Memory Is The Belly of The Mind
Memory Is The Belly of The Mind
Memory Is The Belly of The Mind
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MEMORY
Augustine's
ofMemory
Concept
Michiko
in Beckett
Tsushima
It is not only Proustian memory but also Augustinian memory that is important
in understanding memory in Beckett. In his early period Beckett showed an
interest inAugustinian memory, especially the idea thatmemory is a stomach
for themind, and remembering is analogous to rumination. This article shows
how this aspect of Augustinian memory is evoked inKrapp's Last Tape and
How It Is. Further it develops an understanding of Beckettian memory as an
externalized container of the past (e.g., a tape-recorder and a sack) and dis
cusses it in relation toAnzieu's concept of "the Skin Ego" as a psychical con
tainer.
1. Introduction
theme of memory
in Beckett's work has often been discussed
in
relation to the idea of memory
in Proust. The "involuntary memory"
that Beckett discusses
in his book on Proust has been especially
stressed. In Proust, Beckett observes that unlike "voluntary memory,"
The
which
that is important
to understanding
memory
in Beckett's
work.
In
searching
for God
through
or to be more
the act
of
in
in both Augustine
and
and life are inseparable
memory. Memory
Beckett. Here we should also note that the aspect of Augustinian mem
ory that attracted Beckett was not necessarily related to Augustine's
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124
Michiko Tsushima
"Do
shape of ideas" in the sentence he presumed to be by Augustine:
not despair; one of the thieves was saved. Do not presume; one of the
thieves was damned" (see Cronin, 232).
like to focus on two aspects of Augustinian
In this article I would
ond idea.
Interest
2. Beckett's
inAugustinian Memory
before writing Dream
toMiddling
of Fair
According
in
"immersed
himself
the
of St.
Beckett
Women,
Confessions
deeply
in
novel
from
this
work
his
and
used
many quotations
Augustine"
a
to
Beckett
of 1931,
described
letter MacGreevy
(Knowlson,
114). In
himself as "phrase-hunting in St. Augustine." He read the Confessions
to Knowlson,
Pusey,
the
is the follow
ing:
[1]Mind notmemory:
When with joy I remembermy past sorrow,themind hath
joy, thememoryhath sorrow;themind upon thejoyfulnesswhich
is in it,is joyful,yet thememoryupon thesadnesswhich is in it,is
not sad. ...The memory is thebelly [ticked]of themind & joy&
sadness the sweet and bitterfood;which, when committedto the
are, as itwere, passed
cannot taste.
but
stowed,
memory,
they may be
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inBeckett
125
has
indifference, my memory
has
sorrow. The
'When with
[...].
(1992, 235-36)
is not af
is that memory
Apparently, what is important for Beckett
fected by what is contained in it; thememory is regarded as something
insensitive or inhuman like a machine.
idea that the
Secondly, Beckett pays attention to Augustine's
a
is
stomach for the mind. Augustine writes, "we might say
memory
that thememory is a sort of stomach for themind, and that joy or sad
ness are like sweet or bitter food" (220). Memory
is considered to be a
container that stores food. Furthermore, Augustine points out the simi
"Perhaps these
larity between the acts of remembering and mminating:
emotions [desire, joy, fear, and sorrow] are brought forward from the
memory by the act of remembering in the same way as cattle bring up
food from the stomach when they chew the cud." He depicts the act of
fessions.
inKrapp's
3. 'Chewing the Cud'
two aspects of Augustinian
The
inKrapp's
a
dark
den,"
place
evoked
Last Tape
memory that we have discussed are
Last Tape. In this play, which is set in "Krapp's
like a cave, a "wearish old man" who is near death
following the custom that he has continued for many years. Before he
starts recording, he listens to the tape that he recorded thirty years be
126
Michiko Tsushima
nine. On
with
mind
who
tations, he expresses
emotions
unrestrainedly;
the audience
sees him
we
other words,
his memory.
in
in
Krapp's
of the stage. This act of eating a banana suggests that the act of chewing
and that of remembering the past are inseparable from each other.
