Semester one. Reading lists have long since rolled in, and we’re sure everyone is already deep into the realms of required texts from authors long since deceased. Whether to your delight or disgust, we’re here to offer you one more: Samuel Beckett.
The world often associated with the work of Beckett is one of nihilism and defeat, only read or watched by those who feel they are far too serious or literary for jokes or musical numbers. But Beckett is far more than the pessimistic brush he is often tarred with; through Beckett you can understand one important thing: the beauty of the meaningless.
We live in a literary sphere that is increasingly consumed by tropes. Novels seem to build from how they will be perceived; a story is centred around enemies-to-lovers before it is even a sparkle in a writer’s eye; every last part of a character’s journey must be broken down and segmented until it is a palatable cliché. And this is why we believe, as our title suggests, everyone should read Beckett. The nothingness of Beckett is what makes his resistance so poignant, Beckett has to be understood at his word because there is nothing except his word. He himself has proven this, in his letters to Alan Scheidner, urging in reference to his own work “don’t seek deep motivation everywhere’’, and actively rejecting adaptations that attempt to place his stories within a setting, such as Joanne Akalaitis’s 1984 play that placed the action within the context of a nuclear bunker.
Beckett has to be understood at his word because there is nothing except his word
Indeed, Beckett plays with this meaninglessness and resistance to interpretation within his seminal and most critically acclaimed work Waiting for Godot (1952). The play, consisting of two acts, showcases friends Vladimir and Estragon engaging in conversation whilst, predictably, waiting for the titular character of Godot, who never arrives. Act 1 of Waiting for Godot features Beckett’s most notorious line “Nothing happens, nobody comes, nobody goes, it’s awful” encapsulating the meaninglessness and mundanity of Beckett.
Yet this, for the first time, showcased mundanity and nothingness on the stage, attributing classlessness to inherently hierarchical spaces such as theatres. The classlessness and meaninglessness of Beckett’s plays is characterised by their lack of action, driven solely by dialogue. Characters themselves exist solely for their dialogue, and refuse any form of interpretation or allegory. As Thomas Driver stated in reference to critics interpretations of Beckett’s plays “If the critics and public see only images of despair, one can only deduce then they themselves are despairing.” Thus, if Beckett’s work is inherently meaningless, any ulterior interpretations reflect on the individual rather than the text.
The individual can only interpret from the text what they truly feel within themselves
Therein lies why everyone should read Beckett, it’s inherent meaninglessness and absurdity levels the playing field, the individual can only interpret from the text what they truly feel within themselves. Beckett’s tireless efforts to preserve this crucial meaninglessness within plays such as Endgame, Krapp’s last tape and Happy Days can be ascertained most crucially through stage directions, which strangle any attempts at innovation from over ambitious directors. Beckett himself stated that “any production of Endgame which ignores my stage directions is completely unacceptable to me”, with a Guardian review from a 2015 performance of the play stating that “innovation [was] choked” by “strict staging Edicts.” Thus, Beckett himself utilised stage directions as a guardian over the crucial meaninglessness of his plays, a meaninglessness which allows the individual to see no political allegory or metaphors and solely reflect upon their own morality.
Even 70 years since its original publication, Beckett’s work is celebrated for its inherent absurdity and meaninglessness. His work, perhaps more than any other author, attributed classlessness, meaninglessness and absurdity to hierarchical spaces. For these reasons, plays such as Endgame and Waiting for Godot deserve to be near the top of everyone’s reading lists, they preserve a crucial sense of meaninglessness which only Beckett could achieve, leaving the reader to see only what is reflected deep within themselves.