Jeffrey, every week, you manage to deliver articles of a consistent yet surprising depth and beauty. I should read Beckett. And your reading's really good – I'm so jealous of your elegant elocution, and posh but not off-putting English pronunciation!
Thank you so much for your kind words, Yi! I think most cities look better at night. That's certainly the case with where I am now, Tokyo.
I'm not sure there's an easy entry point to Beckett. For the plays, seeing a live performance of Waiting for Godot would be my suggestion. For the fiction, perhaps Murphy or Molloy. The latter is widely considered his best sustained prose work.
" But the twinkling lights are not the city we see in the full glare of day." Finally, I know how to express the feeling when I look at a place that is only familiar to me "in the full glare of day"!
And thanks for introducing Samuel Beckett to me! What would be your recommended "introduction" book to Beckett? :)
P.S. I walked the streets of Hampstead Heath two winters ago. Such a lovely town!
9 hrs ago·edited 9 hrs agoLiked by Jeffrey Streeter
Nice piece! I have a very similar experience with Beckett. I first got into him in my late-teens, early-20s through Rockaby, which is extremely lyrical and emotionally resonant - and then really got into his love poems, and his fizzles. As a result, I've never understood the oft argued opposition of romanticism with minimalism/avant-gardism, etc. To me, they're all part of the same thing. Anyway - a great read. Thanks for articulating some of this tangled web so clearly!
Thank you for this great comment. I haven't read Rockaby in years - thanks for the reminder of that fizzling piece of writing. I'll probably come back to Beckett some time in the future...There's some great stuff on your Substack, by the way! I just subscribed.
I am moved more than I was prepared to be by this achingly poignant remembrance of early affection’s ephemeral resplendence. How does the “holy mystery” find translation into “the ever-fixèd mark / That looks on tempests and is never shaken” or the love that “bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things”?
On a less lyrical note, I must confess that I always feel absolutely miserable after an encounter with a Beckett work. My worst teaching experience may have been an ill-fated attempt to teach _Happy Days_! I clearly need a tutorial from you to know how to appreciate his works!
Thank you for your wonderful comment and kind words, Alisa. I think that your question about the ever-fixèd mark is as hard to answer as it would be to teach “Happy Days!“ I did though once bet with a fellow candidate for a teaching exam that I could smuggle a Beckett comment into an essay on language pedagogy and won the bet.
“Love occurs perhaps when the radical unknowability of another person becomes a holy mystery.”
This sentence gave me great pause. Something about love not needing the unknown to trespass into the known, but instead into a place of sacredness. One would think true love requires the omniscient light of day, to know and see all, but I like where you take it; love—comfortable in the mystery, nurtured by something far greater than we can or should perceive.
I loved the reading, you have a wonderful voice. I had read through once and then decided to listen and I'm so glad I did. It is a beautiful paean to this written and spoken play you made a part of your young life and to juxtapose it with your own midlife consideration of past love was very moving and executed so well. Thank you.
Thank you, Asha! I felt I had to record this piece, even though it's hard to read words that I've heard spoken by Patrick Magee so much more beautifully.
19 hrs ago·edited 19 hrs agoLiked by Jeffrey Streeter
So splendid, Jeffrey, from the "meteorological inscrutability and beauty of a first love" to "Love occurs perhaps when the radical unknowability of another person becomes a holy mystery" and more. I regret to say it has been decades since I travelled to England; it was during the first of three visits that I walked Hampstead Heath. But I stood with my first love on a different hill.
Almost neglected to add that I had the very great pleasure of seeing Krapp's Last Tape at the Kirk Douglas Theater in Culver City. It starred the, of course, utterly perfect John Hurt, who at the time looked very much the old Beckett.
Thank you so much, Jay! I'm hubled by your kind words. I have seen Hurt's version online and it's great. I also note it's much longer. The pauses last forever!
The love story that you write here emerges for me as well from the play. I am struck in this beautifully vulnerable essay by the exchange that occurs when a reader expresses how the words of another resonate. That is the ultimate closing of the round. I suspect, Jeffrey, that Beckett would have been honored to read this essay about this play that he worked on for such a long time.
