Samuel Beckett
Paperback | Pages: 480 pages Rating: 4.43 | 1644 Users | 78 Reviews
Point Containing Books The Complete Dramatic Works
| Title | : | The Complete Dramatic Works |
| Author | : | Samuel Beckett |
| Book Format | : | Paperback |
| Book Edition | : | Deluxe Edition |
| Pages | : | Pages: 480 pages |
| Published | : | 1990 by Faber & Faber (first published September 1st 1961) |
| Categories | : | Plays. Drama. Theatre. European Literature. Irish Literature. Literature. 20th Century |
Narration Supposing Books The Complete Dramatic Works
I am somewhat tempted, at the risk of being highly pretentious, to right a Beckett-style to review to this Beckett compendium. Fortunately, I'm not sure I really have the knack, thus sparing me from the absurdity.I have given this two stars. I'm not sure why because I absolutely love Beckett, despite being at complete right angles to his philosophy. So it may be that. Or it may be that, like modern art, one could point at it and say, "A three-year-old could have done that!" Which is sometimes true. But not generally.
Beckett's work is nihilism. It is a statement of nothing; I would say an "incarnation" or "apotheosis" of nothing, but that would be a contradiction. Don't try to read a deep meaning into Beckett's plays, because you won't find any, and the reason that you won't find any is quite simple. There isn't any. Beckett isn't poking fun at people who think there is, because that would be to say something at all. I would say that this is the "whole point", but there isn't any point for it to be the whole of.
But all this is nonsense, because there is lots going on. There is darkness, and confusion, and pain, and power, and cruelty, and loss; there are hints of a half-remembered past flitting away as the horror of the present presses forward into the dimness of the future, all to be consumed by the cruel tyrant of ... nothing.
This is the situation in which, he claims, we all live; this is all that we have, and that "all" is nothing. We all live on that stage, in whatever absurd and dismal situation, watched by the confused who cannot see themselves on the playwright's mirror, because all they have seen hitherto is a distortion; or perhaps they are surprised that all they can see in that mirror is nothing.
Don't go calling this, or any part of it, a masterpiece. A masterpiece is something; it is an achievement, and it is to give it a false meaning, as if you or your opinions were more than nothing. Don't call it genius, or witty. Just call it, no more a waste of time than any of our other diversions, when it will all come to nothing.
Depressed yet? Oh, no. You wait until you start reading it...
Mention Books During The Complete Dramatic Works
| Original Title: | The Complete Dramatic Works |
| ISBN: | 0571144861 (ISBN13: 9780571144860) |
| Edition Language: | English |
| Literary Awards: | Obie for Best Play (1964) |
Rating Containing Books The Complete Dramatic Works
Ratings: 4.43 From 1644 Users | 78 ReviewsAppraise Containing Books The Complete Dramatic Works
Astounding. I never tire of reading these and the book contains my favorite play. The radio pieces are nice to have as some of them at least seem to work better as texts than as dramatized pieces judging from some of the things on the "Works for Radio" cd set from the BBC (altho that one is worth getting for the production of "All That Fall"), and the roughs remind me of the fizzles and texts for nothing of the prose writings.The two long works (Waiting For Godot and Endgame) are excellent. But the shorter works are...bizarre. Maybe they are more interesting to perform, or to watch...but reading them is not a treat. It's interesting to see how Beckett had things planned right down to the second, and every stage direction notated...but it just doesn't work on the page.
Waiting for Godot is often cited as either the greatest play or the most influential play of the 20th century. Theres no denying its influence, but I have a hard time seeing the greatness of the play -- let alone the qualities in it that made Beckett famous. Unlike most people, I take Beckett at his word. The play is not allegory for anything. They are not waiting for god or salvation or Irish freedom or the Id, its not an allegory for the cold war or Jungian personalities or Christian
Brilliant! Beckett is simply the best playwright ever!
I find Beckett's sparseness, suggestiveness, indirectness, sometimes engaging, sometimes off-putting. Many of these pieces are mostly stage, lighting, blocking, and costume directions (camera directions too for those written for film or TV), themes of retrospective regret, emptiness, the inescapability of death and absurdity predominate. I had forgotten how funny Waiting For Godot is, and I found All That Fall to be the most chillingly effective piece in the volume. I am sure actually
As the title says, this contains all of Samuel Beckett's works, including his famous and all-around masterpiece Waiting for Godot. The first few are awesome, but the little ones tend to blend together. Beckett's style is one of those distinctive styles that is so him that all his work in a place like this seems so similar, much like Ramones songs if one may pardon the comparison. Also not very easy to read. Beckett used many silences and many emotions and gestures that make reading them a
I never appreciated Beckett until I watched Beckett. I've been reading him for years, and every time it's felt the same: someone has tied a noose around my neck and they just keep tightening it. And then I saw Krapp's Last Tape with Michael Gambon. The awareness of a live performance made the hyper-awareness of Beckett's writing pop from the page, so that when something is said, it is with a pointed beauty. He makes you feel awkward and uncomfortable, susceptible to your environment and the
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