the slightly more frequent bon mot

Happy Birthday, Mr. Beckett · 2006-04-13 16:15

Last night was Yuri’s Night, which is all fine and well, but not exactly in my realm of interest. Instead, I think I’ll not bake a birthday cake, which is to say bake nothing, for Samuel Beckett’s birthday.

I think he might have liked that.

I know a lot of people don’t like absurdism, which is understandable. If you think his works are bizarre, though, you should check out his life.

From Wikipedia:

In Paris, in January of 1938, while refusing the solicitations of a notorious pimp who ironically went by the name of Prudent, Beckett was stabbed in the chest and nearly killed. James Joyce arranged a private room for the injured Beckett at the hospital . . . At a preliminary hearing, Beckett asked his attacker for the motive behind the stabbing, and Prudent casually replied, “Je ne sais pas, Monsieur. Je m’excuse” (“I do not know, sir. I’m sorry”). Beckett occasionally recounted the incident in jest, and eventually dropped the charges against his attacker—partially to avoid further formalities, but also because he found Prudent to be personally likable and well-mannered.

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