Thank you so much for your kind words, Mary. I deeply appreciate them, coming from you. Beckett's words live rent free in my mind and I'm happy when I can use his, not my words.
huge hug to both of you across the virtual thread. Having just performed Beckett's beautiful play a year ago, I felt very strongly the same ripples on the water reading your essay, as you did in connecting the play to your own heart.
I think that play works a kind of dark magic on many of us.
Thank you, John. It must be an astonishing play to perform. I'm grateful to you for commenting and thrilled that you felt the same ripples on the water.
i performed it first in my late 20's. i dont think it was a very good performance. i was just too young. now that im im my 70's, i found it struck many more chords of truth for me. i also had come to understand the time required to get it right. i did much more personal and academic digging into the world of the script and of my past. i performed it in three different venues and was very pleased with the response a church sanctuary, a cafe studio, and in 3/4 round in a hall that sat around 50 or so.Beckett's recently published director's notes and edits of the script were the most useful. I also found Patrick Magee's voice and performance remarkable. His daughter, who lives in London, wrote to me having seen something Id written on line about the play and her father's voice. She was very encouraging and on her way to see a new production of Krapp at the Abbey Theatre in Dublin. It is horrific when technology corrects memory of our mistakes, glorious when it reawkens our sleeping hearts.
John, One way Substack is so wondrous is that I could get this background from you. Makes me want to tell you this: When I was in Dublin at the Trinity College library, I encountered Beckett's hand written work in a glass case. I stood so long--I was mesmerized, as if in his presence ... You are lovely. Thank you.
What a haunting piece.
Jeffrey, every week, you manage to deliver articles of a consistent yet surprising depth and beauty. I should read Beckett. And your reading's really good – I'm so jealous of your elegant elocution, and posh but not off-putting English pronunciation!
Thank you so much for your kind words, Yi! I think most cities look better at night. That's certainly the case with where I am now, Tokyo.
I'm not sure there's an easy entry point to Beckett. For the plays, seeing a live performance of Waiting for Godot would be my suggestion. For the fiction, perhaps Murphy or Molloy. The latter is widely considered his best sustained prose work.
Dear Jeffrey,
What a hauntingly beautiful piece!
" But the twinkling lights are not the city we see in the full glare of day." Finally, I know how to express the feeling when I look at a place that is only familiar to me "in the full glare of day"!
And thanks for introducing Samuel Beckett to me! What would be your recommended "introduction" book to Beckett? :)
P.S. I walked the streets of Hampstead Heath two winters ago. Such a lovely town!
Nice piece! I have a very similar experience with Beckett. I first got into him in my late-teens, early-20s through Rockaby, which is extremely lyrical and emotionally resonant - and then really got into his love poems, and his fizzles. As a result, I've never understood the oft argued opposition of romanticism with minimalism/avant-gardism, etc. To me, they're all part of the same thing. Anyway - a great read. Thanks for articulating some of this tangled web so clearly!
Thank you for this great comment. I haven't read Rockaby in years - thanks for the reminder of that fizzling piece of writing. I'll probably come back to Beckett some time in the future...There's some great stuff on your Substack, by the way! I just subscribed.
I am moved more than I was prepared to be by this achingly poignant remembrance of early affection’s ephemeral resplendence. How does the “holy mystery” find translation into “the ever-fixèd mark / That looks on tempests and is never shaken” or the love that “bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things”?
On a less lyrical note, I must confess that I always feel absolutely miserable after an encounter with a Beckett work. My worst teaching experience may have been an ill-fated attempt to teach _Happy Days_! I clearly need a tutorial from you to know how to appreciate his works!
Thank you for your wonderful comment and kind words, Alisa. I think that your question about the ever-fixèd mark is as hard to answer as it would be to teach “Happy Days!“ I did though once bet with a fellow candidate for a teaching exam that I could smuggle a Beckett comment into an essay on language pedagogy and won the bet.
Divine. Thank you.
Thank you, Maria!
That killed me…I hope you survived
Still live and almost kicking, Jeffrey! Thanks for reading!
Sometimes the best literature scrapes against our heart and leaves a lifelong impression. This is so beautiful, Jeffrey.
Thank for those lovely words, Maureen. I think "scrapes against our heart" says it very well.
