Expressionist Influences: Visual Imagery in Samuel Beckett's "Eh Joe" and "Not I"

Introduction

Samuel Beckett, a literary giant most renowned for his play Waiting for Godot (1952), continues to captivate audiences with his exploration of modern existential dilemmas. Beyond his contributions to literature, Beckett harbored a deep, almost obsessive passion for visual art, particularly German Expressionism. This passion profoundly influenced his later works, infusing them with the evocative, psychologically charged imagery characteristic of Expressionist art.

This article examines how Beckett’s plays Eh Joe (1965) and Not I (1972) reflect the techniques and themes of German Expressionism, offering a unique lens through which to understand his exploration of human emotions and existential concerns.

Figure 1: Portrait of Samuel Beckett by Tom Byrne

Late Works and German Expressionism

During the months Beckett spent in Germany before the war, and in his subsequent visits over the years, he immersed himself deeply in the country’s rich artistic heritage, particularly in Expressionist art (Nixon, 1936). This exposure took place before many of these works were confiscated and made inaccessible by the Nazi regime, giving Beckett a unique opportunity to connect with these powerful visual influences.

Expressionism, an avant-garde movement that emerged in the early 20th century, emphasized the dramatic and existential through its expressive use of color and form. Artists such as Van Gogh, Ensor, and particularly Munch, who are considered precursors of the movement, used bold brushstrokes and vivid colors to evoke intense psychological states. The Die Brücke group, active between 1905 and 1913, sought to capture the immediacy of human emotion with an unfiltered, often aggressive style (Bertelli, 2012). Their works, characterized by bold, broken brushstrokes and harsh color contrasts, likely resonated with Beckett, who was known for his direct and unadorned literary style.

Beckett's appreciation for Expressionist art was profound, particularly for its technical precision and psychological depth. He admired the work of Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, whom he regarded as 'the most important artist' of Die Brücke (Nixon, 1937), and was equally captivated by the landscapes of Otto Müller (Nixon, 1936). The sharpness and precision of Expressionism, along with its use of abstract patterns and deep shadows, strongly influenced Beckett's later work, including Eh Joe and Not I.

Figure 2: Brücke by Otto Mueller, 1912

Both plays, which belong to the mature phase of Beckett's career, share an atmosphere of introspection and inner anguish — hallmarks of Expressionism. In Eh Joe, Joe is haunted by his past mistakes, and tormented by accusing voices, reflecting the Expressionist focus on human psychology and inner struggle. Similarly, Not I features a character grappling with profound emotional and spiritual crises, conveyed through a rapid and fragmented monologue that mirrors the inner anxiety and turmoil typical of Expressionist art. In both plays, the use of monologue as the dominant expressive form further highlights the characters' intense internal conflicts, aligning with the Expressionist tradition of exploring the human psyche.

Eh Joe

Eh Joe is a theatrical work written by Samuel Beckett in 1965, notable for being the first drama he created specifically for television. The play’s atmosphere of tension and anguish is meticulously crafted through innovative narrative techniques, reflecting Beckett’s deep interest in exploring human themes through experimental expressive forms. Beckett's use of expressionist elements is evident in the play's structure, which is dominated by an internal monologue that reveals the protagonist Joe's profound reflections on guilt, memory, and death. This monologue, coupled with Joe's mechanical and manic movements as he listens to an accusatory voice through a tape recorder, creates a state of anxiety and mania.

In a sparsely furnished room, we follow Joe, a middle-aged man who is the sole character on the scene. He listens to the voice of a woman speaking to him through a tape recorder. Performing almost mechanical and manic movements, such as repeatedly checking windows and corners of the room, this voice confronts him with his past sins and urges him to examine his life. The voice maintains a steady rhythm but carries an accusatory tone, and one can observe horror, perplexity, and remorse gradually shading Joe's face, which slowly occupies the entire frame:

Thought of everything? ... Forgotten nothing?... You're all right now, eh? ... No one can see you now .... No one can get at you now .... Why don't you put out that light? ... There might be a louse watching you .... Why don't you go to bed? ... What's wrong with that bed, Joe? ... You changed it, didn't you? ... Made no difference? ... Or is the heart already? ... Crumbles when you lie down in the dark .... Dry rotten at last .... Eh Joe? (Beckett, 1965)

