Monday, February 14, 2011

Samuel Beckett - Endgame

"I read the one-act Endgame this morning. It's on my grad school reading list, and it was alright. I'd rather have read the book by Derrick Jensen by the same name, or even the Sonic the Hedgehog comic book. ;)

The big theme I saw in the play was entropy--cool scifi theme! Everything repeats by gradually decays. The bodies of the characters become more dilapidated. I also noticed some interesting power dynamics: Clov is the only character who is mobile, but he's a servant and can't explain why he always obeys (although he does refuse to kiss or touch Hamm). But overall this play was too dark and masculine and existential and abstract for me! Maybe I just have a hard time engaging in literature that doesn't directly engage politics?"


"Reading it by itself with no reference to the authors intentions would be very confusing, but he manages in very simple 'absurd' ways to get across the point that after WWI most people lost hope and turned to absurdism instead of religion to explain life. Sad times..."


"I know this play is suppose to be a classic and a master of it's genre. But if this is the best this genre can produce, this genre must be worse than 'Plan 9 From Outer Space'. The play is trite and cliched. It's whole meaning is that everything is meaningless. Is it just me or is that a bit ironic? Unless you have to read this play for school, don't read it. If I had gone to see this play in a theatre I would have walked out after 5 minuntes. Why can't people write good and decent plays like Shakespeare or Sophoclese. (I know I spelled them wrong, Sorry.) This new genre of pointless dialogue is, well, pointless. I wonder if all of these playwrites are writing these plays and laughing at the fools that think they are good. Beckett is probably laughing in his grave because he is still fooling people. If you like non-sense, and you like to look like you are philisophical, go ahead and read it, but don't say you weren't warned."


"The characters don't seem real or human to me."


"'Endgame' is a crude and despicable play. It's not a classic and a pitiable excuse of a play. Utterly useless and does not deserve our time. The characters are one dimensional, lacking, and unrealistic. The plot is morally confusing and worthless. I do not recommend."


"Anyone can write literal nonsense and say that it means nothing. This is an unimpressive trick. I see a lot of 5 star reviews on here and a lot of people who think the writing is like-totally-amazing(!1). It seems like one of those books/movies everyone pretends to understand in order to look really deep. Unfortunately, there's nothing deep about nihilism. It's sort of funny, but intentionally shallow and therefore not profound."


"A pessimistic take on human 'love' and 'kindness'... For those with disabilities, simultaneously deeply offensive and groundbreakingly revolutionary (depending on the way one slants it)."

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