Krapp's Last Tape & Embers

by Samuel Beckett

In the first of these two plays, an old man records his comments as he listens to a tape recording of his own observations on how life felt when he was 39.

In the second, a man walking along the seashore recalls his dead father while other familiar voices speak to him from the past.

Genres: Plays, Drama, Theatre, Fiction, Classics, Irish Literature, Ireland

48 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1958

About the author

Novels of Samuel Barclay Beckett, Irish writer, include Murphy in 1938 and Malone Dies in 1951; a wider audience know his absurdist plays, such as Waiting for Godot in 1952 and Krapp's Last Tape in 1959, and he won the Nobel Prize of 1969 for literature.

Samuel Barclay Beckett, an avant-garde theater director and poet, lived in France for most of his adult life. He used English and French. His work offers a bleak, tragicomic outlook on human nature, often coupled with black gallows humor.

People regard most influence of Samuel Barclay Beckett of the 20th century. James Augustine Aloysius Joyce strongly influenced him, whom people consider as one modernist. People sometimes consider him as an inspiration to many later first postmodernists. He is one of the key in what Martin Esslin called the "theater of the absurd". His later career worked with increasing minimalism.

People awarded Samuel Barclay Beckett "for his writing, which—in new forms for the novel and drama—in the destitution of modern man acquires its elevation".

In 1984, people elected Samuel Barclay Bennett as Saoi of Aosdána.

Reviews

[Sean Barrs · Rating 4 out of 5]

These two pieces are both one-man acts and in both cases the men are haunted by the voices of the past, but Beckett never illustrates such things in straightforward ways.

Beckett makes me think more than most writers do. And that’s kind of important. His plays never really say anything. They don’t give you their meanings, you are left to fill in the gaps their emptiness evokes. There’s always some form of silence, something not quite said.

Krapp’s Last Tape

“Perhaps my best years are gone. When there was a chance of happiness. But I wouldn't want them back. Not with the fire in me now. No, I wouldn't want them back.”



Beckett tells his stories through motions and actions as well as words. The details that go into his stage directions are particular and exact. They are so full of life, a dreary sort of life that accompanies the melancholy and absurd characters he curses with existence. None of them are happy and they all seem to be existing in a space devoid of the joy they once felt at an earlier time, memories haunt them as they suffer through madness and life absent from any real feeling. Krapp, as he listens to his old tapes, is a classic example

Krapp has had a crap life. (Is this an intentional pun, Beckett?) As he listens to the voice recordings of a much younger version of himself, he realises how unfulfilled he is. He laments a girl he once loved and intellectual precision and strength he has now lost through drink and age. The recording move forward with a tremendous amount of momentum and forward movement until Krapp reaches a final realisation: the best years have gone, but the bitterness and disappointment has awarded him with fire.

Fire to do what though? And this question hangs over me as the curtain is lowered. Krapp sits in a dark room thinking about bygone days, as he records his last tape, he is ready to move on and take a drastic action. The fire might just be the energy he needs to take his own life. Death is certainly present in the room through the entirety of this chilling piece of drama.


The Embers

“My father back from the dead to be with me.”

This one was never even meant for the stage: it’s a radio piece instead. It’s a dark and brooding piece about a son who still hears the voices of those departed. They haunt his mind as he walks along the beach, and, like Krapp, he seems to struggle with memories of the past. They pervade the present. It’s the lesser of the two pieces and is dwarfed by the obscurity the ending of the previous one delivers.

More Beckett for me in the future

[Rakhi Dalal · Rating 5 out of 5]

Krapp’s last tape and Embers, the short plays, from the oeuvre of theatre of absurd, are redolent of essential Beckett. The manifestation appears, not only from the anxiety or despair with which the works seem to start but also the bleak humour and a willingness to move on, even in the wake of awareness of nothingness. While it is interesting to note that, in his writing, where there is hardly any action, what catches attention, are the ways he employs to demonstrate despair. And if one is aware of his other works, one can easily recognize the similarities, which, in their distinct surroundings, give the outline of his ideas.

In Krapp’s tape e.g.

Krapp remains a moment motionless, heaves a great sigh, looks at his watch, fumbles in his pockets, takes out an envelope, puts it back, fumbles, takes out a small bunch of keys, raises it to his eyes, chooses a key, gets up and moves to front of table.

The fumble here instantly brings to mind the stone scene from Molloy, where Molloy seems to keep changing the position of pieces of stones in his pockets, the constant moving in Unnameable or the constant wait in Waiting for Godot. It represents the despair which the characters appear to be having, which comes from the struggle to keep on moving.