Figure 3: A frame from 'Eh Joe' Directed by Samuel Beckett Germany, 1979

“ What are they fondling? ... Till they go .... There's love for you .... Isn't it, Joe ? ... Wasn't it, Joe? ... Eh Joe? ... Wouldn't you say? ... Compared to us ... Compared to Him .... Eh Joe?...” (Beckett, 1965)

In Eh Joe, Beckett aims to explore Joe's inner conflict, using the monologue to evoke thoughts and emotions. Its innovative structure and psychological approach reflect Beckett's interest in delving into human themes through experimental forms of expression. It could be argued that among Beckett's inspirations for creating such a distressing piece, there must necessarily be the influence of Expressionist Art and Die Brücke. Eh Joe bears many similarities to Expressionism. The deployment of curtains to shroud the window, door, and cupboard is indicative of Joe's pervasive paranoia, a recurring motif in Expressionist art (Oppenheim, 2021). Furthermore, the play uses strong contrasts between darkness and light to cast significant shadows on Joe's face, much like an Expressionist print. The towering curtains in Eh Joe contribute to the unsettling atmosphere by distorting the sense of lived space, echoing an Expressionist method. The use of abstract patterns and the reduction of the human form to abstract shapes are also reminiscent of the Expressionist aesthetic.

Figure 4: Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, 'Fünf Frauen auf der Straße', 1913

These Expressionist features in Eh Joe can be closely connected to the works of the Die Brücke group, particularly Ernst Ludwig Kirchner. Kirchner’s painting Five Women in the Street (1913) is a work in which the painter manages to convey the city's widespread discomfort through a style characterised by acute and broken shapes, traced with a fast and interrupted sign, which gives the scene a frenetic rhythm. Even the use of colours, generally cool and acidic in tone, applied with a jittery brushstroke that radiates the filaments of chromatic material in different directions, helps to convey a message of disquiet (Bertelli, 2012). His works often depicted solitary and disjointed figures, encapsulating the existential anguish of the modern individual. Despite belonging to different media and cultural contexts, Kirchner's painting Five Women in the Street and Samuel Beckett's play Eh Joe share several commonalities. Both works explore themes of alienation, loneliness, and existential unease, using peculiar expressive means to evoke disturbing moods and reflections on the human condition. The distorted characters and unrealistic representation of the urban setting reflect Kirchner's subjective view of reality (Bertelli, 2012), whereas Beckett constructs a deformed reality through the protagonist's encounter with the voice, which could be a hallucination or a creation of his imagination. The distortion may also be seen in the drama's structure, which contradicts established narrative standards. Ultimately, the tone and tenor of Eh Joe are reminiscent of the atmosphere frequently depicted in Expressionist paintings, as practiced in Germany in the early twentieth century.

Not I

In 1972, Samuel Beckett produced a one-of-a-kind monologue titled Not I. Two characters emerge on stage: Mouth, positioned to the right of the audience and illuminated by reflected light, and the Auditor, a character of unknown sex enveloped in a djellaba, visible only through four gestures of compassionate understanding. The plot does not progress to a traditional climax but instead emphasises the futility of human experience, once again reflecting one of Beckett's recurring themes.

The play centers on Mouth, a rare female protagonist in Beckett's work, with the light focused solely on her mouth, creating a claustrophobic and introspective atmosphere. This visual simplicity underscores the play’s themes of disembodiment and isolation, with Mouth serving as a vessel for a torrent of thoughts and confessions, distancing herself from the narrative she delivers. The entire setting is evocative and suggestive, reminiscent of the fractured forms and emotional intensity found in Expressionist artworks. Mouth is not just a character; she is also a feminine voice through which sensitive observations and confessions are revealed. She repeatedly denies being the true author of the story she narrates, from which the title Not I is derived.

