Texts for Nothing: Why is Life Enough?

"There's my life, why not, it is one, if you like, if you must, I don't say no, this evening. There has to be one, it seems, once there is speech, no need of a story, a story is not compulsory, just a life, that's the mistake I made, one of the mistakes, to have wanted a story for myself, whereas life alone is enough."


This has been a very difficult Beckett passage for me to wrestle with.  He has created a number of things here that he deems certitudes.  First, if there are words, there must be life.  This is a fascinating assertion but, undeniably, must be true.  It also calls to mind, though it never states directly, the idea that words provide us with life.  That they give life to us as humans in a way that other things can't.  We see this in a number of Beckett plays.  "Happy Days" is the first that pops in my head as Winnie's infrequent conversations with Willie are one of the driving forces behind her continued optimism and will to exist.

Second, life does not require a story.  This, more than the first idea appears to be a reflection by Beckett on his works as a whole, where story often takes a back seat to the words themselves.  He allows for the possibility that having a story is acceptable, but asserts that it is in no way necessary.  For Beckett, stories became less and less essential to his works as they gave way to simple, but essential, consciousness.  Pure human thought.  Stripped of outside influence and of moral dilemma or implication.  It is a strange and often uncomfortable place to inhabit.  Obviously, that is a main reason Beckett's readership is so specific.  And yet, what a worthwhile venture it is to journey into such uncharted waters as these.