Written over three months in 1946, _Mercier and Camier_ was Beckett's
first post-war work, and his first novel in French. He came to regard
it as a practice piece, and set it aside to write his trilogy.
_Mercier et Camier_ was finally published in 1970, and in Beckett's
English translation four years later.
The eponymous heroes tramp around a city, then out of it, then back
again. They are aimless, but there is something elusive that they
should be doing. They arrange meetings, they drink, they argue, they
discuss being shot of each other. They are preoccupied by the weather,
by provisions, by a raincoat, by an umbrella, by a bicycle...
'All of these ingredients in the later work are accompanied here,
fleetingly, by those things in Beckett that we know but cannot really
name, those things that occupy so much of the trilogy. Intangible
things, traps in the mind, that voice we hear, the stop-start
understanding, the ongoing bewilderment, the fear.' (Keith Ridgeway).
_ George, said Camier, five sandwiches, four wrapped and one on the
side. You see, he said, turning graciously to Mr Conaire, I think of
everything. For the one I eat here will give me the strength to get
back with the four others.__ Sophistry, said Mr Conaire. You set off
with your five, wrapped, feel faint, open up, take one out, eat,
recuperate, push on with the others. __ For all response, Camier began
to eat. __ You'll spoil him, said Mr Conaire. Yesterday cakes, today
sandwiches, tomorrow crusts and Thursday stones.__ Mustard, said
Camier._
Les mer
Produktdetaljer
ISBN
9780571266951
Publisert
2015
Utgiver
Vendor
Faber & Faber
Språk
Product language
Engelsk
Format
Product format
Digital bok
Forfatter