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Endgame

3.87 of 5 stars 3.87 · rating details · 4,623 ratings · 136 reviews

'Endgame is a one-act play with four characters. It was originally written in French as Fin de partie. As was his custom, Beckett translated it into English. Published in '57, it's one of his most important works. Its protagonists are Hamm, an aged blind master who cannot stand, & his servant Clov, who cannot sit. They exist in a tiny house by the sea, tho dialog sugge...more 'Endgame is a one-act play with four characters. It was originally written in French as Fin de partie. As was his custom, Beckett translated it into English. Published in '57, it's one of his most important works. Its protagonists are Hamm, an aged blind master who cannot stand, & his servant Clov, who cannot sit. They exist in a tiny house by the sea, tho dialog suggests there's nothing left outside—no sea, no sun, no clouds. Mutually dependent, they've fought for years & continue to do so. Clov always wants to leave but seems unable. Also present are Hamm's legless parents Nagg & Nell, who live in rubbish bins upstage & initially request food or argue inanely. The English title is taken from chess when there are few pieces left. The French title applies to games besides chess, Beckett lamenting there's no English equivalent. Beckett was an avid player. Ham's struggle to accept the end compares to the refusal of novices to admit defeat. Harold Bloom considers Hamm to allude to Hamlet: 'its time it ended...& yet I hesitate, I hesitate to...to end.' He contends this is an intertext with the 'To be or not to be' soliloquy, in which doubt prevents action. Endgame is devoid of action, in Beckett's typical absurdist style. Possibly Hamm also relates to ham actor & Ham, son of Noah, while Clov is a truncated version of Clown, as well as suggesting cloven hoof & glove--a distant echo of hand & glove. Nagg suggests nagging & the German nagen, to gnaw, while Nell recalls Dickens' Little Nell. (Theodor Adorno Trying to Understand Endgame). Equally Hamm could be short for Hammer & Clov be clove (etymologically nail), hammer & nail representing one aspect of their relationship. In this light, Nagg & Nell, taken together, may suggest the German Nagel, nail. Ruby Cohn, in Back to Beckett, writes that "Beckett's favorite line in the play is Hamm's deduction from Clov's observation that Nagg is crying: 'Then he's living.' But in Berlin he felt that the most important sentence is Nell's 'Nothing is funnier than unhappiness.' & he directed his play to show the fun of unhappiness." The play's implication is that the characters are static. Each day contains the actions & reactions of that before, until each event has a ritualistic quality. It's made clear thru the text that the characters have a past--Nagg & Nell conjure up memories of tandem rides in the Ardennes. There's no indication they've futures. Even the death of Nell, which occurs towards the end, is greeted without surprise. The isolated setting & constant references to lost aspects of civilisation, have led many to suggest the play is post-nuclear. Beckett denied this.'(less)

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Published by Faber & Faber (first published January 1st 1957)

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Jun 16, 2012 Yasiru rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: favourites

I read this in English at http://samuel-beckett.net/endgame.html, glad that Beckett provided the translation himself (of passing curiosity is that Wilde's Salome, another play translated by the author from the original French, lately impressed me also). Spoilers of a sort may follow, but this is not the kind of work where these might be summarily unwelcome.

This is a claustrophobic play, stark for all the clutter of its setting (being in one act), and very effectively conveys a slow spiral toward...more

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Oct 31, 2012 Dina Nabil rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: own

http://suchasmallaffairs.blogspot.com...
ياااه بقالى كتير مقرتش حاجه حلوه...حاجه ادب راقى فعلا...ادب مش بياخد دور المهرج اللى بيسلى..ادب مش تجاره ادب يخلينى احتوى كل تلك المتعه الذهنيه بنسخه ورقيه احتضنها لاقراها مره وراء المره ب2 جنيه يا بشر...ادب مش بياخد دور الواعظ و ينصح و يضربك على ايديك...ادب تانى من نوع فريد امضاء صامويل بيكت

ادب زى الورقه البيضا تكتب فيه اللى جواك...فى نهايه اللعبه خصوصا و فى اعمال بيكت عموما انت جزء من المسرحيه لا يقل عن اى عنصر اخر...الروايه نفسها مش بتقول حاجه اصلا لكن...more