The play starts with a late evening in the future.

We witness, Krapp, an old man, sitting at a table with a tape recorder and a number of boxes containing reels of recorded tapes. Since it is perceived to be an evening in future, we are to understand that the scene is visualized, perhaps by a younger Krapp. There is a strong white light at the table and in immediate adjacent area, while the rest of stage is dark. The reference here may be to white and black/ light and dark or may be to life and nothingness. The antipodes. So, while the white light focuses on life/consciousness of self, the darkness may focus on the nothingness, both albeit existing together. The darkness may also relate to oblivion towards the rest of the world while Krapp’s focus is on the inner self *. This focus on the inner self being at the core of Beckett’s writing.

The theme of white and black is recurring throughout, white dog, black ball, dark young beauty…..

So, Krapp, now 69 years of age, on his birthday is listening to a younger Krapp, 39 years old, who in turn is listening to his younger self 28-29 years old. We witness the co-existence of all the three Krapps. Past, present and perhaps, the future, co-existing. Could it refer to endless time? Eternity? A witness of all the lives? Or could it symbolize the concept of memory? But why is he listening to younger self? Why is he recording a tape every year?


Harold Pinter in Krapp's last tape

Spiritually a year of profound gloom and indulgence until that memorable night in March at the end of the jetty, in the howling wind, never to be forgotten, when suddenly I saw the whole thing. The vision, at last. This fancy is what I have chiefly to record this evening, against the day when my work will be done and perhaps no place left in my memory, warm or cold, for the miracle that . . . (hesitates) . . . for the fire that set it alight. What I suddenly saw then was this, that the belief I had been going on all my life, namely--(Krapp switches off impatiently, winds tape forward, switches on again)--great granite rocks the foam flying up in the light of the lighthouse and the wind-gauge spinning like a propeller, clear to me at last that the dark I have always struggled to keep under is in reality--(Krapp curses, switches off, winds tape forward, switches on again)--unshatterable association until my dissolution of storm and night with the light of the understanding and the fire-------

He needs to do so until the darkness terminates with the light of understanding and fire; the darkness of struggle, despair coming to an end with the realization of awareness of self as well as its acceptance.

Beckett speaks of the vision here, the fire. I wonder if he is referring to the concept of enlightenment or this again*. I also tend to think if here he refers to the state of Sanyaasi from the four age based ashramas from Hindu system where Sanyaas refers to the stage of renouncement of worldly and materialistic affairs by practicing detachment and self-realization( We know that Krapp is an old man and living alone in his den) **Symbolically, a sannyasi casts his physical body into fire by wearing saffron robes when entering this phase, signifying purification of body through fire thus freeing the soul while the body is still alive.

Towards the end we hear Krapp says,

Perhaps my best years are gone. When there was a chance of happiness. But I wouldn't want them back. Not with the fire in me now. No, I wouldn't want them back.

Could it mean that he renounced all the worldly pursuits including happiness in order to attain self realization?

We are to understand from these words that this is the last tape that he has recorded, for he has finally arrived at the understanding. These last lines also represent a strong will to live on, even after the realization of the inevitable and dissolution of struggle with the acceptance. So while some people may feel that his writings are depressing or that he is celebrating the despair, I believe that his writings also stand for the honest admission which is fearless. He doesn’t shy from that which is certain and he writes about it because this is the only way he sees light. Also towards the end of his works, he exhibits a resolve for the life, something which also is at the heart of his writings.


I can’t go on
I will go on.
-----The Unnameable

--------------------------------------------------------

Krapp's last tape with Pinter:Part one

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cKteo...

This play by BBC is in 5 parts on You Tube.

--------------------------------------------------------

*After World War II, Beckett turned definitively to the French language as a vehicle. It was this, together with the "revelation" experienced in his mother's room in Dublin—in which he realized that his art must be subjective and drawn wholly from his own inner world—that would result in the works for which Beckett is best remembered today( Wikipedia)

** Source Wikipedia

PS. This review doesn't include one on Embers. I may attempt to do that in future.

[Mohammad Hanifeh · Rating 5 out of 5]

کراپ پیرمرد تنهایی‌ست که هر سال در روز تولدش شرح حال و هوای خود را در نواری ضبط می‌کند و هر بار، آن روز را به مرورِ نوارهای ضبط‌شدۀ گذشته‌ و دوره کردن خاطرات می‌گذراند.

این نشخوارِ خاطرات نفرت‌انگیزه، اما به نظرِ من... کمک می‌کنن که برم سراغِ یه... خاطرۀ تازه.

