Samuel Beckett, Irish poet – Her, Him and Us (a short story) by Deidre McAuliffe
Samuel Beckett, Irish poet
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Samuel Barclay Beckett (13 April 1906 – 22 December 1989), Irish avant-garde novelist, playwright, theatre director, and poet, who lived in Paris for most of his adult life and wrote in both English and French. His work offers a bleak, tragicomic outlook on human nature, often coupled with black comedy and gallows humour.
Samuel Beckett, 1973. Photo by John Haynes, taken at the Royal Court Theatre, London.
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Samuel Beckett, Irish poet – Her, Him and Us
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“Go on failing. Go on. Only next time, try to fail better.” – Samuel Beckett, Irish poet
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Milana Zaric: “The quote actually goes like this: ’Ever tried. Ever failed. No matter. Try again. Fail again. Fail better’ I wonder why it has been changed! Teenage version of Beckett??”
Urban Book Circle: “Dear respected Milana, the quote has not been changed. There are a few similar quotes and all of them are originally from Samuel Beckett: ’Go on failing. Go on. Only next time, try to fail better.’, ’Ever tried. Ever failed. No matter. Try again. Fail again. Fail better.’, ’Where I am, I don't know, I’ll never know, in the silence you don’t know, you must go on, I can’t go on, I’ll go on’.”... Milana Zaric: “Hello, thanks for that information!” Urban Book Circle: “You’re welcome, any time.” |
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Richard Barrett: “Actually the post IS a misquote as far as I know. It does not occur in any of Beckett’s published work. The one cited by Milana is from the short novel ’Worstward Ho.’ The one that starts ’Where I am...’ is from the novel ’The Unnameable.’ Where is the one in the post supposed to have come from?”
Urban Book Circle: “Dear respected Richard, you are correct about the quote cited by Milana (’Ever tried. Ever failed. No matter. Try again. Fail again. Fail better.’) as it is from the short novel ’Worstward Ho.’ One of the two quotes cited by us (’Where I am, I don’t know, I’ll never know, in the silence you don’t know, you must go on, I can’t go on, I’ll go on.’) is from the novel ’The Unnamable.’ The quote also cited by us (’Go on failing. Go on. Only next time, try to fail better.’) was used in one of his speeches while teaching briefly at Campbell College in Belfast.”
Richard Barrett: “Where was it published?”
Richard Barrett: “I ask because I know Beckett’s work quite well and I know of no source for that ’quote’.”
Urban Book Circle: “Dear respected Richard, if you believe that only published words are spoken words, our opinions differentiate. Let us start from the beginning. First, you are demanding something from us without introducing yourself. Second, if you insist that only published words are worth mentioning, that is discriminating the majority of the population on this planet. Third, we are colleagues and friends with an Irish professor of Irish literature whose grandfather was Beckett’s childhood friend and we believe this to be a more than valuable source on this matter. Fourth and not last, if you Google ’Beckett’ (and it’s not on the first page as there are thousands of pages on Beckett) and invest your valuable time (instead of asking the institution to work for the individual) and you find that it was indeed published then we are sure that you will let us know. If you prove to us that our beloved Irish genius Beckett never said that, we will be grateful and happy to correct the mistake. Until then, we will trust our very valuable source.”
Richard Barrett: “Where was it published?”
Richard Barrett: “I ask because I know Beckett’s work quite well and I know of no source for that ’quote’.”
Urban Book Circle: “Dear respected Richard, if you believe that only published words are spoken words, our opinions differentiate. Let us start from the beginning. First, you are demanding something from us without introducing yourself. Second, if you insist that only published words are worth mentioning, that is discriminating the majority of the population on this planet. Third, we are colleagues and friends with an Irish professor of Irish literature whose grandfather was Beckett’s childhood friend and we believe this to be a more than valuable source on this matter. Fourth and not last, if you Google ’Beckett’ (and it’s not on the first page as there are thousands of pages on Beckett) and invest your valuable time (instead of asking the institution to work for the individual) and you find that it was indeed published then we are sure that you will let us know. If you prove to us that our beloved Irish genius Beckett never said that, we will be grateful and happy to correct the mistake. Until then, we will trust our very valuable source.”