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Aug 19, 2012 Emilian Kasemi rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: favorites

HAMM : Nella mia casa. (Pausa. Profetico e con voluttà) Un giorno sarai cieco. Come me. Sarai seduto in qualche luogo, un piccolo pieno perduto nel vuoto. per sempre, nel buio. Come me. (Pausa). Un giorno dirai a te stesso, Sono stanco, vado a sedermi, e andrai a sederti.
Poi dirai a te stesso, Ho fame, ora mi alzo e mi preparo da mangiare. Ma non ti alzerai. Dirai a te stesso, Ho fatto male a sedermi, ma visto che mi sono seduto resterò seduto ancora un poco, poi mi alzerò e mi preparerò da mang...more

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Dec 05, 2012 Bettie rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: film-only, play-dramatisation, winter-20122013

Beckett directs Beckett - Endgame (Finale di partita) : http://youtu.be/NsDc8R4rEWY

Hamm - unable to stand and blind
Clov - servant of Hamm; unable to sit.
Nagg - Hamm's father; has no legs and lives in a dustbin.
Nell - Hamm's mother; has no legs and lives in a dustbin next to Nagg.

whahahahaha

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Apr 10, 2013 Bailey Robertson rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: depressing

This is an intense read. It took me a few tries through it to fully understand what I was reading, but once the impact fell into me...I'm afraid it won't be shaken anytime soon. I almost regret reading it because my proclivity toward anxiety does not appreciate what I just put it through.

I'm trying to decide what to say about this, but it might be one of those stories you read and dissect yourself. It'll mean more to some people, I think, than others. There are going to be people that read this...more

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Mar 09, 2013 Mike Duron rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This was my first time reading this play -- actually paying attention to it. All my life, it was always one of those things that just existed. It was a permanent fixture in the background of literature as far as I was concerned -- a classic to be read at some future date that never arrived.

That was stupid of me. This is a great play and deserves all the acclaim it's ever gotten -- and its place high up on the top shelves of must-reads. The experiment this play represents works because it's basic...more

