An Italian Renaissance polymath, most known for his notebooks and paintings, Leonardo Da Vinci is still widely considered an enigma. His birthday was today, April 15th.
A recent article in Journal of Beckett Studies (Volume 22.2) wonders how much Beckett’s influences and preoccupations were shaped by Leonardo’s concept of disfazione.
Adam Winstanley analyses Samuel Beckett’s view on Leonardo da Vinci’s notion of ‘disfazione’, making use of unexpected source texts, such as Jean de Boschère’s article ‘Les échecs de Léonard de Vinci’, in addition to less unusual suspects such as French writers, Maurice Blanchot and Paul Valéry. The article describes that in the book “three dialogues” with Georges Duthuit, by Beckett, an artistic practice is mentioned which is based on their expression and power.
