$71.71 for Mr Beckett

Mr Beckett has in my adulthood often administered the same lifting tonics, that the spontaneous receipt of a twenty pound note from a relative of otherwise few words once did in childhood. If you were a poor child, you’ll fathom that last bit..

 Last week I invested from my very modest means the most I have ever spent on a book in his honour. $71.71. There was something very Beckettish about the price of it. Kind of check-mate ish.

I genuinely admire the work of the Beckett foundation (http://www.library.rdg.ac.uk/colls/bif/index.html#pubs who offer several unique publications) and it’s founder James Knowlson and Elizabeth Knowlson, his partner, who have written extensively and with extraordinary dedication for much of their lives about Beckett.

For anyone who missed these radio pieces during the centenary … Je dis (to borrow from Monsieur Jelloun) .. Merci Monsieur Beckett.

http://www.rte.ie/beckett100/radioarchives.html

Such is my commitment to the French language I attempted to read Mal Vu Mal Dit en Francais and felt myself to be getting along very well with it. I was gathering a certain degree of minimalism and the moon and I thought talk of curtains. Few chapters in checked against the English to see if there really was a woman having the conversation I thought she was with the moon.

I had not grasped a single word of it accurately. Not even a hint. Except the title and the page numbers.

There’s an interesting literary experience for readers waiting inbetween translation. A whole new book arrives.