The Aged Radio Body: Corporeality and Old Age in Beckett's All That Fall

Abstract

This article sets out to examine the aged radio body in Samuel Beckett's All That Fall. Its main argument is that there is a conceptual symbiosis between the radiogenic problematisation of corporeality and the deliberate thematisation of old age in All That Fall. The two main issues explored in this article – which are inextricably intertwined – concern the notion of reluctant corporeality, that is, the idea that the radiophonic body in All That Fall is very real but also frail and therefore resented; and the understanding of old age as a crucial theme that can and should be interpreted in the light of different age theories, such as disengagement theory, irremediable regret, and the réveil mortel.