Something Wrong There": Punning in Comment C'est

This essay focuses on the puns in the French version of Samuel Beckett's novel Comment C'est. Beckett's narrative consists of the transcription of a voice poorly recorded from an unknown source. Hence, in Comment C'est, the narrative, full of misstatements and misleading declarations, builds on an inadequate transcription of the oral, allowing puns to interfere with the understanding of the story. Beckett's use of puns calls our attention to the signifying processes' constant deferral of meaning and reveals the essence-less quality of language theorized by Derrida. Wordplay makes clear the lack of interdependence between the signifier and signified, implying a possible failure of communication and the illusion of origin and presence.