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Apr 15, 2012 Jessica Day rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I found myself seriously at odds the other day, distraught after watching the film Endgame. This film, directed by Conor McPherson, really touched me in a way I have never been touched before. While I enjoyed the play, it was not nearly as effective as the film.
Samuel Beckett wrote Endgame in 1956, originally in French. However he later translated it, along with his other plays, into English. The play opens with Hamm and Clov, two men living in a bomb shelter. Hamm is blind and cannot stand, thu...more I found myself seriously at odds the other day, distraught after watching the film Endgame. This film, directed by Conor McPherson, really touched me in a way I have never been touched before. While I enjoyed the play, it was not nearly as effective as the film.
Samuel Beckett wrote Endgame in 1956, originally in French. However he later translated it, along with his other plays, into English. The play opens with Hamm and Clov, two men living in a bomb shelter. Hamm is blind and cannot stand, thus he never moves, only sits in his armchair. Clov is his servant, who cannot sit down. The setting is simple; two windows bring in light from the right and left, with two bins standing in the corner. We later learn that Nagg and Nell, Hamm’s parents, reside there. Nell dies towards the beginning of the play, presumably of old age, leaving only Nagg, Hamm and Clov. It can be assumed that they are the only survivors of a nuclear disaster, as the play was written in 1957 during the Cold War. Also, the characters frequently refer to their housing unit as a “shelter”. Clov explains that there is nothing but water outside, as far as the eye can see, an endless ocean. There is no escape for him. Outside is death. Nevertheless throughout the play Clov wishes to leave, yet he never does, he only follows Hamm’s demands. The two main characters, Clov and Hamm, argue over the entire course of the play. It ends as it begins, with Hamm proclaiming, “Old stancher” as he places a bloody handkerchief over his face.
I found reading Endgame to be a very difficult endeavor. While the writing wasn’t flowery or Shakespearian, it consists of constant babble. Hamm’s character enjoys hearing himself speak and there are many times he simply repeats previous statements or talks himself in circles. I also found it hard while reading the play to get a clear visual of the characters or the setting. As an actress, I am a firm believer that plays are meant to be watched, not read. Therefore I was much more excited about watching Endgame than reading it.
The film is simply fantastic. It has a stellar cast, which completes the experience of the play. Sir Michael Gambon, who has starred in Harry Potter and The King’s Speech, plays Hamm and David Thewis, a prominent actor in Harry Potter and War Horse, plays Clov. The two are the perfect pair for the main roles. They compliment each other and both bringt excellence to the stage. Gambon brings sense to Hamm’s character, giving him not only a reasonable voice but also emotion, and Thewis humanizes Clov, presenting him as a very frustrated servant eager to escape. Even Charles Smith (Nagg) and Jean Anderson (Nell) draw emotion from the audience. Others, as well as myself, find them to be a pitifully sad, yet adorable couple. Overall, the film creates a sadness in me that I did not find in the book. The colors used in the setting are dirty blues and oranges, wind can be heard mercilessly in the background and despite the sunlight filtering in though the windows, the setting is desolate and gray. Even the meager costumes of the costumes of the characters show the extreme passing of time. Hamm’s gloves are patched and re-patched, and Nagg and Nell wear old and dusty clothes. Even Nagg and Nell’s hands are black, like they are decomposing. It was all very eerie and disturbing. Hamm and Clov’s faces are dirty and sweaty, like they had not showered in ages. The characters are filthy and pitiful, as you would expect them to be.
While I found this apocalyptic world very intriguing, it was also extremely sickening. This adaptation of Endgame presented me with a glance at the end of the world and the end of life. It presents death as an inevitable outcome of one’s existence. Hamm, Nagg and Clov are the last beings on Earth and each is miserable because of the lack of point to their lives. Clov wishes to leave and end his life, also ending his misery. This forced me to think about my very own end of my world, my death. Shamefully I admit I am not like Clov, I would rather fight the inevitable than kill myself.
This film adaptation is magnificent, yet not appropriate for all audiences. For one thing, there were no special effects, so any animation fan will not find pleasure in this film. I would suggest Endgame only to those who enjoy classics or a deep film. Endgame may not have action or romance, but it is a very emotional ride for audience members because it faces them with the inevitable. It is a film I plan to watch again. Conor McPherson simply outdid himself.(less)

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Mar 30, 2012 Trevor rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Recommended to Trevor by: Madalyn

Shelves: literature

My youngest daughter took me to see this during the week. We had our first beer together prior to the performance in a pub – a highly significant moment for a father, obviously, especially here in the land of Oz, the land of the amber fluid.

Then a minute ago I read the Wiki article on this play. I wanted to be sure it was written post-WW2. You see, it is so obviously a post-nuclear war play that I would have been very disappointed if it had been written in 1922 or something. You know, the way TS...more

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Apr 20, 2012 Emily rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: own

I read this in English, for my British Lit class this semester. I thought I should actually start reading the assignments, and I read this after reading The Power and the Glory and Regeneration.

My professor said this piece would be slow moving, and he said something about it not really have a plot, but I could see one if I squinted. I actually really enjoyed this piece. And because I took notes on it for my class, I have a lot to say.

One of the biggest things, is obviously that it represents a...more

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Mar 03, 2013 Hebe (The English Student) rated it 3 of 5 stars

Recommended to Hebe (The English Student) by: University reading list

Shelves: drama, sf-and-fantasy

Endgame is probably Beckett's second most famous play, after Waiting for Godot. It appears to have a post-apocalyptic setting, although what the apocalypse was is never defined and probably isn't the point.

(Incidentally, isn't it interesting that something that is obviously SF is allowable in academia when it's drama but not when it's a novel?)

