Samuel Beckett - Molloy, Malone Dies, The Unnameable BOOK REVIEW
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- Опубликовано: 6 окт 2024
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Samuel Beckett taught in a very prestigious school in Belfast for a year called Campbell College. When he told the principal he was resigning the principal was furious and said to Beckett, "Do you not realise that you are teaching the cream here?" Sam replied, "Sure. They are rich and very thick."
Thicc
@@jonaskristiansen7225 tic
"polite and lengthy request from a fan"
Hi Cliff. I've come back to this two-year-old video because it's grown on me that I MUST leave a comment thanking you for what has been to me the single most important review on your channel.
Chances are I'd probably would never have gone deeper into Beckett than just his Godot if you hadn't reviewed these novels (but well, you can never know for certain). It was specially your reading of that page of The Unnamable that hit me with a sense of complete identification. What was being expressed there was like putting into words some subconscious stream of consciousness, both ingrained in your DNA and yet almost impossible to point at, unless a true artist and humanist like Mr Beckett comes and points at it for you. I bought the trio of novels shortly afterwards, and the rest is history, as they say.
To this day, a year and a half later, I hold The Unnamable to be the closest thing to my own personal anthem. I completely ascribe to Beckett's message, his giving voice to the dispossessed, the ignorant and the impotent (as I consider myself one of them), to his search for meaning before the innability of finding it anywhere except in the search itself. This changed my life.
This is the kind of impact your channel has on people. Your work is both much needed and much appreciated. Keep up, sir. Thank you.
Thanks so much for making this video. I'm writing a thesis on Beckett and it's really cool to hear the sort of stuff people focus on in his life/work in a 20 minute video! (As opposed, of course, to 1000s of pages of biographies and essays and...)
You did a stellar job talking about the three novels. Definitely wise to stop talking about Molloy after saying "Yeah idk what's going on this is too much" lol
Yo are the best reviewer of books i know.
Please, keep it going!
“Don’t wait to be hunted to hide.”
That hit home.
Nevertheless, as you acknowledged when you said he nailed being alive, in a body, for you - Beckett is really about life. And death is after all part of life.
Jazz is a perfect way to think of Beckett's writing I think. I watched a production of Waiting For Godot here on youtube recently and it blew the head off me! I loved it. The delivery of the Lucky's speech reminded me of a Jazz drum solo. It began calmly enough, but it's a blizzard of words and rhythm by the end. That brings up another point you make about reading him aloud. Godot makes perfect sense, in a fashion, when you hear it spoken. It's so damn funny too. I was amazed, I was not expecting it to make me laugh out loud, but it did, frequently. The fact the actors were from an Irish theater company, I'm guessing The Abbey or The Gate, helped too. They brought out that self derecating gallows humour so well. If you like Beckett, it's a must see.
Check out Glendalough and the craggy coasts of Dingle, as well as the millennia-old beehive huts of Fahan, locally known as "clochán." For all the precious history in Ireland, like The Book of Kells and Joyce's childhood home, the rugged, ancient beauty, as I'm sure you've heard, inspires tranquil awe. Giant's Causeway, Croagh Patrick, Belfast's beaches... it's all sublime. If you go to St. Patrick's Cathedral, try to catch Evensong. The acoustics in that building combined with the choir are incredible, there's nothing like it. Food-wise, you can't go wrong with shepherd's pie. I don't know if you're interested in percussion, but Malachy Kearns' bodhrán shop is a great place to look, if a little off the beaten path. Have a great trip!
Good to have you back on youtube
Oh my, great review, love Beckett, love the trilogy, love his whole oeuvre.
timkjazz hello
Just finished reading a few of Flann O'Brien's novels and have had Beckett on my mind as the next logical progression. Based on your review it looks like I will love it.
The juxtaposition. Of Beckett and Bailey is appropriate.. Your channel is totally the fukkin' best...I mean..really
Thank you so much
I've just finished reading "Molloy" and am around half-way through "Malone Dies," and I found that they really benefited from stopping occasionally and thinking about what I was reading and trying to think about what the point of it might be. When I started to do that, the books became fascinating.
Glad to see you back, hope the month has treated you well.
What are you drinking today Cliff? I'm watching this with a glass of freshly opened Jura Superstition, Winter is rolling in and watching Better Than Food with a good whisky feels really cosy, so thank you.
