In Celebration of Samuel Beckett 1906-1989

In Celebration of Samuel Beckett 1906-1989 Novelist, Playwright, Poet, critic, Irishman

Mix a powerful imagination with a logic in absurdum, and the result will be either a paradox or an Irishman. If it is an Irishman, you will get the paradox into the bargain..." reads the presentation speech for Beckett's Nobel Prize in Literature. "Paradoxically, this has happened in 1969, a single award being addressed to one man, two languages and a third nation, itself divided."

As the centenary of Beckett's birth approaches this week, remembrances and performances of his work are under way. In addition to plays such as Godot, Krapp's Last Tape and Endgame, Beckett wrote novels, essays and poetry, as well.

Godot, considered an influential classic today, earned everything from apathy to anger when it debuted in 1953. The dialogue bounces back and forth between two tramps named Vladimir and Estragon, stuck waiting for the arrival of an M. Godot -- who, like God, will never appear. When Godot opened in London, the British Lord Chamberlain censored some of the lines for supposed vulgarity and blasphemy.

Follow the Link below to the NPR Feature: Beckett's Centenary:
Revisiting a LegacyBeckett's Centenary: Revisiting a Legacy

Waiting For Godot

Selected Quotes

Let's go. Yes, let's go. (They do not move). - Waiting for Godot

Nothing to be done. - Waiting for Godot

The tears of the world are a constant quantity. For each one who begins to weep somewhere else another stops. The same is true of the laugh. Let us not then speak ill of our generation, it is not any unhappier than its predecessors. Let us not speak well of it either. Let us not speak of it at all. It is true the population has increased.- Waiting for Godot

Astride of a grave and a difficult birth. Down in the hole, lingeringly, the gravedigger puts on the forceps.- Waiting for Godot

Pozzo: I don't seem to be able . . . (long hesitation) to depart. Estragon: Such is life.- Waiting for Godot

Vladimir: Our Saviour. Two thieves. One is supposed to have been saved and the other (he searches for the contrary of saved) damned. Estragon: Saved from what?- Waiting for Godot

Estragon: What about hanging ourselves? Vladimir: Hmm. It'd give us an erection. Estragon: (highly excited). An erection!- Waiting for Godot

Vladimir: Well? Shall we go? Estragon: Yes, let's go. They do not move.- Waiting for Godot

We are all born mad. Some remain so.- Waiting for Godot

Let us not waste our time in idle discourse! (Pause. Vehemently.) Let us do something, while we have the chance! It is not every day that we are needed. But at this place, at this moment of time, all mankind is us, whether we like it or not. Let us make the most of it, before it is too late!- Waiting for Godot

But that is not the question. Why are we here, that is the question. And we are blessed in this, that we happen to know the answer. Yes, in this immense confusion one thing alone is clear. We are waiting for Godot to come.- Waiting for Godot

To-morrow, when I wake, or think I do, what shall I say of to-day?- Waiting for Godot

. . .in all that what truth will there be? Astride of a grave and a difficult birth. Down in the hole, lingeringly, the grave-digger puts on the forceps. We have time to grow old. The air is full of our cries. (He listens.) But habit is a great deadener.- Waiting for Godot

We wait. We are bored. (He throws up his hand.) No, don't protest, we are bored to death, there's no denying it. Good. A diversion comes along and what do we do? We let it go to waste. . .In an instant all will vanish and we'll be alone once more, in the midst of nothingness!- Waiting for Godot


For Full Text of Wating for Godot Follow The Link Below:
Samuel Beckett Dublin Ireland - Waiting for Godot