Anyway, the two main characters, Hamm and Clov, are mutually dependent, since one is blind and one is lame. They're continually threatening to leave each...more

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Oct 03, 2012 John Molina rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This is my second time reading Samuel Beckett's play "Endgame" and I must say that I am a lot more impressed with it this second go around. I read it for a British Literature class last year and didn't get the point of it. The play seemed to center on nothingness and the play had no discernible plot or development of characters. After reading it again, I've come to the conclusion that that is the point of the entire work. Beckett has his characters argue endlessly and change their minds about w...more

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May 15, 2013 i! rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: plays, beckett, 2013

Beckett's work always invites spitballing, so:

"CLOV (straightening up): I love order. It's my dream. A world where all would be silent and still and each thing in its last place, under the last dust. (He starts picking up again)
HAMM (exasperated): What in God's name do you think you are doing?
CLOV (straightening up): Doing my best to create a little order."

A perfect God, self-created and concerned not with love, worship but sheer efficiency, would create the perfect world with perfect order. Min...more Beckett's work always invites spitballing, so:

"CLOV (straightening up): I love order. It's my dream. A world where all would be silent and still and each thing in its last place, under the last dust. (He starts picking up again)
HAMM (exasperated): What in God's name do you think you are doing?
CLOV (straightening up): Doing my best to create a little order."

A perfect God, self-created and concerned not with love, worship but sheer efficiency, would create the perfect world with perfect order. Minimum entropy, or better yet, He wouldn't create a universe at all, just to keep things simple. He would, following Beckett's logic, destroy Himself to keep things minimally simple and ordered. But is there order to nothing? And furthermore, if God is man-made, then what becomes of mankind if God kills Himself? How is this reflected in a play involving characters, themselves invented, who pray for meaning? A theological cart before an existential horse. What is meaning anyway, or a character, or God, or death?
A utilitarian society concerned with minimizing pain above all else would eliminate those things that could feel pain, and would extinguish itself.
Modernity: systems that dissemble themselves, systematically. Contradictions in the unit become magnified until they undo the system of units and the units themselves. What's to be done with a human system, then? "Ah the old questions, the old answers, there's nothing like them!" But when did we get the answers?

Anyway:
There is a lot of humor in this; the humor makes the piece, actually. The entire episode with the dog is laugh aloud funny. It's grade-school type of humor and wordplay, and it works perfectly in conjunction with the end of the world (or something with a family resemblance) as observed by four freaks in a room. Beckett's method of attack is mostly irreverent humor aimed at big questions, but Clov's final soliloquy at the end is heartrending stuff, fittingly undercut by Hamm in its first lines: "I say to myself—sometimes, Clov, you must learn to suffer better than that if you want them to weary of punishing you—one day."

Each hump of conversation in Endgame pans out like the one above. Each one bristles with the stump end of questions about existence, society, language, religion, and fiction, but you really have to engage with the material to get anything out of it. It's a tired saying, but it really is a Rorschach test, like any good literature. Maybe it comes out as solipsism, but maybe that's because we're all secretly solipsists.(less)

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May 09, 2011 Erik Graff rated it 1 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: Beckett fans

Recommended to Erik by: College Theatre professor

Shelves: drama

Grinnell College had a creative arts requirement which I fulfilled by taking Theatre during the freshman year. Our instructor, a late middle-aged alcoholic, ranged from apathy to enthusiasm. The former aspect was doubtless expressed in his assignment of Beckett's Endgame while the latter was evinced by his production of the entirety of Goethe's Faust.

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Jul 11, 2012 Rob rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: 2012

Samuel Beckett here uses the static nature of the stage to drive an exploration of memory and identity that is every bit as arresting as Proust’s. Hamm, Nagg, and Nell, unable to move, trapped by their own bodies and minds in a mimicry of the confines of the stage, reminisce about their “glorious” pasts, which somehow never come out the same way twice. In classical Greek drama, all of the action takes place offstage; in Endgame it takes place in the past, or rather, in the minds of the character...more

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Mar 29, 2011 Kitty Lovelace rated it 1 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Better than Godot but that's not saying anything

In Endgame at least there are multiple ways to view the situation and what's going on. I think it deserves to be better than Waiting for Godot but I'm not sure it really is. I read these plays back to back and so noticed that Beckett just kept saying the same exact thing...again which I thought was pretty lazy and uncreative of him. As a true lover of Romanticism (and Frankenstein! so I appreciated that) I jumped at the appearance of the aging coup...more