+A Northerner Also when you're in Dublin, don't go to any of the "Traditional Irish Pubs" they'll be rammed full of tourists.
Go to some of the quieter pubs in the Temple Bar area - the Ha'penny Bridge Bar is a nice and genuine place to drink. As for things to do - I went to James Joyce's old house, they've preserved it exactly as it was from when he was writing there, and there's loads of interesting shit to see in the little museum that's tacked onto it, I recommend it.
+A Northerner Thanks man, sometime in mid-January, we'll see. Ha'penny, sold. Many thanks. And it's just iced coffee.
Dublin was the most drunkest, but also most introspective, best time of my life. Beautiful city, the chattiest people. Don't miss the Turks Head at Temple Bar.
+ww wifi Noted.
Did you Tavel anywhere else in Ireland? I'm from Dublin but I've lived in Cork for the last 12 years. I much prefer this city, way more laid back and peaceful. I recommend you visit.
I'd love to hear what you have to say about Joyce or Woolf
That reading from Molloy was hysterically funny....what a genius
Your reviews are always awesome to watch, I just purchased the three novel volume today! Have you ever read any Henry Miller (books like Tropic of Cancer or Black Spring)? Or William Gass? (In the Heart of the Heart of the Country or The Tunnel)? Would love to hear your opinion!
This was quite useful for the last essay in my degree, thanks man
Cliff I am so happy that you have finally reviewed a writer from Northern Ireland! He was a big francophile and wrote a lot in French so no wonder you like him.
He wasn’t from Northern Ireland? He was from Dublin. Foxrock
@@andrewhoulihan7940 He had links here though. Studied at Portora and taught in Campbell College.
@@AndalusianIrish you said from. Not had links
@@andrewhoulihan7940 I am human. I made a mistake! I overestimated the amount of time he spent here. It's hardly a hanging offence!
Have you read any Rushdie? He might not bode well with you, given his distinctive style which makes so much sense to us in India, but I think his sheer popularity and command over language should be enough, no? Anyway, I really hope you notice this comment and get started on midnight's children or shalimar the clown.
Great work, all the best. :)
Fun video and props for the Beckett Bailey connection. That hadn’t occurred to me but I get what you mean. Above all, I agree that Molloy is humorous (actually hilarious).
"mine was decadent almost to the point of pornographic" :^)
Ever you get the opportunity see his plays. Intense rants about the apocalypse and the degeneration of meaning and thoroughly hilarious.
+paradiceislost9 I saw one once that was a single man going on one monologue for about three hours. People would get up for 45 minutes and come back - he'd still be going.
You've convinced me to give it a go, learned Sir! Speaking of capturing the quicksilver, fleet-footed nature of thought - I cannot recommend to you highly enough Stevie Smith's "Novel on Yellow Paper". Perhaps the only thing I could recommend more highly would be her collected poems. :-)
When it was first published, many people thought it was Virginia Woolf writing under a pseudonym, one of Woolf's friends thought it her best novel, hahaha. SS is at least as profound as VW, but she's also completely hilarious and charming, a virtue I would not ascribe to Ms. W. Charmingly macabre and gruesome, not quite so much as in the poems, but it's still wonderful, WONDERFUL!
Thanks again, hope I enjoy the books as much as you seemed to.
I'm a massive fan of Woolf's The Waves, thanks for the rec, Hope it's up my alley
It's probably too common to review on this channel, but have you read Infinite Jest by David Foster Wallace? if so I'd love to know your opinion on it.
The snipits of Samuel Beckett reminded of the aforementioned modern epic, so I'll be sure to check out his work.
Mate, keep up the awesome work!
loving the apartment cliff, small and simple, whats the landlord like? and do you own a tv?
