Coda Viral Beckett

This coda to Beckett and Technology considers the spread of Beckettian references, viral memes, acts of identification, and intermedial adaptations in digital culture. Noting the increased flow of Beckett-related citation (especially humour) across media during the international lockdowns related to the COVID-19 pandemic, this short essay explores both the ‘how’ and the ‘why’ of Beckett's contagion. It argues that the 2020 global public health emergency – the first such event in the era of digital culture – has acted as an accelerant for already existing trends in the evolving reception of the author, in which the power and relevance of old-media gatekeepers (publishers, agencies, Estates) is naturally attenuated by the sheer scale, creativity, and non-commercial nature of what is happening to Beckett on the internet. Rather than mourn this shift, the coda concludes that such technological mutation is a natural process of adaptation, enabling the work’s long-term survival.