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Richard Barrett: “I’m not demanding anything, I’m suggesting that your ’quote’ originates from a misquotation from ’Worstward Ho’ which seems to have spread through the internet – doing a search on your ’quote’ in full reveals nothing but sites in which quotes are compiled, no references to ’an Irish professor of Irish literature whose grandfather was Beckett’s childhood friend’ (I don’t suppose you know the names of these people?) and no statements by scholars who would presumably be very interested in the phenomenon of an utterance of Beckett's from the 1920s returning almost word for word in a novel written more than fifty years later. I’m suggesting, in other words, that this quotation of yours is spurious, and has been picked up from the internet without any thought of what its source may be or whether it has one. I thought I was being helpful, and I’m met with this obfuscating defensiveness on your part, which I’m inclined to think speaks for itself.”
Urban Book Circle: “Listen Richard, a demand was made by you when you somehow entered our virtual home and started demanding answers without first introducing yourself or even liking the page. You then continue with false accusations of ’obfuscating defensiveness.’ Maybe you do know Samuel Beckett’s work ’quite well’ as you claim (where is the source for this claim?) but evidently not well enough to know that Beckett said this and it is a direct quote. Why is it a phenomenon that Beckett made a similar comment later on in life in one of his books? Although similar, these two comments were made on two different occasions. Also, we are not aware of your claim that Beckett wrote a book called ’The Unnameable’ – surely you meant his renowned work ’The Unnamable?’ You must have believed spell check to be a more reliable source than Beckett? Keep calm and continue your research on Beckett’s work.”
Richard Barrett: “Whatever. You say it’s a direct quote and you have no source for it. I say it’s almost certainly a misquote that spread through the net. Readers will come to their own conclusions.”
Urban Book Circle: “Aye, readers will indeed come to their own conclusions.”
Urban Book Circle: “Listen Richard, a demand was made by you when you somehow entered our virtual home and started demanding answers without first introducing yourself or even liking the page. You then continue with false accusations of ’obfuscating defensiveness.’ Maybe you do know Samuel Beckett’s work ’quite well’ as you claim (where is the source for this claim?) but evidently not well enough to know that Beckett said this and it is a direct quote. Why is it a phenomenon that Beckett made a similar comment later on in life in one of his books? Although similar, these two comments were made on two different occasions. Also, we are not aware of your claim that Beckett wrote a book called ’The Unnameable’ – surely you meant his renowned work ’The Unnamable?’ You must have believed spell check to be a more reliable source than Beckett? Keep calm and continue your research on Beckett’s work.”
Richard Barrett: “Whatever. You say it’s a direct quote and you have no source for it. I say it’s almost certainly a misquote that spread through the net. Readers will come to their own conclusions.”
Urban Book Circle: “Aye, readers will indeed come to their own conclusions.”
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Deidre McAuliffe, MFA,
literary program editor of the Urban Book Circle 
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Note: The Urban Book Circle does not necessarily endorse any of the views posted. By submitting your comments, you acknowledge that the Urban Book Circle has the right to reproduce, broadcast and publicize those comments or any part thereof in any manner whatsoever. Please note that comments are moderated and published according to our Terms and Conditions.
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Words & Photographs: Deidre McAuliffe
All rights reserved 2014. Copyright © Deidre McAuliffe
Samuel Beckett, 1973 – Photo by John Haynes, taken at the Royal Court Theatre, London.
All rights reserved 1973. Copyright © John Haynes
Design & Artwork by Djuradj Vujcic
Illustrated by Sarah Riordan
Edited by Prvoslav Vujcic,
Deidre McAuliffe
and
Danijela Kovacevic Mikic
All rights reserved 2014. Copyright © Urban Book Circle
C O N T A C T
Published by Urban Book Circle on August 4, 2014
Urban Book Circle® (UBC)
All rights reserved 2014. Copyright © Deidre McAuliffe
Samuel Beckett, 1973 – Photo by John Haynes, taken at the Royal Court Theatre, London.
All rights reserved 1973. Copyright © John Haynes
Design & Artwork by Djuradj Vujcic
Illustrated by Sarah Riordan
Edited by Prvoslav Vujcic,
Deidre McAuliffe
and
Danijela Kovacevic Mikic
All rights reserved 2014. Copyright © Urban Book Circle
C O N T A C T
Published by Urban Book Circle on August 4, 2014
Urban Book Circle® (UBC)
Urban Book Circle: a circle of the gifted, literate and brave.
