I was in England in April of 2006 around the time of Samuel Beckett’s birthday anniversary. Becketts picture was in all the book store windows. I am an ardent student of this master of darkness and mirth. It takes some chewing but with time you can digest Beckett’s unique otput. I particlarly liked his short stories First Love & Other Novellas and his 1946 novel, Mercier and Camier.
First Love & Other Novellas contains one of the harshest and heart breaking stories of a destitute man just released from an unnamed institution . He is homeless penniless and friendless. This gentleman is intelligent and fully aware of his terrible plight, things continue to worsen and in the end he summons the will to do the unspeakable. Few stories carry the same kind of power, showing a reality that truly befalls too many. This story is deeply humanist and tragic.
Mercier and Camier is the story of two drunken French peasants wandering around a country village at night getting into trouble. It predates Waiting for Godot and is full of humor and examples of man’s stupidity and warmth. The purpose of their wanderings is never made clear nor is their destination. Most of the action is verbal, the jaunty drunken conversation between the two main characters. They do meet an array of people in the night, a prostitute a policeman a barman. They seem to be waiting for some thing or someone, but that is never explicit. t rains from begining to end, quite like life here in the NorthWest.
A very interesting review of Mercier and Camier can be found in the book The Art of Hunger by Paul Auster. Samuel Beckett died on December 22, 1989.
