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The Unnamable (novel)
''The Unnamable'' is a 1953 novel by Samuel Beckett. It was originally published in French as ''L'Innommable'' and later translated by the author into English. Grove Press published the English edition in 1958. As part of the Trilogy Following the completion of ''Malone Dies'' in 1948, Beckett spent three months writing '' Waiting for Godot'' before beginning work on ''The Unnamable'', which he completed in 1950. ''The Unnamable'' is the final volume in Beckett's "Trilogy" of novels, which begins with ''Molloy'' and continues with ''Malone Dies''. As Benjamin Kunkel observes, "The trilogy proceeds by way of collapse. Beckett’s successive monologuists, confined to a series of small rooms, try and fail to tell their stories; and each narrator is then revealed to be the alias, and each story the alibi, of its successor, until, pulling all of Beckett’s earlier creations down upon its nonexistent head, there is only the disembodied voice of the Unnamable." In this way, according ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Samuel Beckett
Samuel Barclay Beckett (; 13 April 1906 – 22 December 1989) was an Irish novelist, dramatist, short story writer, theatre director, poet, and literary translator. His literary and theatrical work features bleak, impersonal and tragicomic experiences of life, often coupled with black comedy and nonsense. It became increasingly minimalist as his career progressed, involving more aesthetic and linguistic experimentation, with techniques of repetition and self-reference. He is considered one of the last modernist writers, and one of the key figures in what Martin Esslin called the Theatre of the Absurd. A resident of Paris for most of his adult life, Beckett wrote in both French and English. During the Second World War, Beckett was a member of the French Resistance group Gloria SMH (Réseau Gloria). Beckett was awarded the 1969 Nobel Prize in Literature "for his writing, which—in new forms for the novel and drama—in the destitution of modern man acquires its elevation". He ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Watt (novel)
''Watt'' was Samuel Beckett's second published novel in English. It was largely written on the run in the South of France during the Second World War and was first published by Maurice Girodias's Olympia Press in 1953. Gestation In the summer of 1945, Beckett gave the manuscript of ''Watt'' to his friend Leslie Daiken, in the hope that Daiken could find a publisher for it, but he failed to do so. In 1950, an extract was published in the Dublin literary review ''Envoy''. The work was finally published by Maurice Girodias's Olympia Press in 1953. A French translation followed in 1968. Contents Narrated in four parts, the novel describes Watt's journey to, and within, Mr Knott's house, where he becomes the reclusive owner's manservant, replacing Arsene, who delivers a long valedictory monologue at the end of section one. In section two Watt struggles to make sense of life at Mr Knott's house, experiencing deep anxiety at the visit of the piano tuning Galls, father and son, and a m ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
1953 Novels
Events January * January 6 – The Asian Socialist Conference opens in Rangoon, Burma. * January 12 – Estonian émigrés found a Estonian government-in-exile, government-in-exile in Oslo. * January 14 ** Marshal Josip Broz Tito is chosen President of Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, Yugoslavia. ** The Central Intelligence Agency, CIA-sponsored Robertson Panel first meets to discuss the Unidentified flying object, UFO phenomenon. * January 15 – Georg Dertinger, foreign minister of East Germany, is arrested for spying. * January 19 – 71.1% of all television sets in the United States are tuned into ''I Love Lucy'', to watch Lucy give birth to Little Ricky, which is more people than those who tune into Dwight Eisenhower's inauguration the next day. This record has yet to be broken. * January 20 – Dwight D. Eisenhower is First inauguration of Dwight D. Eisenhower, sworn in as the 34th President of the United States. * January 24 ** Mau Mau Upr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Donald McWhinnie
