The animals that appear in Samuel Beckett's work are diverse and unpredictable. They serve as victim and persecutor, companion and adversary, disconcerting observers and objects oblivious to the human gaze. Bringing together an international array of Beckett specialists, this is the first full-length study to explore the significance of the animals that populate Beckett's prose, drama and poetry. Essays theorise a broad spectrum of animal manifestations while focusing on the roles that distinct animal forms play within Beckett's work, including horses, sheep, cats, dogs, bees, insects and others. Contributors situate close readings within a larger literary and cultural context, drawing on thinkers ranging from Aristotle to Deleuze, Foucault and Agamben, and on authors such as Flaubert, Kafka and Coetzee. The result is an incisive and provocative collection that traverses disciplinary boundaries, revealing how Beckett's creatures challenge conventional notions of species identity and, ultimately, what it means to be human.

Although not a believer himself, Gilles Deleuze's philosophical thinking engages with notions of Godhead, belief, spirituality, cosmology and Biblical research, as well as exhibiting the deep influences of such theists as Spinoza. However, despite the considerable, and ever-expanding body of scholarship that exists on Deleuze's work, until now, no single volume has explored the religious implications and connections of Deleuze's thinking. Among the subjects considered in this comprehensive text are Deleuze's own critique of God-hypotheses and his analysis of those theological elements present in other philosophers' work.

Much has been written about the importance of the viewing eye in Samuel Beckett's writing. Less attention has been paid to the place of sound and musicality. Yet Beckett once told a friend that he had always written for a voice. As well as being an accomplished pianist, Beckett was a passionate listener to music. In this study - the first full-length work to deal exclusively with Beckett and music - Mary Bryden brings together academics and composers in a wide-ranging collection of essays. Divided into two main sections, entitled 'Words' and 'Music', the book not only analyses a number of specific musical settings of Beckett's texts, but also considers the wider issue of sound and music within the author's work. Whether interviews, personal recollections by friends or relatives, or more formal essays, all the material in this collection has either been written specially for this volume, or is appearing for the first time in English.

Despite the ever-expanding body of Deleuzian scholarship, single volume has explored the religious dimensions of Delueze's writing. Now, Mary Bryden has assembled a team of international scholars to do just that. Their essays illustrate the ways in which Deleuzian thought is antithetical to religious debate, as well as the ways in which it contributes to those debates.
This volume will be invaluable for researchers, teachers and students of theology, philosophy, critical theory, cultural studies and literary criticism as well as to students of French who read Deleuze's work in its original language.