Figure 5: A frame from 'Not I' directed by Samuel Beckett, 1975

The narrative follows a woman whose life, marked by silence, is suddenly disturbed at the age of seventy by a compulsion to speak. Her fragmented story reflects the trauma and isolation that define her existence. The Auditor’s gestures, initially sympathetic, gradually reflect a lack of real understanding. During some intervals, a figure dressed in a black sheet appears, listening to her silent voice and responding with an opening gesture of her arms. However, this gesture eventually narrows, symbolising the Auditor's lack of follow-up and the unfulfilled emotional response.

According to Prinz in Samuel Beckett and the Arts, the piece is related to Expressionism because it presents a 'gabbling orifice,' Mouth, which tells the story of a woman who is 'silent all her days' until she begins to talk compulsively in a 'steady stream' of words at the age of seventy while wandering in a field (Gontarski, 2014). The play’s visual image is limited to a single, disembodied mouth, and the emphasis is on the voice. Beckett adopted this strategy of using a single image to convey the play’s message, similar to how Expressionist painters aimed to depict human emotion through images that penetrated the surface and reflected human hopes and anxieties (Bertelli, 2012).

Although it is unknown which specific Expressionist artwork influenced Beckett, there is a clear link to the work of an Expressionist predecessor, Edvard Munch, particularly his renowned work The Scream. Both characters seem to be immersed in isolated locations, left alone with their inner thoughts. Despite being expressed differently, both works involve terrible memories from the past that must be conveyed. Beckett’s depiction of the protagonist’s head in Not I represents disordered and frenzied thoughts, expressing deep anxiety, similar to Munch’s depiction of a human figure emitting a silent scream. Visually, both works use distortion to portray the protagonists’ altered perceptions and intense inner pain. Furthermore, the haunting tone of Not I evokes Expressionist art, which often depicts stark, sometimes angular, representations of human longings, hopes, and fantasies.

Figure 6: Edvard Munch, 'The Scream', 1893

Conclusion

This article has demonstrated the profound significance and lasting impact of visual art, particularly Expressionism, on the literary creation of a scholar as influential as Samuel Beckett. The power of art to capture emotions, ideas, and beliefs through visual, tactile, and aural means, opens new horizons for literary expression. Themes such as death, the passage of time, and the futility of existence — often challenging to convey through words alone — find powerful expression through Beckett’s creative language. This allows him to produce works that resonate deeply with the soul of the reader or audience.

Beckett’s work, particularly in Eh Joe and Not I, is deeply influenced by Expressionism, as evidenced by his focus on inner psychological turmoil, the dramatic use of light and shadow, and the distortion of narrative and form. He mirrors Expressionist art by exploring themes of alienation and existential angst, employing abstract patterns and fragmented monologues to evoke intense emotional responses—paralleling the emotionally charged and subjective depictions found in Expressionist painting.

While direct correspondences between Beckett’s literary works and specific visual artworks may not always be explicit, critical analysis reveals connections that enrich our understanding of both. These connections offer fresh perspectives on themes and subjects extensively explored in scholarly literature. In this context, visual art not only enhances literature by introducing new interpretative dimensions but also creates a space where ambiguity and interpretation are celebrated. This, in turn, fosters active and creative engagement from the audience, ensuring that Beckett’s works continue to resonate with profound emotional and intellectual impact.

Bibliographical References

Bertelli, C. (2012). La storia dell'arte. Milano-Torino: Pearson, Mondadori.

Carville, C. (2018). Samuel Beckett and the visual. Cambridge University Press.

Davies, W. (2020). Samuel Beckett and the Second World War. Bloomsbury Publishing.

Gontarski, S. E. (Ed.). (2014). Edinburgh companion to Samuel Beckett and the arts. Edinburgh University Press.

Knowlson, J. (1997). Damned to fame: The life of Samuel Beckett. Bloomsbury Publishing Plc.

Nixon, M. (n.d.). Samuel Beckett’s German diaries 1936-1937.

Oppenheim, L. (2000). The painted word: Samuel Beckett’s dialogue with art. University of Michigan Press.

Oppenheim, L. (2021). Samuel Beckett and the arts. Routledge.

Visual References