RT info:eu-repo/semantics/bachelorThesis T1 The Impossible Nihilist Enterprise in Samuel Beckett’s Last Short Prose and what is the word A1 González Barman, Jorge A2 Universidad de Valladolid. Facultad de Filosofía y Letras K1 Samuel Beckett K1 Nothing K1 Void K1 Unword K1 Nada K1 Vacío K1 Despalabra K1 5701.11 Enseñanza de Lenguas AB Samuel Beckett’s last works have been noted as a movement towards linguistic minimalism. An interesting, yet often overlooked reasoning behind this progression is the attempt to reach an idealized, as well as impossible, expression of nihilism. Moreover, previous analyses surrounding Beckettian nihilism have failed to provide a defined account to the strategies Beckett employs towards this goal, and have mostly focused on earlier works by the author. In this BA thesis I will attempt to explain how Beckett seeks to reach this impossible form of nihilism through the organic construction of a literary work that mimics a living being and its progressive degradation down to its last atom —i.e. the word— followed by its annihilation in the Beckettian unword, the hypothesized nihilistic element that is to simultaneously recreate Beckettian nothing. I will also attempt to interpret the strategies Beckett employs to this effect, and the obstacles that render it impossible. This thesis mainly focuses on Beckett’s last works of short prose, but will conclude with his last work, the poem what is the word? YR 2022 FD 2022 LK https://uvadoc.uva.es/handle/10324/58479 UL https://uvadoc.uva.es/handle/10324/58479 LA eng NO Departamento de Filología Inglesa DS UVaDOC RD 23-may-2024