Donald McWhinnie (16 October 1920 – 8 October 1987) was a BBC executive and later a radio, television, and stage director. Educated at Rotherham Grammar School, McWhinnie worked for the BBC in administrative roles in the 1940s and 1950s and was drama Script Editor from 1951 to 1953. In the later 1950s, he became a radio director, and from the 1960s to the 1980s he was a director of television drama.Jerry Roberts, ''Encyclopedia of Television Film Directors'', p. 382 McWhinnie, Frederick Bradnum, and Desmond Briscoe together established the BBC Radiophonic Workshop. In 1959, McWhinnie directed a production of ''Embers'', a radio play by Samuel Beckett. First broadcast on the BBC Third Programme on 24 June 1959, the play won the RAI prize at the Prix Italia awards later that year. McWhinnie wrote about his approach to radio drama in ''The art of radio''. In 1962, McWhinnie was nominated for a Tony Award for his screen version of Harold Pinter's ''The Caretaker''. In 1965, he d ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
John S
John is a common English name and surname: * John (given name) * John (surname) John may also refer to: New Testament Works * Gospel of John, a title often shortened to John * First Epistle of John, often shortened to 1 John * Second Epistle of John, often shortened to 2 John * Third Epistle of John, often shortened to 3 John People * John the Baptist (died c. AD 30), regarded as a prophet and the forerunner of Jesus Christ * John the Apostle (lived c. AD 30), one of the twelve apostles of Jesus * John the Evangelist, assigned author of the Fourth Gospel, once identified with the Apostle * John of Patmos, also known as John the Divine or John the Revelator, the author of the Book of Revelation, once identified with the Apostle * John the Presbyter, a figure either identified with or distinguished from the Apostle, the Evangelist and John of Patmos Other people with the given name Religious figures * John, father of Andrew the Apostle and Saint Peter * Pope J ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Patrick Magee (actor)
Patrick George Magee (née McGee, 31 March 1922 – 14 August 1982) was a Northern Irish actor. He was noted for his collaborations with playwrights Samuel Beckett and Harold Pinter, sometimes called "Beckett's favorite actor," as well as creating the role of the Marquis de Sade in the original stage and screen productions of ''Marat/Sade''. Known for his distinctive voice, he also appeared in numerous horror films and in two Stanley Kubrick films – ''A Clockwork Orange'' (1971) and '' Barry Lyndon'' (1975) – and three Joseph Losey films – '' The Criminal'' (1960), ''The Servant'' (1963) and '' Galileo'' (1975). He was a member of the Royal Shakespeare Company from 1964 to 1970. Critic Antonia Quirke posthumously described him as "a presence so full of strangeness and charisma and difference and power," while scholar Conor Carville wrote that Magee was " navant-garde bad-boy" and "very important and unjustly forgotten figure who represents an important aspect of the cu ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Earl Kim
Earl Kim (1920–1998; née Eul Kim) was an American composer, and music pedagogue. He was of Korean–descent. Early life, education, and training Kim was born on January 6, 1920 in Dinuba, California, to immigrant Korean parents. He began piano studies at age 9, studying under Homer Grun, and he soon developed an interest in composition. He attended University of California, Los Angeles from 1939 to 1940, studying under Arnold Schoenberg. Kim briefly attended the University of California, Berkeley in 1940. His studies were paused when he served the United States Army Air Forces in World War II, as a captain in intelligence. After the war, he returned to study at UC Berkeley under Ernest Bloch, and Roger Sessions; and he received his BA degree in 1950 and MA degree in 1952. In 1967, he earned a second MA degree from Harvard University. Career From 1952 until 1967, Kim taught at Princeton University. In 1967 he left Princeton for Harvard University, where he taught until hi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Gustav Mahler
Gustav Mahler (; 7 July 1860 – 18 May 1911) was an Austro-Bohemian Romantic composer, and one of the leading conductors of his generation. As a composer he acted as a bridge between the 19th-century Austro-German tradition and the modernism of the early 20th century. While in his lifetime his status as a conductor was established beyond question, his own music gained wide popularity only after periods of relative neglect, which included a ban on its performance in much of Europe during the Nazi era. After 1945 his compositions were rediscovered by a new generation of listeners; Mahler then became one of the most frequently performed and recorded of all composers, a position he has sustained into the 21st century. Born in Bohemia (then part of the Austrian Empire) to Jewish parents of humble origins, the German-speaking Mahler displayed his musical gifts at an early age. After graduating from the Vienna Conservatory in 1878, he held a succession of conducting posts of rising ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sinfonia (Berio)