act of eating a banana at the beginning of the play can be con
Krapp's
inBeckett
127
from the everyday with its depressing realities. Indeed after eating the
banana, Krapp starts preparing to listen to the tape of his past. Uttering
the word 'spool' with relish and a smile, he starts poking at the boxes
the analogy
between
remembering
But as Krapp
the beginning
bolized
Last
membering, which is inseparable from that of eating inKrapp's
as
a
can
act.
takes
also
be
bodily
Remembering
place in
Tape,
regarded
or
more
to
in
the
weak
and
be
the body,
deteriorating body of
specific,
We
of Augustinian
InHow
It Is, Augustinian
memory
as a stomach
that contains
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128
Michiko Tsushima
thefeel small ormedium five stone six stonewet jute I clutch it" (8).
During his journey, he crawls dragging the sack, which contains tinned
fish, such as herring, prawns, and sardines, and a tin-opener. Also he
murmurs about his world and the fragmentary memories of life in the
light above as he hears it uttered by a voice within him. He can catch
How
He is not reallydifferentiated
from thematernalmud inwhich he lies
and crawls;
is depicted
as having
sack that are in "the tins in the depths of the sack hermetically under
vacuum [...] for ever sealed" (92), the
images of the past life in the light
are "hermetically under vacuum [...] for ever sealed" in the tins stored
in the sack.
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inHow
inBeckett
It Is we
129
see a parallel
between
the light. During the journey in the mud in part 1, the man opens tins
with the tin-opener and eats the food they contain. He also tells us of
thefragmentary
memories of his life in the lightabove, inotherwords,
he quotes or repeats what the voice within him says: "past moments old
dreams back again [...] memories
I say them as I hear them murmur
man
the
isWinnie's
sole possession
and contains her daily necessities. On
bag
the stage she repeats taking them out, using them, and putting them
back. In the same manner as Winnie
takes out various daily necessities
mud,
"the sack
my life thatI never letgo [...]" (35).We often findhim clasping the
sack to his bellywith his knees drawnup and his back bent in a hoop:
"knees drawnup back bent ina hoop I clasp the sack tomy belly I see
me now onmy side I clutch it the sackwe're talkingof the sackwith
one hand behindmy back I slip itundermy headwithout lettingitgo I
never let itgo" (10). This posture remindsus of thatof a fetus in the
The sack is described as having several uses. It is used
as a larder, a pillow for the head, a friend to turn to, a thing to embrace,
and a surface to cover with kisses. But there are occasions when it is
mother's womb.
said that the sack is something to cling to, in the same way as the man
"who falls out of thewindow" "clutches [...] thewindow-sill"
(66). The
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130
Michiko Tsushima
its use
is also
5. The Externalized
and "the Skin Ego"
Container
have seen Augustine's
concept of memory being evoked
inKrapp's
as a stomach
We
skin as sac is awakened, in the very young infant, by the attention to its
bodily needs it receives from itsmother," Anzieu explains that themen
in this way,
are neutralized
and preserved"
which
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inBeckett
131
merely
Notes
For a discussion of Augustine's theory of memory, see, for example,
1.
Bourke (142-65), O'Connell (120-34), Rist (73-85), and Teske (148-58).
The idea of the psychical container inAnzieu comes fromWilfred Ru
precht Bion who was Beckett's analyst at the Tavistock Clinic. See, for in
stance, Anzieu, 38-39, 101.
2.
Works
Cited
Anzieu, Didier, The Skin Ego, trans. Chris Turner (New Haven: Yale UP,
1989).
Augustine, Confessions, trans. R. S. Pine-Coffin (Harmondsworth: Penguin,
1961).
Beckett, Samuel, Proust (London: Chatto & Windus, 1931).
-, Happy Days (New York: Grove, 1961).
-, How It Is (New York: Grove, 1964).
-, More Pricks thanKicks (New York: Grove, 1972).
-, Krapp's Last Tape, in The Collected Shorter Plays of Samuel Beckett (New
York: Grove, 1984), 53-63.
Dream
-,
of Fair toMiddling Women, ed. Eoin O'Brien and Edith Fournier
(Dublin: Black Cat, 1992).
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in The Cambridge
"Augustine's Philosophy of Memory,"
toAugustine (Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 2001).
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