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Apr 09, 2013 Jessica rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

The imagery of a chess game that Beckett created through the setting and movement of the play was neat, but, like a chess game, it became hard to get through. I didn't become a Beckett fan after reading Waiting for Godot and after reading this play, I'm starting to think that perhaps that might have been the closest I will be to ever becoming one. I get what Beckett is doing - the minimalistic setting/plot, the leave-the-meaning-making-to-the-audience, the existentialist musings - I just haven't...more

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Apr 21, 2007 Emily rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: Everyone

While I read this in French last year, I can imagine that the English version is just as good. Samuel Beckett was Irish and write in English, German, and French. This play is full of black humour but humour just the same...I love it!

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Aug 11, 2009 Jessica Barkl rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

The play that almost killed the prisoners, sans about two very good students. I taught this in conjunction with Caryl Churchill's CLOUD NINE, and it was agreed that they liked this one better, but not that much...It was a lot of fun messing with their brains with this one...I remember feeling the same way they said they felt when I read this circa 1997 for Hal Ryder in my undergraduate studies...and when Hal, like myself, revealed all the symbolism combined with absurdism and existentialism I sa...more

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Aug 04, 2007 Jessica rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: those seeking an impossible departure.

"how does one advance a pawn?"

a must-read. i love the use of spacious pauses and silence that must be even more compelling on the stage.

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Jul 30, 2011 Garrett Zecker rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

A view of the complexities of human communication and conceptual relationships? Probably. Do we all want to meet our end and do we think about it? No, and no. This play uses Beckett's usual ridiculous and absurdist rants to basically discuss those questions which cannot be discussed in any regular, non-absurdist frame. I enjoyed it as an entertainment, but I think it may just be along the lines of Beckett's arrogant raving nonsense that gave him a pretty good paycheck. I would take a further sta...more

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Feb 03, 2010 Juan Pablo rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

"¡Ah, las preguntas de siempre, las respuestas de siempre, son las mejores!" (Hamm, p.43)

"Es raro que no se haya sido hermoso... en otro tiempo." (Clov, p.47)

"La infinitud del vacío te rodeará, los muertos de todos los tiempos, resucitados, no lo llenarán y serán como una piedrecita en medio de la estepa." (Hamm, p.41)

El libro es sumamente deprimente. Los personajes viven en un ambiente absolutamente desolado. No hay ninguna esperanza, simplemente porque nunca hay cambio: cada día está condenado...more

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Jul 25, 2012 Bogdan Liviu rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Emil Cioran era prieten cu Samuel Beckett, acum inteleg si de ce. O opera de arta perfecta.

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Oct 24, 2012 Hugo Resendiz rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: teatro, ajedrez

Una obra muy fascinante, que muchos críticos han catalogado como una metáfora ajedrecística. Hamm y Clove son amo y sirviente, es el que se niega a morir y el que quiere irse de su vida actual. Son piezas de ajedrez en un mundo vacio, de ahí el nombre de la obra referente al juego con pocas piezas. Es una obra con un estilo que creo que ha influenciado a muchos dramaturgos contemporáneos, en el estilo de actuación muy diferente al teatro clásico, incluso, podría decirse que ortodoxo, en su época...more

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Aug 24, 2010 Frankie rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

In 1997, I took a World Drama course. The curriculum in my fundamental Baptist school treated the 50s as the present, ignoring everything after as incendiary. When we were allowed to choose any playwright for a midterm paper, I daringly chose Beckett. I knew nothing about him except for his avant-garde talent for dark themes. I remember, and its a bad sign looking back, the teacher was pleased with my paper. I wrote an ill-informed report on Endgame, claiming that "the only thing that saved me f...more In 1997, I took a World Drama course. The curriculum in my fundamental Baptist school treated the 50s as the present, ignoring everything after as incendiary. When we were allowed to choose any playwright for a midterm paper, I daringly chose Beckett. I knew nothing about him except for his avant-garde talent for dark themes. I remember, and its a bad sign looking back, the teacher was pleased with my paper. I wrote an ill-informed report on Endgame, claiming that "the only thing that saved me from suicide while reading this was the lurid style and pretentiousness Beckett waved under my nose." (I was so proud of this sentence then!) I went on to conclude that Beckett had applied abstract art to the stage, and "it didn't work." I was an ignoramus.

