Murphy - Samuel Beckett
Category: Novel
Narrator: Stephen Hogan
Tags: Novel, General Fiction, Adults, Literature
The sun shone, having no alternative, on the nothing new. So opens Murphy, Samuel Becketts first novel, published in 1938. Its work-shy eponymous hero, adrift in London, realises that desire can never be satisfied and withdraws from life, in search of stupor. Murphys lovestruck fiance, Celia, tries with tragic pathos to draw him back, but her attempts are doomed to failure., In Dublin, Murphys friends and familiars are simulacra of him, fragmented and incomplete. They come to London in search of him. Under pressure from Celia to get a job, Murphy finds a post as a nurse in a mental institution, Magdalen Mental Mercyseat., Becketts achievement in this early work lies in the brilliantly original language used to communicate his singular vision of isolation and misunderstanding. The combination of particularity and absurdity gives Murphys world its painful definition, but the sheer comic energy of Becketts prose releases characters and listeners alike into exuberance. It is read with verv
