Samuel Beckett — Page 2

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#26

Samuel Beckett

Posted: 9/1/12 at 10:46pm

Well, to me it's the same with Pinter, he never had an ending to his plays....could he not think of one? The skill of a playwrite is to write a beginning a middle and an end. Pinter never did, one was always left wondering what happened at the end. He never wrote a conclusion, he never tied up all the loose ends! I can't get why he was so revered.

Pinter was and is revered because he taught Western audiences that what went UNsaid was just as important as what was said. (Yes, I'm sure good actors/playwrights always knew that, but Pinter made it apparent to almost everyone.)

Look at the world in which we live, dominated as it is by huge military/industrial complexes with vast security departments. Is Homeland Security monitoring this thread? Does it matter? Why do millions believe that George W. Bush blew up the World Trade Towers? Why does half the country still believe Obama was born in Kenya and is some sort of Muslim plant?

Because we live in a world where our lives seem to be controlled by unseen forces over which we have no control. This is very different from earlier agricultural societies where a worker could plant a seed and watch it grow--or not, depending on the weather--but either way he knew why he did or did not have food on his table. Not necessarily so today.

It is this mysterious modern world about which Pinter (and Beckett) writes. And, no, there is no neat ending.

Updated On: 9/1/12 at 10:46 PM

#27

Samuel Beckett

Posted: 9/1/12 at 10:50pm

Each to their own Jay. I am a playwrite and know what I am talking about

Um, I believe you mean you are a "playwright". A playwright engages in playwriting.

"Wright" is an old English word meaning "to make". A shipbuilder was a shipwright, etc.

Writing plays does not necessarily make one an expert on all periods and styles. That's why we have scholars and critics.

#28

Samuel Beckett

Posted: 9/1/12 at 10:52pm

Interesting thoughts! What a way to spend a Saturday night...post-apocalyptic dissection of Beckett and Pinter.

Beyoncé is not an ally. Actions speak louder than words, Mrs. Carter. #Dubai #$$$

Updated On: 9/1/12 at 10:52 PM

#29

Samuel Beckett

Posted: 9/1/12 at 10:57pm

Didn't he even say Endgame's setting was meant to reflect a post atomic world? Certainly the description of what they see out of the window sounds like many post-apocolyptic film worlds.

I don't know, Eric. This really isn't my area of expertise (though I do enjoy Ionesco's sense of humor) and I didn't mean to pretend otherwise. But almost anything written in the decade or two after 1945 reflects a very different worldview: for the first time, death could rain down without warning and mankind actually had the capacity to destroy the planet.

The so-called Well-Made Play seemed rather silly to some writers under those circumstances.

This is one reason why it's important to remember that none of these playwrights called himself an "Absurdist." If you'd asked any of them, he'd have told you he was a Realist.

#30

Samuel Beckett

Posted: 9/1/12 at 10:59pm

Interesting thoughts! What a way to spend a Saturday night...post-apocalyptic dissection of Beckett and Pinter.

Not to worry, Jay. I have the Alabama/Michigan game on while I type this.

#31

Samuel Beckett

Posted: 9/2/12 at 5:09am

@ Gaveston, yes you are right, I seem to misspell a lot of words these days and hope it's not dementia creeping in. I should have said I WAS a playwright, I no longer write.
It is important what is not said but that means in the dialogue, not that the end should be left unsaid.
I can't think of another playwright that doesn't have a conclusion to their plays.
Pinter was revered and well respected; he just doesn't 'satisfy' me, that's all.

All problems are man made and so, can be man solved.

#32

Samuel Beckett

Posted: 9/2/12 at 9:16am

But why are they in giant urns with crusty, plague-ridden faces?

Because sometimes during plagues, one finds oneself in an urn.

#33

Samuel Beckett

Posted: 9/2/12 at 8:19pm

I'm sorry, hermajesty, I wouldn't have mentioned it if I had known it was just a typo. We do have some young posters here who haven't learned the difference.

I'm not a big Pinter or Beckett fan, but I can understand how either might look at the modern world and decide Aristotle's beginning/middle/end or the French well-made play were too limited, too pat to represent the mystery and terror of contemporary existence.

#34

Samuel Beckett

Posted: 9/2/12 at 8:39pm

Coming late to the thread. Theater, like film, took longer to challenge the "beginning/middle/end" confines. The visual arts had already found its absurdist voices and acceptance before Becket and Pinter (or Bunuel). Partially, due since theater and film are performed, and interpreted by directors.

"Through The Sacrifice You Made, We Can't Believe The Price You Paid..For Love!"

Updated On: 9/2/12 at 08:39 PM

#35

Samuel Beckett

Posted: 9/2/12 at 9:01pm

Film pretty much started with a certain level of abstraction; it took less than 30 years to go from "A Trip to the Moon" to "Le chien andalou."

But you make a good point, playbilly, that theater was influenced by the various modernist movements of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Since theater takes place in time, however, it took awhile to figure out what the theatrical equivalent of abstract expressionism might be. Perhaps it's WAITING FOR GODOT or THE DUMBWAITER. (I'm not saying that was these playwrights' intention, just that it's an interesting way to look at some of their plays.)

#36

Samuel Beckett

Posted: 9/2/12 at 11:20pm

My mantra for understanding Beckett is a quote from his novel The Unnameable:

"I must go on. I can't go on. I'll go on.."

Updated On: 9/2/12 at 11:20 PM

#37

Samuel Beckett

Posted: 9/3/12 at 6:58pm

PJ, I think a lot of us will agree that passage sums up Beckett as well as anything he ever wrote.

Alas, it also sums up life much of the time.

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