Gotta check out Double or Nothing. Extremely influenced by Beckett. Follows the mind of a man who cannot make up his mind. It's also partially autobiographical.
who wrote it? i’m seeing a lot of results for books with that name
@@leak6729 raymond federman
He reads it way to fast. He reads it as if the point is to extract more, and more meaning from the text, when Beckett specified that he was approaching it (writing) as the opposite of Finnigans were you find what seems like a great deal: from metaphors to more languages. If you want to see how it ought to be read watch the documentary "Silence to Silcence" on youtube. It is weird because he is trying to get an extra, some meaning, when Beckett is using writting to get closer to what is expressed as meaning experiences mortality (the less, and less issue). I understood Baily after I read the complete idiot´s guide to music theory (their section of rhythm), and what he is doing is something similar. The motion or duration, of temporality separating each note, is what will give value to the dissonance: what will give structure to something that appears that lacks any. It is the space between Baily notes that organizes his compositions (the empty spaces: less and less positive manifestation of sound). Some thoughts.
picked up his collection in paperback a few days ago
I recently found out Beckett made a movie with Buster Keaton, which I should love to track down. loving the reviews, u got good tastes. u should maybe do a video on some of ur cinema tastes. so if I buy something from amazon through ur link, but dont buy the specific book ur promoting, will u still get some royalties?
WHAAAAAAAT?! must see...
Yes, whatever you purchase will help the channel, thanks a bunch.
If hell consists of listening to Cliff review books for eternity, then yes, I really hope that I do not die.
Hey Cliff, I've seen all your videos and noticed you like a lot of dark French lit and was wondering if you've read Les Chants de Maldoror by Lautréamont, I've heard the book has had huge influence on Huysmans, Salvador Dali, and many others; I haven't read it but would love to hear your opinion. Btw just read Blood Meridian, awesome book!
+Dane Schneider Oh yeah, I've been through Maldoror. Just google the excerpt with the shark. Easily worth the time, just for that scene. Glad you're enjoying, thanks for watching.
Excellent review. Bleak and hilarious section from "Molloy".
Oh, that😊 book, it gave me straight mania, 3months long, after and while I was reading it. It was the first book I read of his. And Ever since i have been a loyal obsessed fan❤️
Oh, great, still checking on your previous bits.
Re your opening remarks on dying: Book recommendation: The Tibetan Book of the Dead. W.Y. Evans-Wentz. OUP 1975-2 ...
Love to hear your thoughts.
you should do Jon Fosse Septology
This is a good review. felt like Beckett plays with the long breaks. The comprasion to Derek Bailey is accurate.
The trilogy itself was the first Beckett work that was SO HARD to finish reading. Goddammit he's still one of my favorites but these three exhausted me.
If it's a Beckett novel, I would go to "How It Is" the only book that made me cry.
This channel is lit
Holy cow ! I promised myself not to read this trilogy for a third time -Molloy and Malone in a fourth one- until 10 years have passed but this video teased me to do it again. I think I will read a different trilogy this time.
1)Beckett was NOT close to Andre the giant, this is a lie spread by the Princess Bride DVD (really). They lived in the same village, which had no school busses. Beckett would sometimes let kids walking to school ride in the bed of his truck, and Andre the Giant was one of thdm. The two families didn't know each other outside of living in the same area.
2)Beckett helped write Finnegan's Wake. Literally. Joyce's eyesight finished dying while he was writing Finnegan's Wake & Bevkett (and other students /hangers on) had to transcribe the book for him.
Amazing and inspiring!
I would strongly recommend just anything from Kurt Vonnegut. Like Mother Night, a cynical yet brilliant, and brilliantly humourous, insight into human nature.
About time!
I intend to write a rather in-depth essay on the topic of The Blood Meridian, No Country For Old Men, and The Road. In it, I plan to discuss their unity of symbolism, as well as other unities that I see in them. I also wish to explore the implications of viewing them as a sort of trilogy, as I think their unity suggests. A series unnanounced as such does not seem far-fetched from a man who doesn't use quotation marks. From your channel it is evident that you appreciate McCarthy's work. Did you noticed any significant connections between those books when you read them? Does my thesis seem plausable to you at first glance? I sadly don't know anyone personally who has read all three of them, so I lack a sounding board to bounce this craziness off of.
It's just Blood Meridan dawg. No article.
4:09
8:51
13:58
Cliff, would consider science fiction or fantasy?
Try A Voyage to Arcturus by David Lindsay, Little Big by John Crowley or Riddley Walker by Russel Hoban.
These are my personal favourites.
I really want him to do Suttree, by Cormac McCarthy.
+Harry Porter Yeah, I really want to do that one too. Good call.
+Better Than Food: Book Reviews Are you ever going to complete the Nabokovian Trinity by reviewing "Pale Fire"?
+Better Than Food: Book Reviews What does the French line mean in English?