''Sinfonia'' (Symphony) is a composition by the Italian composer Luciano Berio which was commissioned by the New York Philharmonic for its 125th anniversary. Composed in 1968–69 for orchestra and eight amplified voices, it incorporates musical quotations to represent an abstract and distorted history of culture. The eight voices are not incorporated classically but rather speak, whisper and shout excerpts from texts including Claude Lévi-Strauss' ''The Raw and the Cooked'', Samuel Beckett's novel '' The Unnamable'', instructions from the scores of Gustav Mahler and other writings. Leonard Bernstein states in the text version of his Charles Eliot Norton Lectures from 1973 that ''Sinfonia'' was representative of the new direction classical music was taking after the pessimistic decade of the sixties. Premieres Originally commissioned by the New York Philharmonic for its 125th anniversary, ''Sinfonia'' was premiered on October 10, 1968 by the orchestra and The Swingle Singers, w ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Luciano Berio
Luciano Berio (24 October 1925 – 27 May 2003) was an Italian composer noted for his experimental work (in particular his 1968 composition ''Sinfonia'' and his series of virtuosic solo pieces titled ''Sequenza''), and for his pioneering work in electronic music. His early work was influenced by Igor Stravinsky and experiments with serial and electronic techniques, while his later works explore indeterminacy and the use of spoken texts as the basic material for composition. Biography Berio was born in Oneglia (now part of Imperia), on the Ligurian coast of Italy. He was taught piano by his father and grandfather, who were both organists. During World War II, he was conscripted into the army, but on his first day, he injured his hand while learning how a gun worked and spent time in a military hospital. Following the war, Berio studied at the Milan Conservatory under Giulio Cesare Paribeni and Giorgio Federico Ghedini. He was unable to continue studying the piano because of ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Existential
Existentialism ( ) is a form of philosophical inquiry that explores the problem of human existence and centers on human thinking, feeling, and acting. Existentialist thinkers frequently explore issues related to the meaning, purpose, and value of human existence, and the role of personal agency in transforming one's life. In the view of an existentialist, the individual's starting point is phenomenological, grounded in the immediate direct experience of life. Key concepts include "existential angst", a sense of dread, disorientation, confusion, or anxiety in the face of an apparently meaningless or absurd world, and also authenticity, courage, and human-heartedness. Existentialism is associated with several 19th- and 20th-century European philosophers who shared an emphasis on the human subject, despite often profound differences in thought. Among the earliest figures associated with existentialism are philosophers Søren Kierkegaard and Friedrich Nietzsche and novelist Fyo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mercier And Camier
''Mercier and Camier'' is a novel by Samuel Beckett that was written in 1946, but remained unpublished until 1970. Appearing immediately before his celebrated "trilogy" of ''Molloy'', ''Malone Dies'' and '' The Unnamable'', ''Mercier et Camier'' was Beckett's first attempt at extended prose fiction in French. Beckett refused to publish it in its original French until 1970, and while an English translation by Beckett himself was published in 1974 (London: Calder and Boyars and New York: Grove Press), the author had made substantial alterations to and deletions from the original text while "reshaping" it from French to English. The novel features the "pseudocouple" Mercier and his friend, the private investigator Camier, in their repeated attempts to leave a city, a thinly disguised version of Dublin, only to abandon their journey and return. Frequent visits are paid to "Helen's Place," a tawdry house modeled on that of legendary Dublin madam Becky Cooper (much like Becky Coope ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
