Obscure Locks, Simple Keys by Chris Ackerley

Author:Chris Ackerley
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Edinburgh University Press

III

151.1 [149]: III: in the galleys (G50), after the end of part II, Beckett deleted “111” (Arabic) and insisted on “III” (Roman), adding (much as he had for part II and would for part IV): “20 l:—en belle page.”

151.2 [149]: about this time: not when Arthur came and Erskine went, as narrative sequence implies; but the time, undefined, when Watt told Sam about Arthur. There is a distinction between récit (the sequence of textual events), histoire (the order in which events occurred before being narrated), and narration (telling the story): here narration overlaps histoire and récit (Pat McCarthy to CA). The beginning of part III, up to “from time to time” (Watt 164), and the final paragraph were pre-published as an “Extract from Watt” in Irish Writing 17 (December 1951): 11-16; Beckett told Mania Péron (4 August 1951) that this “mauvaise revue” had requested a contribution, and (“dans ma grande bonté”) he had agreed, choosing these because he could not find anything “moins scandalisant” (Grove Companion 278). Large chunks are omitted from this extract; these are indicative of the text as it must have been at a late stage, some parts not yet composed and others not moved into their final position. These are:

• the footnote (153)

• the paragraph beginning: “When Watt spoke” (156)

• part of the paragraph beginning “This garden was surrounded” (156), from “For a big-bottomed man” to the end (157)

• the passage from “How hideous is the semi-colon” (158) to “and so looking about me” (with “And” capitalized)

• both references concerning Watt’s resemblance to the Christ believed by Bosch (159)

• the passage about the hole (160-62), the text reworked: “Wait, wait, I am coming, I cried, and closed my eyes. But when I opened them again Watt was no longer there . . .”

• two paragraphs, from “For us moving so” to “in the way described” (164)

Beckett suggested to Barney Rosset (30 August 1956) that his Evergreen selection should include the beginning of part III; in the event it was not included.

151.3 [149]: pavilion: Robinson (106) senses an heraldic association with “The Field of Gold” (in contrast with the fallen natural world). Beckett uses “pavilion” in the German Diaries for museum and gallery rooms associated with distinct periods or themes. For “pavilion” as the bell of a wind instrument, see #26.

151.4 [149]: me: the implied narrator, Sam, incrementally hinted at in part II, is now the defined voice of the novel, which purports, rightly or wrongly, to be his rendering of Watt’s words, told haltingly with many a hiatus, reversed and entangled, over a long period of time, within (or, rather, without) the asylum, their meetings taking place on the infrequent occasions that the conjunction of their meteorological preferences has permitted an exodus. Smith suggests (116-18) that just as Watt represents a transition between the aborted “Human Wishes” fragment and later fiction, so Sam exemplifies “something” of the quality of Samuel Johnson in matters of temperament, such as his need for conversation, moodiness, periodic depression, and fear of going insane.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.