Product Description

A 6 CD (6 hr. 18 min.) recording of Samuel Beckett's first novel (his only prior to World War II), published in 1938, recounts the hilarous but tragic life of Murphy in London as he attempts to reconcile the life of the body with the life of the mind.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #139868 in Books
• Published on: 1994-01-20
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 288 pages

Features

• ISBN13: 9780802150370
• Condition: NEW
• Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.
• Click here to view our Condition Guide and Shipping Prices

Review
"A sublime recording." -- Steven Leigh Morris, L.A. Weekly, November, 2000

From the Publisher
The San Quentin Drama Workhop presents the first audio book of any of Samuel Beckett's novels in a limited first edition of 1000, the first 150 of which were donated to prison libraries throughout the world.

Approved for publication by the Beckett estate, this is a twenty voice recording featuring Fionnula Flanagan, Colm Meaney, Bairbre Dowling, Morgan Sheppard, Hamilton Camp, Fredd Wayne and Nora Masterson. Many members of the companies of Dublin's Gate Theatre, the Royal Shakespeare Company and Britain's National Theatre are included in the cast.

The San Quentin Drama Workshop was Samuel Beckett's American Theatre company of choice. He directed his three most famous plays, "Waiting for Godot", "Endgame", and Krapp's Last Tape" for them. These productions toured throughout the world before being released on video by the Smithsonian Institution.

From the Author
"The book is full of lies."

To Rick Cluchey, Artistic Director of the San Quentin Drama Workshop, in London, 1986.

Customer Reviews

Come to Nothing
Murphy, as these other Amazon critics have suggested, is not Beckett's greatest work. Perhaps, though, it is his most lovable book, the last time he seemed to care so deeply about his characters. The final chapter even verges on sentiment-- and whoever accused Beckett of that?

This is Beckett before he became the Beckett of fame, before he began stripping away all excesses. This is Beckett before the war, when he was still writing in English, when he was still under the influence of Joyce. Others have noted the facts. But the truth is that Beckett, even in the adolescence of his genius, was a strong enough writer to forge his own consciousness.

A writer below commends the first sentence, and I concur. It's a beauty, recalling the verses of Ecclesiastes and foreshadowing the grim honesty of Beckett's future sentences.

For a reader curious about Samuel Beckett, Murphy is a good place to start.

Comic-tragic masterpiece
Murphy is a novel unlike any other. Quite deliberately, Beckett's characters are not portrayed with realistic fullness, and the plot is fragmented and incomplete. Nevertheless, this is an enjoyable read if conventional expectations are suspended. Beckett's early work is often compared to Joyce, but they are actually very different. Beckett's works are essentially tragic-comic. There is one passage that perfectly encapsulates the problem of desire:

"I greatly fear," said Wylie, "that the syndrome known as life is too diffuse to admit of palliation. For every symptom that is eased, another is made worse. The horse leech's daughter is a closed system. Her quantum of wantum cannot vary."

Beckett considered this passage important enough to repeat twice in his novel. Murphy, the protagonist of this novel, realizes in effect that desire can never be satisfied, and so he simply withdraws from life, attempting to reach a state of catatonic stupor. His girlfriend tries with tragic pathos to draw him back into life, but her attempts are doomed to failure. Murphy's friends are all similar to himself, fragmented and incomplete. The novel's vision is absurdist, tragic, and existentialist--humans are "windowless monads," doomed to isolation and misunderstanding. Beckett's achievement consists primarily in the brilliantly original language used to communicate his vision. Like Shakespeare or any great poet, his work cannot be summarized but must be experienced.

Beckett is laughing at us all
What is fascinating about a work such as this is the absolute division of opinions regarding the importance of this book. Murphy is a style unto itself. It is a story without an internal plot. The character Murphy is fueled only by his desire to desire nothing, and in search of this goal seem to get nowhere. The real message of the book is based solely in the question of existence. While Beckett does borrow and steal quite a bit of idealology form other notables, his expression of the Mind/Body Split and the concepts of the Id, Ego, And Superego, leave me stunned and hollow inside. An intense read, I reccomend a single sitting of about 5 hours, and have a friend or two read it seperately, then discuss. It can change your life. P.S. Beckett would think it absurd that I feel this strongly about his book.