The Trilogy

thanks so much, you're so helpful. did you have anything to add yourself in regard to the language being so polarized? actually polarized isn't the best word. because the two general styles i'm thinking of aren't that completely different. both are spare for instance. yet one is playful and the other subdued.

also

this is far off










but,

i was trying to find some "Beckettian" music in my collection, cuz i was sure i'd heard Beckett before. and the closest thing i could come up with which reminded me of him was Godspeed You Black Emperor! i knew there'd have to be much subtle dissonance yet there must be so much beauty as well.

i'm thinking of either of these two records by them:

F#A#∞ and
Lift yr Skinny Fists Like Antennas to Heaven

I used to have those albums on repeat a lot, Morgolemthau; but I can't say I see anything Beckettian there... in GYBE I think the apocalyptic anxiety is political, and there is far more anger there than I see in Beckett; the recordings of street-weirdos that they use are usually quite affecting, but again those voices tend to fix onto political anxieties. +I don't think there's much humour in GYBE.
The composer Morton Feldman made music using Beckett's words (I think it was a collaborative project); there's a link to info at the modern word Beckett page. Feldman's very Beckettian I think; very spare, and obsessive, darkly funny, repetitions that arent repetitions, a la the pebbles in Molloy. (I've heard extracts of his Beckett piece, and don't find it to be one of his best; my favourites are his long piano pieces, Triadic Memories and For Bunita Marcus, which might be findable in torrent form *cough*)

[Edit: http://www.themodernword.com/beckett/beckett_music.html

yea i was thinking that as well, it's far too specific. when i read Beckett, it all seems otherworldly, and it takes itself away from the...i don't want to say trivial, but away from the exact tiny little details. i think maybe the closest thing to humor was maybe that Baby-O song at the beginning of Antennas to Heaven.

i was mostly thinking of the despairing tone, but even then, beckett is hilarious too. thanks for your recommendation

i think there are exact tiny little details all through Beckett, don't your own readings, writings here show as much? When i go back to the trilogy, likely in the spring (!) i hope i'll have more to say about your observations, because whatever i have to say should be useful (by which i don't mean that it is necessariliy, but i aim for/want it to be) so i'll post when i go back to the books. Meanwhile your love for his writing is lovely and good to see here, so keep posting

ok, not the Spring, a couple of weeks

i've been trying to think of why part 2 of Molloy makes me so sad. i again think it's because of Moran's metamorphosis. his losing control. on the surface, none of the trilogy's characters are likeable, yet i care for some so much for some reason. the utter loneliness :sigh: MOLL'S LETTER! aghghhg. Molloy sort of reminds me of the late Slothrop, for whom i also feel deeply sad.

i think something huge i learned or have been given emphasis on is sincerity. there is so much fire. the pains the words have feel as tho they'll never end, nor will the associated comforts.

P.S. i can't wait until you post your thoughts!

why? its not like crumbles knows/ feels anything about Beckett.

no eriouslt though whenever someone is getting into sam i immediately want to go read him entire rght now- you and Renee are- and the trilogy has found its way to the large pile besides my bed,

HA me too

but Moran's situation is heart rending and theyre not likeable and theyre always bereft-resourceful in having to find new ways to talk about what they know, are able to say of themselves - this is why Badiou wants hugging for seeing that there's a lesson in courage to be had in the still later prose, because there is, it isnt a sentimental, absurdist, customized courage that says and points to those things about an individual that are most obviously admirable and thus allow and easily for a vicarious sentimentality. Beckett is too full of love for that. Have you read "how it is" i'd say read that next, especially in light of Moran.

and a penis nipple thing for johnny

Didn't want the Tril to end, so I ordered How It Is which arrived yesterday, but I'm saving it for the train or I'd get nothing else done this weekend.

Ms. Biscuit is so correct about the love Beckett has for is creatures. When Malone lost his stick there were half a dozen emotions corresponding to that moment. There's so much going on in Beckett, more than what most analysis of his work credits him with -- all the existential, minimal, blah, blah, blah -- leaves out so much warmth, humor, and spirit, yes, in the dark and the gray and the mud and the bleak.

How It Is is magnificent, but he can destroy you (in the best way ) sweets

How It Is and the Unnameable
are my very favorites

Have you read Nohow On (Company in particular), suz?

yes have you Suz, because it's his best, maybe. for me

OK you two
I'll get on it!

He did. It was.