
Black diamonds of pessimism: the letters of Samuel Beckett - lermontov
http://www.the-tls.co.uk/articles/public/beckett-letter-volume-four/
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dang
One thing to notice about Beckett (and the article kind of makes this clear)
is how much glee he took in his pessimism. He wasn't depressed, he was
articulating something.

There are a lot of fun things in there. I like the letter whose text was "No."

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qwrusz
Agree. I think a big part of his work and letters try to show/remind how the
menu of human emotions and feelings is far more vast and complicated than many
people internalize. And seemingly incompatible emotions can be happening at
the same time. Becket did appear to take some pleasure in nudging people back
towards the uncomfortable reality.

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jmduke
Only tangentially related to the article, but: if you haven't read any
Beckett, you owe it to yourself to check out at least _Waiting for Godot_ and
_Endgame_ , two relatively short plays that alternate nicely between black
comedy and surreal despair.

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coldtea
And if you can't tell what it's all about or make sense of what's said, then
wait until you feel such despair yourself (after a loss, because of
depression, betrayal, existentual anxiety, loss of faith, etc., and try
again).

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cafard
In college, when I had finished reading _Murphy_ I could hardly get out of my
chair and leave the apartment to go to class to discuss it.

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gyrgtyn
Muscle atrophy? ;)

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hackuser
The older I get the more I realize that the absurd theater is depressingly
real, and the other stuff is what's absurd. Beckett et al were telling the
truth, putting before our eyes all the absurdity that we learn to overlook.