+Badwolf504 "I don't know, sir. I excuse me."
Suttree is one of the greatest novels ever written, worth re-reading again and again.
Cliff, I would be more than happy to buy books through your links, problem is I live in New Zealand and the exchange rate at present is fucking awful. Thus, I do my book shopping at the UK-based bookdepository.com. If you could arrange a 'kickback' situation with this outfit then I would dutifully oblige.
One last thing - I have never made a suggestion before but I have decided it is high time that I cease holding my tongue: Lawrence Durrell's 'Alexandria Quartet' (or at the very least the first novel of the four 'Justine'). If you want prose that veritably oozes of the page with sybaritic luxuriance then Durrell is most definitely your man.
Here's a taster:
"Notes for landscape-tones…. Long sequences of tempera.
Light filtered through the essence of lemons. An air full of brick-dust
- sweet-smelling brick-dust and the odour of hot pavements
slaked with water. Light damp clouds, earth-bound yet seldom
bringing rain. Upon this squirt dust-red, dust-green, chalk-mauve
and watered crimson-lake. In summer the sea-damp lightly varnished
the air. Everything lay under a coat of gum.
And then in autumn the dry, palpitant air, harsh with static
electricity, inflaming the body through its light clothing. The
flesh coming alive, trying the bars of its prison. A drunken
whore walks in a dark street at night, shedding snatches of song
like petals. Was it in this that Anthony heard the heart-numbing
strains of the great music which persuaded him to surrender for
ever to the city he loved?
The sulking bodies of the young begin to hunt for a fellow
nakedness, and in those little cafés where Balthazar went so
often with the old poet of the city, the boys stir uneasily at
their backgammon under the petrol-lamps: disturbed by this dry
desert wind - so unromantic, so unconfiding - stir, and turn to
watch every stranger. They struggle for breath and in every summer
kiss they can detect the taste of quicklime…. "
The first 3 minutes remind me of the book report in "You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown:"
"The name of the book about which this book report is about is Peter Rabbit which is about this... rabbit.
"I found it very... XXX
"I liked the part where... XXX
"It was a... XXX
"It reminded me of Robin Hood!
"And the part where Little John jumped from the rock to the Sheriff of Nottingham's back,
And then Robin and everyone swung from the trees in a sudden surprise attack!
And they captured the sheriff and all of his goods,
And they carried him back to their camp in the woods,
And the sheriff was guest to their dinner and all,
But he wriggled away and he sounded the call,
And his men rushed in and the arrows flew!
...Peter Rabbit was sort of that kind of thing too..."
(...but then the rest of your review is good)
I still want to hear your thoughts on Thomas Bernhard... Anyways this review was brilliant!
Stood in a queue for the supermarket this morning "I observed A or C?" we talked about the small things that had led to our meeting namely "covid-19" I wanted to know him better, better know myself? He went by byways and highways I didn't know, and so I continued my journey and took "mother" shopping.
I may actually get to the novels now.
Cliff, have you read The Naked and the Dead by Norman Mailer?
I love your book reviews and also your film review channel! I have a book I highly req to you. It's called Zero Degree by Charu Nivedita. I was wondering if you could do a vid on a Hubert Selby Jr novel. Much love for all your hard work, I know it takes time to edit these videos.
What about Chekhov or Ibsen? Have you read The Leopard by Giuseppe Tomasi Di Lampedusa?
Do you have any opinions for or against reading our loud? I know Harold Bloom is an advocate but I don't know if he practices what he preaches. Love the video anyways.
You should do some John Barth! Keep the train of exhaustion going!
Godot is on my list. I'll get to it. Someday. great review!
Did you get to it?
Has anyone thought that maybe Samuel Beckett actually was the describing exactly that which all of us experience when we eat Psilocybe Cubensis (magic mushroom?) At least it’s how it is to me when I eat Shrooms.
Velleity. Great word.
You should make this amazon kickback more accessible, I'd help you out for sure. But I also tend to get my books through thrift books.
I appreciate it - any suggestions?
Well, you have it set up pretty well right now, since each video goes directly to that book on amazon. Keen. But if I know people, like I know myself, the consumerist culture eats up convenience. If you were to have say a general kickback link on the home page or the "about" tab, discrete, just enough to let you know it's there. It'd probably help. I've watched your videos for about a month or so and only just now did I discover that you had this. It'd also eliminate any need to throw in any plugs at the end or the beginning of videos that may take away from the substance. Depending on how conspicuous it is. Just my two cents.