من هم تصمیم گرفتم هر سال در همین روز، یک دور این نمایشنامۀ کوتاه را بخوانم و حال و هوام را -ضبط که نه، ولی- در دفتری بنویسم.

امسال هم مثلِ این چند سالِ گذشته، این تولدِ نامیمون را به‌تنهایی در مِی‌خانه جشن گرفتم؛ احدی نبود.

هرچند خیال نکنم خیلی حرف زیادی برای گفتن داشته باشم؛ ولی سعی می‌کنم هرقدر هم کم، چیزی بنویسم.

همه‌چی این‌جاست، همه‌چیزِ روی این سیارۀ کهنۀ تاپاله، همۀ نور و تاریکی و گرسنگی و خوردن و آشامیدنِ... سال‌های سال! هیچ‌چی ندارم بگم، هیچ‌چی! حالا مگه یه سال یعنی چقدر؟!

کراپ وقتی نوارهای گذشته را گوش می‌دهد «روزگارِ به‌اصطلاح جوانی‌اش را مسخره می‌کند و خدا را شکر می‌کند که آن ‌روزها به سر آمده است».

خیلی دوست دارم بلند شم و چند قدمی بزنم و باز برگردم این‌جا... به خودم. کراپ.

یک سالِ اخیر برای من هم مثل کراپ بود. هرچند به‌مراتب بهتر از دو سالِ قبلیش بود.

از نظرِ روحی یک سال گذشته در افسردگی و نکبت گذشت. ولی خداروشکر که اون روزها دیگه گذشته و سراومده.

در پایان بیست و هفت سالگی‌ام، در تاریک‌ترین روزهای خود به سر می‌برم و کار شب و روزم یادآوری خاطرات گذشته است؛ تنها جایی که گاهی بر چهرۀ خود لبخند و شادی‌های حقیقی می‌بینم و تنها جایی که هنوز مفهومی به اسم امید برایم زنده است. منتها جالبش این‌جاست که هیچ دلم نمی‌خواهد باز آن روزها را تجربه کنم و همین زندگیِ غم‌انگیزِ خاکستری را به آن خوشبختی وهم‌آلود ترجیح می‌دهم.

شاید بهترین سال‌های عمرم گذشته. اون‌وقت‌ها امیدی به خوشبختی داشتم. اما دیگه نمی‌خوام اون روزها برگردن. نه، اونم با این آتشی که حالا توی سینه‌مه. نه، دیگه نمی‌خوام اون سال‌ها برگردن.

[Steve]

Samuel Beckett (1906-1989), ca. 1954


You will be quite alone with your voice, there will be no other voice in the world but yours. - Embers



Perhaps I was too young when I first read this book decades ago, two one man plays about old men looking back at their lives, about profound loneliness and failure. I wanted none of it.

But decades later I find these plays to be cuttingly poignant and moving.

In Krapp's Last Tape (1958) a seventy year old man sits alone in a dingy room listening to reel-to-reel tapes he had made thirty years earlier, and his earlier self had just listened to tapes made when he was still a young, hopeful and ambitious lad. With deeply telling restraint Beckett draws a sketch of an entire life, from youthful hope through the confidence and energy of middle age to physically broken old age with Death's chill breath on one's neck. Twice Krapp looks over his shoulder into the darkened room and one knows what he is sensing. Remarkably expressive are the reactions of his later selves to his earlier selves and the fumbling about with the recorder and tapes. This is a masterful piece of theater.

I strongly recommend two impressive and quite different performances of this play available on Youtube, one by Patrick Magee, for whom Beckett originally wrote the piece,

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=otpEw...

and the other by none other than Harold Pinter.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1IUDU...

Embers (1959) is a radio play written for Jack MacGowran in which an aged man sits alone by the sea and remembers aloud. Unaided by tapes from the past, Henry fights to squeeze bits and pieces from unreliable memory, to force them into some semblance of wholeness, a scene, an incident. In a conversation with the dead lost moments arise briefly out of the abyss of the past to reveal aspects of a man and fragments of his loss.

A recording of the original broadcast:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_wp0M...

