“My people seem to be falling to bits”

Samuel Beckett is often counted among Rebecca Brown’s literary forebears, yet critics have done little to explain exactly how this inspiration works. The present article attempts to fill part of this gap through a focus on two elements that are prominent in the writings of Brown and Beckett: representations of the mind and the body. Both authors use decaying bodies to represent a loss of identity, but Brown adds creatively to Beckett’s literary heritage by putting non-heteronormative sexuality center stage. Lesbianism causes the identity crises of Brown’s protagonists, while it also shifts the existential ignorance of Beckettian heroes to more of a social ignorance for Brown. Obviously, not all minds and bodies are confused and broken for the same reasons.