[ 3 / biz / cgl / ck / diy / fa / ic / jp / lit / sci / vr / vt ] [ index / top / reports ] [ become a patron ] [ status ]
2023-11: Warosu is now out of extended maintenance.

/lit/ - Literature

View post   
File: 72 KB, 317x440, bkt.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
1918265 No.1918265 [Reply] [Original]

About to start 'How It Is' by Samuel Beckett.
I have already read 'Murphy' and 'Molloy' along with countless plays. Just wondered whether there were any fans lurking on /lit/

>> No.1918270

sho nuff!

i like him a lot more than joyce but then i never tried all that hard on finnegans wake so i'm not really being fair

read malone meurt and l'innomable if you already did molloy, silly!

>> No.1918273

>>1918270
I know I should complete the trilogy, but somebody got me How It Is a couple of days ago. Do you reckon it would be best to hold off in it until I have finished the trilogy?

>> No.1918281

I got How It Is out of the library this morning. Already read the trilogy along with Murphy and Watt. Molloy's one of my favourite books.

>> No.1918284

>>1918265
I've read Molloy, not convinced so far really, I'm gonna get on Malone dies soon enough.

>> No.1918285

read malone dies. I'd say the senility is portrayed more believably there.

>> No.1918323

I'm a diehard fan of Murphy, and have read it multiple times and can (like James Joyce) even quote passages ("Miss Counihan and her hot buttered buttocks") from memory....but honestly I've never been able to make it all the way through any of the other novels.

But I've read the short stories ("Fair to Middling Women" / "More Pricks than Kicks") and read all the drama as far as I know (including stuff like "Eleutheria") and I've loved it. I just really can't find my way through the fiction after Murphy. It's like when I try to read Sebald---my eyes just glaze over at the block of text.

>> No.1918338

>>1918273

Yes, hold it off, it's a further development that only makes sense in the light of The Unnameable.

>> No.1918352

I've only read 'The Expelled and other Novellas' by Beckett, but I must admit I did enjoy them. I prefer him to Joyce, that said I never finished anything by Joyce so that could be why.

>> No.1918538

>>1918323
I'm also a big fan of Murphy, the opening line is one of my all time favourites. 'The sun shone, having no alternative'. As for short stories, have you read First Love. It is worth a read.

>>1918338
I'll hold off How It Is and pick up the rest of the trilogy tomorrow. Cheers for the advice

>> No.1918562

>>1918338

Well I've only read How It Is out of everything Beckett wrote and tbh it seems to work as a standalone autonomous novel too. I don't see how it could be particularly dependent on his other writings.

tbh though I don't see why anyone would even bother spending too much time with Beckett. It's just like wallowing in bullshit (quite literally with How It Is; whole novel of someone crawling through mud). Not that I didn't enjoy it, and not that an absolute nihilism isn't useful from time to time and when deployed right, it's just you might as well devote more time to someone like Brecht or even Kafka where the impulse is more critical and constructive.

>> No.1918658

>>1918562
I like Brecht, but have not got around to Kafka yet. However one of the nice things about Becketts work is that it does not try to be too constructive. Also his sense of humour is brilliant.

>> No.1918661

>>1918265
where can i get glasses like that?

all the glasses stores sell square, rectangle or hipster style glasses. nothing classic, like old intellectuals used to wear.

>> No.1918666

Beckett is great.

Molloy is a brilliant minimalist piece. Nothing happens...yet it captivates you.
...them sucking stones.

The Unnamable is my favorite...pretty insane, though understated

>> No.1918667

>>1918562

Please, don't embarrass yourself. You've read one book by Beckett and you don't even get the point of it. Go away.

>> No.1918677

>>1918562
You'll need to read a little more of his stuff before you can say he's not worth spending time on.

>> No.1918768

waiting for godot is the greatest play ever written

>> No.1918947
File: 17 KB, 400x280, tumblr_llo1hovfPt1qdzyg1o1_400.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
1918947

I'm a big fan of Murphy.

I admire Beckett, but I tolerate him less and less. Reading his work (other than Murphy) is like a giant chest pain and I have enough problems as it is (I'm morbidly obese and I have a heart condition).

Pic related, it's the sun shining, having no alternative, on the nothing new.

>> No.1918971

You are all now aware that Samuel Beckett used to drive andre the giant to school:
http://www.geekosystem.com/samuel-beckett-andre-the-giant/

>> No.1919037

Read Molloy, loved it. Reading Waiting for Godot at the moment. It doesn't seem quite as good, at least I'm not enjoying it as much. Of course, it's designed to be watched rather than read. In terms of comparison to Joyce, I've only read Dubliners, so I can't really make a fair judgement. Dubliners isn't that special, apart from the first few and the last stories.

I don't why everyone's raving about the first line of Murphy. It just strikes me as whiny. I'd like to read First Love next. I'm a bit frightened by the other books in the trilogy. They seem very avant-garde.

>> No.1919049

>>1918971
Beckett:
How about that cricket match, eh?

*pause*

Andre:
Yeah.

*pause*

>> No.1919054

> I don't why everyone's raving about the first line of Murphy. It just strikes me as whiny.

teeheehee

xD