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/lit/ - Literature

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18910183 No.18910183 [Reply] [Original]

Where do I start with this guy? I don't want to read his translated novels. English only.

>> No.18910223

>>18910183
Read the Trilogy.
He was the best post-war writer, undoubtedly, and I say this as a non-Anglo, non-French poster.

>> No.18910310

>>18910223
Seconding this, the plays are good but the Trilogy is undoubtedly his magnum opus

>> No.18910319

>>18910223
>I say this as a non-Anglo, non-French poster
not exactly sure what this qualifies given that Beckett was neither Anglo nor French.

>> No.18910320

>>18910183
Dream of Fair to Middling Women
Murphy
Watt

>> No.18910340

>>18910183
Waiting for Godot is a quick and easy read and gives you the basic Beckett flavour. If you don't find it funny, you aren't going to get on with him at all. If you do find it funny, try Endgame and Krapp's Last Tape.

If you still want more, try the three novels Molloy, Malone Dies, The Unnameable. Molloy is relatively easy going; the others not so much.

>> No.18910349

>>18910319
He wrote in both English and French. And OP is asking for non-translated English works (i.e. not originally written in French, like the trilogy).

>> No.18910423

>>18910223
>asks for non translated novels
>proceeds to recommend the trilogy, originally written in French

>> No.18910428

>>18910349
The Trilogy was literally written in French first. Have you read about them at all?

>> No.18910437

>>18910349
I know this board doesn’t read but you could have read the Wikipedia and pretended to have read the trilogy.
>Molloy is a novel by Samuel Beckett first written in French and published by Paris-based Les Éditions de Minuit in 1951. The English translation, published in 1955, is by Beckett and Patrick Bowles.

>> No.18910462

>>18910183
Start with Murphy, OP.
He translated his own work, with the exception of Molloy, which was a collaborative translation. However, Murphy was originally written in English.

>> No.18910466

>>18910428
>>18910437
That's what I said: not in French like the trilogy is.

>> No.18910475

>>18910223
>>18910349
Clueless worship of writers
Never change /lit/.

>> No.18910491

>>18910466
Sorry I was thrown off by the last sentence because it sounded like you were saying it hadn’t been originally written in French.
>not originally written in French, like the trilogy

>> No.18910623

>>18910491
yes I see how it's confusing

>> No.18911434

nohow on is great, a collection of his late prose work. one of the three novellas was originally written in french if i remember correctly, but at least the best one, called company, wasn't

>> No.18911555

>>18910349
>>18910423
He translated his own stuff and the translations themselves are works of art, with many modifications, even translations of the puns, which he was able to do with incredible ingenuity. They belong to the Beckett canon. It makes no sense to discard them.
OP should read the trilogy.

>>18910475
I worship the great sentences in his great books, not him.

>> No.18911574

>>18910183
I'm about half-way through Malone Dies and Beckett's been a real challenge to read. I can parse Proust, Joyce, Mann etc without much issue, but it takes me twice as long to get through a page of his. I'm not sure what it is yet.