tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6327348657265652781.post4831982222867603781..comments2023-10-03T11:41:21.191+01:00Comments on The Truth About Lies: A Tale for the Time BeingJim Murdochhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12786388638146471193noreply@blogger.comBlogger8125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6327348657265652781.post-61585976146188046562013-05-12T11:14:01.153+01:002013-05-12T11:14:01.153+01:00You might find the Wikipedia article of some help ...You might find the Wikipedia article of some help here, <b>Gwilliam</b>. Before I started blogging I spent six months rewriting all the articles on Beckett’s plays and I see from a quick scan of it that the bulk of my work remains. For a one man play there are a surprising number of characters in it. Of all his plays this is the one that reveals the most to scholars once you start digging into it. Once I understood how he approached the material in this play, his attempts to “envaguen” the material I could start to see how he does this in other works just like the rest of us; we start off with some autobiographical gem, work away at it and by the time we’re finished it’s barely recognisable to anyone else bar us.<br /><br>Jim Murdochhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12786388638146471193noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6327348657265652781.post-34313152457660793322013-05-12T07:45:25.636+01:002013-05-12T07:45:25.636+01:00Thanks Jim, I'll have a look at Krapp's La...Thanks Jim, I'll have a look at Krapp's Last Tape on YouTube later. It's too persisting to go out. Gwil Whttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03305768121713053837noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6327348657265652781.post-22926139264697797242013-05-05T11:38:34.390+01:002013-05-05T11:38:34.390+01:00You’re welcome, A.K. I’ve read very little by Japa...You’re welcome, <b>A.K.</b> I’ve read very little by Japanese authors—a single Kawabata is all that jumps to mind, oh, and <i>The Girl Who Leapt Through Time</i>—but I have a few on my to-read list.<br /><br>Jim Murdochhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12786388638146471193noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6327348657265652781.post-84163775193326861612013-05-05T10:54:09.158+01:002013-05-05T10:54:09.158+01:00Sounds like a pretty amazing book, rich in both pl...Sounds like a pretty amazing book, rich in both plot and theme. I'm always attracted to books set in Japan. Thanks so much for introducing me to both the author and the novel.A.K.Andrewhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15327919267470509253noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6327348657265652781.post-47975992124338740622013-05-01T14:35:27.836+01:002013-05-01T14:35:27.836+01:00I wouldn’t say that Waiting for Godot is late Beck...I wouldn’t say that <i>Waiting for Godot</i> is <i>late</i> Beckett, <b>Gwilliam</b>, more middle period along with the Trilogy and the early plays, <i>Endgame</i>, <i>Happy Days</i> and <i>Krapp’s Last Tape</i>, probably his most accessible works. After that his works got leaner and leaner and shorter and shorter and less and less user-friendly. The late prose works like <i>Ill Seen Ill Said</i> and <i>Worstward Ho</i> are hard work. All his theatre work is still watchable but I was never that excited by his forays into television.<br /><br>Jim Murdochhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12786388638146471193noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6327348657265652781.post-2988057227421732352013-04-29T17:15:06.082+01:002013-04-29T17:15:06.082+01:00Thanks Jim. I was looking through your blog search...Thanks Jim. I was looking through your blog searchbox and couldn't find it and wondered if it was maybe elsewhere. It's because I'm currently reading it. I think you are right about the "impoverishment" thing as I saw or detected to some extent in my copy of your Mulligan book and that it was to my my mind in a way like a late Beckett a kind of Waiting for Godot-ish plot, if I can call it that, and that it would fit nicely to the stage, mainly due to the dialogue, in a Godot sort of way. Gwil Whttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03305768121713053837noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6327348657265652781.post-85718463189110709332013-04-29T13:58:49.293+01:002013-04-29T13:58:49.293+01:00I haven’t and wasn’t planning to, Gwilliam. I’ve r...I haven’t and wasn’t planning to, <b>Gwilliam</b>. I’ve read it, of course, but a long time ago. It belongs to his early period when he was enthralled by Joyce—<i>A Dream of Fair to Middling Women</i> is almost unreadable—and that’s not the Beckett I enjoy the most. As the man himself said: “I realized that Joyce had gone as far as one could in the direction of knowing more, in control of one's material. He was always adding to it; you only have to look at his proofs to see that. I realised that my own way was impoverishment, in lack of knowledge and in taking away, subtracting rather than adding. When I first met Joyce, I didn't intend to be a writer. That only came later when I found out that I was no good at all at teaching. When I found I simply couldn't teach. But I do remember speaking about Joyce's heroic achievement. I had a great admiration for him. That's what it was: epic, heroic, what he achieved. I realized that I couldn't go down that same road.”<br /><br>Jim Murdochhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12786388638146471193noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6327348657265652781.post-9480860986758752492013-04-29T13:26:43.143+01:002013-04-29T13:26:43.143+01:00Hi Jim, Did you ever review Samuel Beckett's M...Hi Jim, Did you ever review Samuel Beckett's More Pricks than Tricks or are you planning to do so? Best wishes, GwilymGwil Whttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03305768121713053837noreply@blogger.com