The Ascension Towards Nothingness: A Rereading of Samuel Beckett as a Postmodernist

Abstract

that stems from the oblivion of Being. The question of being precedes logic and not vice versa. The rules of logic are predicated on a certain answer to the question of being and cannot, therefore, be utilized as a tool for understanding the relation between being and nothingness. If the laws of science and logic are considered the only way to reason and not as dependent upon prior philosophical questions, one can never think What is nothingness? And what is the value of writing about nothingness? Why should one read about nothing anyway? All these questions presuppose and imply the idea that it is possible to think of and write about nothing .Can nothingness be enclosed in words?

If one wishes to express the idea that there are absolutely no truths, can he accomplish this task without positing yet another truth and, thereby, falling in self-contradiction which is a violation of the fundamental rules of sound thinking? Self-contradiction is the accusation that Martin Heidegger (1889-1976) levels against those who talk about nothingness for, in doing so, they make something out of it. Thinking about nothingness is also bound to undermine all culture and faith and, hence, lead to nihilism. Yet, Heidegger confesses that both fear of nihilism and the rules of sound reasoning rest on a misunderstanding of nothingness. Only the philosopher, because his fundamental questions precede logic and provide a foundation for it, can. Since "poetry is of the same order as philosophical thinking", Heidegger concludes that "aside from the philosopher, the poet can talk about nothing." (Heidegger, 28)

The question "What is nothingness?" is still unanswered. Amongst those who are most interested in nothingness are the existentialists. Their understanding of nothingness depends on their prior determination of the meaning of being. For Heidegger, the world is the totality of existents and