[Nahed.E]

مسرحية شريط كراب الأخير ل صمويل بيكيت



هذه المرة المسرحية بتمثيل الأديب الإنجليزي الشهير هارولد بنتر نفسه، وهذا ما جذبني للغاية للمسرحية، أن أشاهد أديب كبير يمثل مسرحية لأديب شهير مثل بيكيت، خاصة وأن بنتر أبدي إعجابه ببيكت في كثير من المواقف





صمويل بيكيت ... دائما الأمر نفسه، الإحساس ذاته
الوقت الذي يمر من بين يديك وانت كما أنت لا يتغير بك شئ، سوي إحساسك بضياع الوقت والعمر
الغرفة التي لا تتغير .. مسرحية المشهد الواحد .. الديكور الواحد .. وأحيانا البطل الواحد، الذي يتحدث مع نفسه في يأس وتعب، لا ينتظر شئ، ولا يبحث عن شئ، فلا يوجد شئ، لا سبب، ولا نتيجة .. فقط السرد الحزين لبعض الذكريات التي توقفت عندها الذاكرة، وكل ما عداها بعض الفتات
فالبطل سجين الكرسي، والزمن، والذكري، والغرفة
وكأن العمر كله صورة فوتوغرافية ثابتة يمر عليها الزمن دون تغيير

سؤال مهم خطر علي بالي .. هل حدث حقا ما يرويه البطل .. أم هو مجرد خيال محض لذكريات لم تحدث أبداً ؟
وربما حدثت فعلا ..
وبقي من حينها العمر ساكناً لا يتحرك سوي علي شريط يُسجل كل عام بنفس الكلمات
تري ما الذي سجله علي الشرائط الاخري ؟ الحديث نفسه يا تري ؟ أعتقد هذا

بيكت ..
العبثية .. اللاجدوي .. مأساه العيش في هذا العالم، مأساة انك جئت إلي هذه الدنيا من الأساس



مُتعب بيكت .. مُتعب للقارئ، ومتعب للمُشاهد


للمشاهدة
https://ar-ar.facebook.com/SamuelBeck...

[Diana · Rating 4 out of 5]

همین الان داشتم به صدای احمق حروم‌زاده‌ای گوش می‌دادم که سی سال پیش بودم.

[°•.Melina°•.]

نمیدونم شاید چهل پنچاه سالگی از بکت خوشم اومد.

[Leonard Gaya · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ce volume comprend deux petites pièces, qui, comme souvent chez Beckett, me laissent une impression d'étrangeté et de léger malaise. La dernière bande est un monologue avec soi-même, ou plus exactement un dialogue entre un personnage et des bandes enregistrées par lui des années auparavant. Cendres est une sorte de jeu entre un homme et des fantômes du passé. Deux pièces, donc, sur la mémoire et le passage du temps. Mais le plus fascinant dans ces textes, ce sont les didascalies et indications scéniques, toujours très précises, qui donnent une impression de futilité et de décrépitude.

[Mahnam · Rating 2 out of 5]

روایتی کوتاه از مردی که در سال‌های مختلف زندگی صدای خود را ضبط کرده و گاه به‌گاه خاطراتش را مرور می‌کند و حالا در شصت و نه سالگی از فضای امیدوار سی‌ونه‌سالگی خود خیلی دور است. درست همان‌طور که در سی‌ونه‌سالگی خوش‌خیالی‌های چند سال پیش‌تر خود را باور نداشت، با این تفاوت که حالا ظاهراً دیگر حتی تلاش در این راستا را ناممکن می‌بیند، هر چند همین پناه‌بردن به خاطرات گذشته را می‌شود آخرین تیری دانست که در تاریکی می‌اندازد بلکه کمی حس خوشبختی کند.

[Amir hossein .M · Rating 3 out of 5]

آخرین نوار کراپ نمایشنامه‌ای کوتاه از ساموئل بکت هست که تنها یک شخصیت دارد، کراپ و یک شخصیت بی‌جان دیگر نوار صداهایش که او را به خاطرات گذشته‌اش می‌برد، خاطراتی که دیگر اهمیتش را برایش از دست داده و بی‌ارزش‌اند.

شاید تلخ‌ترین دیالوگ نمایش‌نامه را بتوان «بهترین سال‌های عمرم فنا شد» دانست، آنجا که دیگر کراپ چیزی برایش اهمیت ندارد، گویا بکت می‌خواهد در پایان نمایش بگوید که انسان حتی با خویش نیز بیگانه است و آنگونه تفکر ابسوردیسم خود را به نمایش بگذارد.

[Setayesh · Rating 5 out of 5]

از متن کتاب:

شاید بهترین سال‌های عمرم گذشته.اون وقت‌ها امیدی به خوشبختی داشتم.اما دیگه نمی‌خوام اون‌روزها برگردن‌.نه،اونم با آتشی که حالا توی سینه‌مه.

نه،دیگه نمی‌خوام اون سال‌ها برگردن:).