I appreciate your two cents, and of course your watching the show - thank you, I will try to do something like that asap.
You sound like a very interesting person. I enjoyed this review.
cliff. love your reviews. highly recommend reviewing John n Gray's the silence of animals or the soul of the marionette or pretty much anything by that guy. you probably have already been harassed about his stuff.
Mr Sergeant - Lawrence Durrell, The Alexandria Quartet :)
Pornographic? Hope you got that on video. (I should stop commenting w/these kind of lame ass 'flirty' / sex related reactions.
I probably won't.)
I've recently read 'The story of O.', written by Pauline Réage. It's based on De Sade's novels. Have you read it?
I'm currently reading Albertine Sarrazin's 'Astragal', and I think it might be something you'd like to read. Very tragic, lively biography too. You can read about Sarrazin on Wikipedia, def. an interesting author.
It’s drawing me in. I am powerless.
I thought of molley as the last dream as molley died.
What better comment to get one inspired to do a Beckett novel under your belt. I'm currently reading Molloy (as part of all 3 books, are they all supposed to be published as one book?) and wow wow... holy jesus fucking christ I remember this video coming out.........5.... years..... ago? 5.... Years..... Ago.... Goddamn it man.. that's a mindfuck.
no periods seriously! no paragraph.
I just came across your channel and was hooked by your Blood Meridian review, love your videos. I just started reading American Pastoral by Philip Roth and was wondering if you had read it. If so, what were your thoughts?
This one’s my next read.
Ok, yep, this is the next one I'm getting.
I got two questions: what do you do for a living and how old are you?
Guess.
+Better Than Food: Book Reviews 28 and self-empoyed or journalist ?!
26 and freelance video editor, nice job.
+Better Than Food: Book Reviews sounds good, thanks for the answer.
Your the spitting image of the bloke from American Sniper! His brother perhaps?
What a tremendous headache those 3 books are.
Enough with Bailey and back to Beckett. That’s a nice line.
Not accessible? But it's so funny! Molloy and his sucking stones made me laugh so much on a train it was embarrassing.
several hundred reviews of Beckett over the decades and never, never have i heard anyone compare his work to the Tokyo train map.... hilarious and brilliant. i like how you seem to 'become' the books you review. you take on their syntax and rhythm and word choice and styling as you reflect upon them. it feels like i am sitting in a coffee shop at 3 am and it's full of smoke and words, well, not so much a coffee shop, more like a brothel and the cops just kicked in the front and back doors with guns a blazing. but still the waitress is taking dictation and half the cups are full of butts. have you ever reviewed any J. D. Salinger? i don't much care for Salinger's work, but i think your review of him would be as fascinating as any Tokyo railway map.
19:30
I studied English litterature at the university for a couple of years and I read these novels. My conclusion is that Beckett looks like an owl on a frugal diet.
+hookedonafeeling100 He also looks alot like John C. Lilly. Their ideas seem to be very similar also... hmm...
+hookedonafeeling100 "You, my body, my mind...one must go.” - Beckett, it could be John C. Lilly ;)
"Nothing is certain with Beckett"--so true--Beckett is a pure-blood postmodernist pushing the reader's head into the mud of the breakdown of identity, understanding, and reality. He's perfectly at home in this mess of meaninglessness. A person who tries too hard to find meaning with Beckett should just put the book down and pick up a Harry Potter read
I like u
I don’t know. Samuel Beckett seems to be overrated.
A grown man who says ‘y’all’ sounds like he needs to be stopped from venting his frustrations on the local livestock.
Irritating beyond belief, please don't do reviews any more.
Beckett is an atheistic Swift in his humor and physicality. The Trilogy is even better when experienced a an audiobook.
I love your book reviews and also your film review channel! I have a book I highly req to you. It's called Zero Degree by Charu Nivedita. I was wondering if you could do a vid on a Hubert Selby Jr novel. Much love for all your hard work, I know it takes time to edit these videos.
+James Staples Also read Suicide by Edouard Leve, along with his other work Autoportrait. :)
+James Staples Also read Suicide by Edouard Leve, along with his other work Autoportrait. :)