That was before I learned that a metaphor can be truer than reality. After reading Endgame several times, nothing is more apparent than that Beckett was a genius. Things emerge on rereadings that prove unequivocally that he sat and thought a great deal about how to convey difficult ideas with visceral pathos in his scenes. Beckett may exhibit a sense of entitlement like Duchamp or Dali, but there is no one better for using art to lay bare painful things and somehow personify them on stage. Some of his analogy is clear and some is hopelessly obscure, but his topics are equally obscure and so his approach is necessary to illuminate them.

The most interesting allusion of Endgame is to chess. It goes beyond the colors of the characters' faces. The very content of most of his plays are based on chess. The stage puts that same limitation on every subject, like the board does in chess. I won't start in on the many analogies of this work. The impression after all is the thing.

The saddest thing about my adolescent review of Endgame (above) is the loss of that feeling, whether disgusted or not, of the virginal pre-comprehension effect. That first misguided impression is the most true to Beckett's message. Once you see the inner workings, it loses some of its savor every time.(less)

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Dec 30, 2011 Kiof rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I am confused by the dislike of this (1 star reviews). Seems really likable to me. Wordplay to the point of music and great lines. I guess required reading can only kill appreciation, never create it. Anyways, after looking through the beckett on film set (not reading, I admit), I think this is his masterpiece, That Time and Happy Days being close seconds. The only reason I'm not the biggest Beckett fan is because I often feel like I think too much like him; it feels like a sermon to the choir....more

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Feb 26, 2012 jennifer rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Hamm is an angry guy in a wheelchair, Clove is able-bodied but unhappily in Hamm's unpaid service and has been for nearly his whole life. When Hamm bellows for a description of the sea, food, a dog or his painkillers, Clove is there to fetch or deny and to threaten throughout with abandoning the helpless but cruel Hamm.

This play didn't draw me in the way his Waiting For Godot did, the characters aren't as whole in my view, yet it is more for the absurdity that I'd see it. Why are Hamm's parents...more

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Jun 27, 2012 Artem Huletski rated it 1 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Нарвался на самый неудачный вариант - абсурд смерти. Когда в произведении не происходит ничего, кроме медленного старения, тления и угасания - настолько медленно, насколько это возможно. Польза от подобных произведений есть: представляю, каково было посмотреть эту пьесу в Париже и выйти на пронизанный огнями, переливающийся бульвар, в свежий прохладный воздух набережной Сены. Мне ближе абсурд жизни в олицетворении Ионеско или менее мрачные творения Беккета, от которых не несёт кафкианством, как...more

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Sep 16, 2009 Steve rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: Nihilists

Shelves: plays

This is a tough one to understand, never mind review. Not much really happens--there is only one act--except that Clov the slave leaves Hamm the blind, seated master for a small boy and Nell dies. I have to admit that a lot of the dialogue--like in Waiting for Godot--made no sense to me and certain pages seemed to have been written by a crazy man. I suppose there is some coherence to this little play--it means that all is meaningless; it means that it is meaningless.

And indeed there are a couple...more

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Oct 07, 2007 Núria rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: 2006, mios, literatura-en-frances, teatro, siglo-xx, 3-buenos

En lugar de terminar de una vez por todas 'Malone muere', decidí empezar otro libro de Beckett, 'Fin de partida'. Me costó sólo una mañana terminarlo, pero esto tampoco tiene mérito porque es una otra de teatro que no llega a las 100 páginas. Después, he intentado otra vez terminar 'Malone muere', pero la cosa se ha hecho imposible. Creo que ya lo dejo definitivamente por imposible.

