Bergson – Beckett – Lotman: A semiotic analysis of Samuel Beckett’s 'A Wet Night' from 'More Pricks Than Kicks'

Abstract

The article presents a semiotic analysis of a short story entitled “A Wet Night” from Samuel Beckett’s collection More Pricks Than Kicks. The author attempts to analyse the story using the semiotic tools and the concept of semiosphere proposed by Yuri Lotman. In addition to Lotman’s theory, the discussion refers to traces of Henri Bergson’s philosophy, correlated with Beckett’s interests in this matter and highlighted in “A Wet Night”. The aim is to show that both Lotman’s and Bergson’s theories find their application in the selected story.