“Love occurs perhaps when the radical unknowability of another person becomes a holy mystery.”
This sentence gave me great pause. Something about love not needing the unknown to trespass into the known, but instead into a place of sacredness. One would think true love requires the omniscient light of day, to know and see all, but I like where you take it; love—comfortable in the mystery, nurtured by something far greater than we can or should perceive.
Thank you, Kimberly, fo rthat beautiful reflection. It makes me think that love, like light, comes in all kinds of shades and intensities.
I loved the reading, you have a wonderful voice. I had read through once and then decided to listen and I'm so glad I did. It is a beautiful paean to this written and spoken play you made a part of your young life and to juxtapose it with your own midlife consideration of past love was very moving and executed so well. Thank you.
Thank you so much, Leslie! I felt I had to record this one. And, to be honest, I felt a bit like Krapp as I edited my recording...
Lovely to hear your voice, Jeffrey!
Thank you, Asha! I felt I had to record this piece, even though it's hard to read words that I've heard spoken by Patrick Magee so much more beautifully.
So splendid, Jeffrey, from the "meteorological inscrutability and beauty of a first love" to "Love occurs perhaps when the radical unknowability of another person becomes a holy mystery" and more. I regret to say it has been decades since I travelled to England; it was during the first of three visits that I walked Hampstead Heath. But I stood with my first love on a different hill.
Almost neglected to add that I had the very great pleasure of seeing Krapp's Last Tape at the Kirk Douglas Theater in Culver City. It starred the, of course, utterly perfect John Hurt, who at the time looked very much the old Beckett.
Thank you so much, Jay! I'm hubled by your kind words. I have seen Hurt's version online and it's great. I also note it's much longer. The pauses last forever!
Hah! Hurt's is my only theatrical experience of the play. Valuable to know it's been played at a faster pace.
A beautiful, lyrical memory to lost youth. Thank you, Jeffrey
Thank you too!
The love story that you write here emerges for me as well from the play. I am struck in this beautifully vulnerable essay by the exchange that occurs when a reader expresses how the words of another resonate. That is the ultimate closing of the round. I suspect, Jeffrey, that Beckett would have been honored to read this essay about this play that he worked on for such a long time.
Thank you so much for your kind words, Mary. I deeply appreciate them, coming from you. Beckett's words live rent free in my mind and I'm happy when I can use his, not my words.
Your words are heartfelt and beautifully connected to Beckett’s play. 💝
Dear Mary and Jeffrey,
huge hug to both of you across the virtual thread. Having just performed Beckett's beautiful play a year ago, I felt very strongly the same ripples on the water reading your essay, as you did in connecting the play to your own heart.
I think that play works a kind of dark magic on many of us.
Thanks so much to both of you for reminding me.
John Sweeney
Thank you, John. It must be an astonishing play to perform. I'm grateful to you for commenting and thrilled that you felt the same ripples on the water.
I so agree, John. Would love to hear more about your experience in that remarkable monologue.
Me too!
i performed it first in my late 20's. i dont think it was a very good performance. i was just too young. now that im im my 70's, i found it struck many more chords of truth for me. i also had come to understand the time required to get it right. i did much more personal and academic digging into the world of the script and of my past. i performed it in three different venues and was very pleased with the response a church sanctuary, a cafe studio, and in 3/4 round in a hall that sat around 50 or so.Beckett's recently published director's notes and edits of the script were the most useful. I also found Patrick Magee's voice and performance remarkable. His daughter, who lives in London, wrote to me having seen something Id written on line about the play and her father's voice. She was very encouraging and on her way to see a new production of Krapp at the Abbey Theatre in Dublin. It is horrific when technology corrects memory of our mistakes, glorious when it reawkens our sleeping hearts.
gratefully, John Sweeney.
This is so beautiful, John. Thank you so much for sharing.
John, One way Substack is so wondrous is that I could get this background from you. Makes me want to tell you this: When I was in Dublin at the Trinity College library, I encountered Beckett's hand written work in a glass case. I stood so long--I was mesmerized, as if in his presence ... You are lovely. Thank you.
thanks. i know that frozen moment seeing a manus ript evoked. it stops time.