About this title: Samuel Beckett was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature n 1969; his literary output of plays, novels, stories and poetry has earned him an uncontested place as one of the greatest writers of our time. "Endgame, " originally written in French and translated into English by Beckett himself, is considered by many critics to be his greatest single ...
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Description: Good. Shows some signs of wear, and may have some markings on the inside. Shipped to over one million happy customers. Your purchase benefits world literacy! read more
Edition: Reprint.
Binding: Trade paperback
Publisher: Grove Press
ISBN-13:9780802150240ISBN:0802150241
Description: Very good. No dust jacket as issued. Minor extremity wear, light rubbing. Trade paperback (US). Glued binding. 91 p. Audience: General/trade. Beckett was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1969 and his literary output, including plays, novels, stories and poems, has earned him the reputation of being one of the greatest writers of our time. Endgame is a play in one act and Act Without Words is a mime for one player. read more
Binding: Trade paperback
Publisher: Grove Press
Date Published: 1994
ISBN-13:9780802150240ISBN:0802150241
Description: Very good. No dust jacket as issued. Edge/shelf wear to cover. Pages are clean and straight. NO writing, highlighting or dog-eared corners. Remainder mark. Uncreased spine. Fast confirm and shipping! ! ! Trade paperback (US). Glued binding. 96 p. Audience: General/trade. read more
Binding: Softcover
Publisher: Grove Pr
Date Published: 1970-07-01
ISBN-13:9780802150240ISBN:0802150241
Description: NEW. Softcover. From an inventory that is 100% brand-new, 100% direct from the publishers' distribution channel. We carry NO pre-owned, NO remaindered. We pack in CARDBOARD to ensure the pristine quality is maintained. (Bubble-wrap alone is NOT sufficient to protect from USPS equipment. ) Guaranteed brand-NEW, protected with CARDBOARD, your satisfaction is guaranteed. BKLUVID: 9780802150240. read more
Binding: Paperback
Publisher: Grove Press
Date Published: 1994
ISBN-13:9780802150240ISBN:0802150241
Description: New. Brand New! Buy with confidence-your satisfaction is guaranteed at B-Logistics! Due to the large scale of our operation, we do not have access to the specific contents/condition of our items. Please note that Expedited shipping is not available at this time. read more
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: Grove Pr
Date Published: 1958-06
ISBN-13:9780394475004ISBN:0394475003
Description: Fair. This is an ex-library book discarded from circulation. Pages look great, some corner wear. (binding is split) shelf #22*** 13 Years of online selling experience! ! **** Customer satisfaction guaranteed! read more
Edition: First edition.
Binding: Trade paperback
Publisher: Grove Press, New York, N.Y.
Date Published: 1958
ISBN-13:9780394475004ISBN:0394475003
Description: Fine. No dust jacket as issued. 1st ed., 13th printing, softcover w/1.75 pricing. never been read, pages still white, corners sharp, very light shelf wear. Text in English, French. Sewn binding. Cloth over boards. Evergreen Books, 96. read more
After reading "Endgame" once, my initial reaction was that the play seemed to be the basis for every Beckettian cliche that is all-too-familiar to contemporary readers (see Durang's "The Actor's Nightmare"). Haggard figures, speaking in stilted dark poetic platitudes, etc. The second reading of "Endgame," however, allowed me to peer much more deeply into the subtleties of Beckett's clownish-vignettes. Also, the characters' poetic abstractions became much more grounded in the reality of their lives. Where did they come from? How did they find themselves in such a state of brokenness?
Thematically, "Endgame" centers on a variety of things: a. The interchangeability of the "Master/Slave" relationship -- i.e. Hamm and Clov b. The intangibility (and, in turn, inaccuracy) of memory -- i.e. Hamm's father, Lake Como 1. "Creating" history, narrative -- i.e. Hamm's never-ending story c. Inexplicable loss (of senses, agency, etc.) -- i.e. blindness, lameness d. Habit as pseudo-religious ritual e. Symmetry -- i.e. form, movement, behavior, etc. f. Bastardization of the canon, religious dogma -- i.e. "lick your neighbor as you would yourself" g. Performance, life as a play -- i.e. meta descriptions of their entrances, "soliloquies," etc.
Despite these bleak motifs, "Endgame" features several moments of humanity, which are further pronounced in concert with such grave themes. For all their talk, no one can fully kill anything--Clov killing Hamm, Clov killing the rat, etc. Indeed, no one can even kill themselves. While this isn't a point of relief--if anything, it's a "No Exit"-brand of eternal damnation--it speaks to a certain humanity in each of the characters. Further, one of the most touching moments is when Clov lies to Hamm about the toy dog facing its owner--a simple deception, which brings the old man unending satisfaction.
For each of the characters, familiarity is both a comfort and a curse. While their daily routine in "the hole" gives them purpose (i.e. "I love the old questions!"), it also numbs them to any hope of flux. How would these characters cope with change?
This issue of repetition and, in turn, the characters' motivation for such behavior is sticky -- is their behavior evidence of some sort of collective amnesia? Not likely. The redundancy is conscious and, at times, comforting. But why engage in it? Perhaps, in response to Mother Pegg's fate, the characters repeat their daily rituals to keep from "dying of the darkness."
Finally, the relationship between Hamm & Clov is highly reminiscent of the one between A and B in Beckett's "Rough for Theatre I." While Hamm--the elder--is blind and wheelchair-bound in "Endgame," Beckett deepens the mutual dependence between Hamm and Clov in their second incarnation in "Rough." In this later play, the younger man is able-bodied, but blind, while the old man is wheelchair-bound and sighted. Why did Beckett return to and adapt this archetypical duo? Perhaps because, in "Endgame," Clov had an easier "out" while the "Rough" situation allows for more dramatic tension / co-dependence?"
"This play was a bit hard to handle. Reading it by itself with no reference to the authors intentions would be very confusing, but he manages in very simple "absurd" ways to get across the point that after WWI most people lost hope and turned to absurdism instead of religion to explain life. Sad times..."
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