Wednesday, April 25, 2007

Some kind of disconnect

"I use the words you taught me. If they don't mean anything any more, teach me others. Or let me be silent."
~ Samuel Beckett's Endgame

This line is spoken in a depressing, Absurd, mess of a play but to me it reads like a plea from a sad and beautiful love story. No such luck. Can I rip it off and use it some time? Would that be the ultimate blasphemy to Beckett: using his dialogue in some fluffy piece of chick lit? If so, then I'm in. Samuel Beckett, I spit upon you and your crazy Modernism. Roll over in your grave! Go ahead!

Here is a cheesey example, just off the top of my head, to get the corpse rolling, so to speak:

Cassandra clutched at his sleeve. "You cannot leave me, Fernando. I love you."
He pulled away and fixed her with a heartless stare. "Love. How can you speak of love?"
Again, she grabbed at him. She needed an arm, a hand- anything to keep him from leaving. "I know what I feel."
"It means nothing. Love." His laugh was heartless and bitter, so different than the gentle Fernando who held her and whispered in the night.
"I use the words you taught me. If they don't mean anything any more, teach me others. Or let me be silent."

Then something about a throbbing member, moonlight, and beating hearts.

Obviously, if I do use the lines some day, it will be in much better writing than jotted off above. I just wanted to show the contempt I currently feel for Beckett. Ironic, I know, writing of my love for his lines and my contempt for him at the same time...I've suffered through a lot of Modern Drama this semester. I'll get over it.

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