Lire Beckett avec Starobinski

References to Beckett appear in Starobinski's work, and the two bodies of work share important literary references, for example that to The Anatomy of Melancholy. A reading under the influence of Starobinski's work and nourished by the literature and iconography of melancholia leads to gaging the work done by Beckett on cultural motifs linked to melancholy, and to account for its irony. Starobinski's work on the "hidden conducts" which work themselves out through the history of ideas in the West leads to a different understanding of Beckett's position in literary and cultural history.