'Fin de partida' no es tan brillante ni perfecto como 'Esperando a Godot', pero es que para mí pocos libros pueden...more En lugar de terminar de una vez por todas 'Malone muere', decidí empezar otro libro de Beckett, 'Fin de partida'. Me costó sólo una mañana terminarlo, pero esto tampoco tiene mérito porque es una otra de teatro que no llega a las 100 páginas. Después, he intentado otra vez terminar 'Malone muere', pero la cosa se ha hecho imposible. Creo que ya lo dejo definitivamente por imposible.

'Fin de partida' no es tan brillante ni perfecto como 'Esperando a Godot', pero es que para mí pocos libros pueden estar a la altura de 'Esperando a Godot'. Pero tampoco me pareció tan redondo como 'Molloy'. Aún así es puro Beckett. Y Beckett del bueno. Supongo que ahora viene cuando explico el argumento del libro, de qué va, pero es que las obras de Beckett tratan de nada. Todo sucede en un mundo vacío.

Hamm es un viejo rey sentado en una especie de silla-de-ruedas-trono, ciego y paralítico. Clov es su criado-esclavo, que físicamente no se puede sentar. Luego, también están Nagg y Nell, que son los padres de Hamm y que viven en dos cubos de basura en un rincón y nunca salen de allí, como gran muestra de benevolencia quizás de vez en cuando les levantarán la tapa y les darán una galleta. Raro ¿verdad?

A partir de aquí, no sucede nada. Los personajes hablan para llenar el tiempo, hablan de nada, se dedican a repetir los diálogos y las réplicas que sueltan cada día, siempre idénticos. Pero sobre todo se dedican a realizar una serie de actos triviales y rutinarios que hacen cada día (abrir las cortinas, mirar a través del catalejo, cerrar las cortinas). Hamm manda y exige, y algunas veces Clov obedece. Mientras esperan y se aburren, Hamm, para pasar el rato, se dedica a contar una historia. Además de la rutina y la monotonía, la ficción es lo único que nos puede distraer.

No es tan divertida como otras obras de Beckett. A veces es realmente deprimente. En 'Esperando a Godot', Vladimir y Estragón al menos se tenían uno al otro. La relación entre Hamm y Clov es sólo la de amo y esclavo. Se necesitan el uno al otro, pero en realidad no les une nada. Como siempre, el mundo que presenta Beckett es un mundo oscuro, devastado y vacío. Todo es absurdo y nada tiene sentido. Parece un mundo distinto al nuestro, pero en realidad es el mismo, porque Beckett es soledad e incomunicación, el absurdo y el sin sentido de la vida. Sabe que en el mundo sólo estamos de paso y que lo único que podemos hacer es esperar la muerte. Es un autor diferente a todo lo que hayáis leído. Esto querrá decir que a veces se puede volver repetitivo y sonar como una mala parodia de sí mismo (como en 'Malone muere'), pero que cuando es bueno es realmente bueno. (less)

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Jan 22, 2013 I Am rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

მე ძალიან მომეწონა, ჩემი აზრით ბეკეტი ადამიანის ტრაგიზმის ლეგენდარული გადმომცემელია! მაგონებს გოდოს მოლოდინს" მთელი ცხოვრება ნამდვილი ცხოვრების ლოდინში გადის"
ოთხივე პერსონაჟი აკლია რაღაც, ეს აწამებთ და ბედნიერებაში ხელს უშლით . "იქნებ კიდევ უფრო მეტად გაიტანჯონ რომ ყელში ამოუვიდეთ და მათ წამებას შეეშვან"
ერთხელაც დავჯდებით და ვეღარ ავდგებით, თვალებს გავახელთ და სინათლეს ვეღარ დავინახავთ, თამაშის დასასრულიც მოვა, ამიტომ ის დრო რაც გვაქვს კედელზე ყურებასა და ერთ ადგილას დგომაში არ უნდა გავატაროთ.

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About Samuel Beckett

Samuel Barclay Beckett was an Irish avant-garde novelist, playwright, theatre director, and poet, who lived in France for most of his adult life. He wrote in both English and French. His work offers a bleak, tragicomic outlook on human nature, often coupled with black comedy and gallows humour.

Beckett is widely regarded as among the most influential writers of the 20th century. Strongly influenced...more

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Molloy, Malone Dies, The Unnamable: A Trilogy

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