpet gastropods and served as their home scar, but other gastropods or even sea anemones are not excluded as the trace makers. The conglomerate is interpreted as a deposit of a fan delta, whose clasts have been bioeroded in an intertidal and shallow subtidal shore zone and redeposited to the deeper sea

Heavy minerals from Oligocene sandstones of the Menilite Formation of the Skole Nappe, SE Poland : a tool for provenance specification

Heavy minerals from sandstones belonging mostly to the Boryslav Sandstone and Kliva Sandstone members of the lower part of the Menilite Formation (Oligocene) in the northern part of the Skole Nappe, Polish Carpathians are characterized. In the study area, the sediments were deposited in the Rzeszów and Łańcut channel zones running from the northern margin of the basin. The most frequent heavy minerals in the sandstones examined include zircon, tourmaline, rutile, staurolite, kyanite and garnet. Single grains of andalusite, sillimanite, apatite, epidote, brookite and chrome spinel occur in some samples. The very small content of apatite is related to long, continental weathering in the source area, which is referred to the Paleozoic sedimentary cover of the Małopolska Block and the easternmost part of the Upper Silesian Block. Different preservation states, morphology, degree of roundness and colour varieties suggest that the heavy minerals studied derive from various petrographic types including metamorphic, igneous and sedimentary rocks. However, the Carboniferous and Permian conglomerates and sandstones seem to be the most probable source rocks

Palaeobiological and palaeonvironmental significance of the Pliocene trace fossil Dactyloidites peniculus

The radial trace fossil Dactyloidites peniculus occurs in a deep tier in totally bioturbated shoreface sediments of Pliocene age in the Stirone Valley, N Italy, together with Thalassinoides isp. and Ophiomorpha nodosa. Long, narrow shafts running from centre of the radiating structure and abundant faecal pellets in the radial structure were discovered. The trace maker of D. peniculus, probably a polychaete, deposited the pellets deeply in the sediment, probably for reinforcement of the tubes and a gardening of microbes for feeding. This trace fossil exclusively occurs within a narrow horizon at the top of a shallowing-up section interpreted as a high-stand system tract, below a discontinuity surface capped by finer sediments. D. peniculus was formed in soft sandy sediments under stable conditions related to the latest phases of the high-stand system tract. Therefore, it is a candidate for indication of similar environmental situations having a soft sandy, but stable sea floor

New interpretation of the provenance of crystalline material from Oligocene flysch deposits of the Skole Nappe, Poland : evidence from heavy minerals and clasts in the Nowy Borek section

The Futoma Member (Oligocene, Rupelian) of the Menilite Formation is present only in the northern part of the Skole Nappe. Some diatomitic layers of this member in the Nowy Borek section contain coarse-grained detrital material com-posed of a variety of metamorphic, volcanic and sedimentary rock fragments. The material derives from primary and secondary sources. Most abundant are debris of metamorphic rocks, mostly gneisses and mica schists. The metamorphic origin of these rocks is confirmed by the composition of heavy mineral assemblages and garnet chemistry. These rocks could have been transported from a local source located close to the margin of the Skole Basin or within that basin. The volcanic rocks reflect Paleogene volcanic activity that was widespread in the Carpathian region. Cherts, which could have been subjected to synsedimentary erosion, may have been derived from the older portions of the same formation