Abstract

Available from UMI in association with The British Library. ;The traffic between philosophy and literature has long been a source of considerable interest and controversy. In this study, I have scrutinised, in the first instance, the nature of the relationship which pertains between them, with a view to setting the scene for an intensive comparison of the philosophy of Arthur Schopenhauer and the ideas which inform the literary art of Samuel Beckett. ;I have argued that, in the work of both figures, a shared perspective can be discerned which embraces pessimism, art and the aesthetic, and asceticism. Accordingly, a detailed analysis of these three areas comprises the main body of the study and, in my opinion, provides clear evidence to support my contention that a remarkable affinity of thought unites the "literary" philosopher, Arthur Schopenhauer, and the "philosophical" writer, Samuel Beckett