[Leo Robertson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Loved the concept of Krapp's Last Tape- a Beckett play that revealed the most meaning on a first read. Can't say I understood Embers- re-read is on the list ;)

[Melika Khoshnezhad · Rating 3 out of 5]

نمی‌دانم در ضبط کردن صدای خود چه کیفیتی غریبی وجود دارد اما می‌دانم به کل با نوشتن شرح حال متفاوت است. البته من همچنان نوشتن را ترجیح می‌دم؛ اما شنیدن صدای سال‌های دور خود تجربه‌ی غریبی است.

[Laurent · Rating 3 out of 5]

Decidedly some of Samuel Beckett’s most underrated works, Krapp’s Last Tape and Embers delve deeply into our notions of reality and of the self.

Krapp’s Last Tape, a play in which a now old man, Krapp, revisits his youth through a series of tape recordings he has made of himself, allows the reader to explore the quasi-endless different ‘skins’ we have inhabited, suggestive of the quite ancient idea that we are never the same individual at two distinct moments in time, but rather, two distinct individuals altogether. This discrete sense of self is constantly exhibited on a fresh bed of juxtaposition, on the evolving yet constant comparison between Krapp in the present moment and the individual he seems to have been ten, twenty, thirty years ago; we conclude that he is experiencing a diachronic disunity, of sorts. It is through this relentless drawing of parallels and oppositions that Beckett sparks our realisation that one is never truly the same, yet serves penance for the actions of one's other forms, other selves — we are never decisively, precisely ourselves, and yet we cannot escape this notion of one distinct, accountable being, one ageing person, on which most of our existence is founded.

Embers, similar in some ways, scrutinises identity. The play's protagonist, Henry, is a man attempting to reconcile the past with the present, the present with the future. He squirms at the mere thought of the passage of time, and rather unsurprisingly, cannot seem to grasp the series of events rapidly flying him by. So much can he not rid himself of his past that it seems to physically assail him, the sound of the treacherous sea of his youth drowning anything but the sound of his own voice, his own inescapable identity driving him slowly insane.

These bold, if not slightly shocking plays raise a series of unavoidable questions, questions each of us will face once, twice, many times over the course of our lives. Who are we? What gives us this apparent identity? What can we say, with any certainty, to be our definition, and is there escape from such a definition? They are a must read for lovers of thought-provoking literature, literature that does not lead us to self-evident conclusions, but rather, leaves us wondering, not for days, but perhaps for years.

[D. Fox · Rating 4 out of 5]

" With all this darkness round me I feel less alone."


* Regression, according to Sigmund Freud, is a defense mechanism leading to the temporary or long-term reversion of the ego to an earlier stage of development rather than handling unacceptable impulses in a more [adaptive] way. The defense mechanism of regression, in psychoanalytic theory, occurs when an individual's personality reverts to an earlier stage of development, adopting more childish mannerisms.


I had to read an article on Psychological regression, and one of the sentences really
caught my attention:

" A clear example of regressive behavior in fiction can be seen in J.D. Salinger's The Catcher in the Rye.
A similar example occurs in Samuel Beckett's Krapp's Last Tape. Krapp is fixated on reliving earlier times and is unable to form mature relationships with women, seeing them only as replacements for his deceased mother. "

I have read the play before, but I had never considered this angle of discussing Krapp's personality. Which is another argument in proving how multi- layered Beckett's work is and every time I read it, I'm sure I'll find something new under the initial feeling of melancholy, regret or maybe even losing sight of your own life.

[Zohreh Hanifeh · Rating 3 out of 5]

اولین کتابم در سال دو هزار و هیفده

[Cody · Rating 4 out of 5]

READ DURING "THE DARKNESS"

It's Beckett. EVERYTHING is worth reading. Even this.

[نازنینا · Rating 3 out of 5]

آدم رو غرق نوستالژی و زمان و پیرشدن می‌کنه. پوف!

[Matthew · Rating 5 out of 5]

Full disclosure, my experience with this play is not limited with merely having read it. I directed the first few minutes of it in a Directing class at Southern Connecticut States University (SCSU), so I am intimately familiar with it. I love this play. I am not an admirer of absurdism and am often immediately turned off by it. I'll tune into it only if it is executed or written in a very specific way. I treat absurdism like salt in the sense that a little bit can make a dish come alive, but too much and it overpowers/ruins it for me, personally. There was just enough salt (as it were) on this to make it come alive to me and I was really struck by how my perception of it did a hard 180 halfway into listening to Krapp's tape. I initially laughed at him as a pathetic man, but soon after listening I realized "Something horrible happened to this guy, and I will probably never ever get to the bottom of it." There is so much that is open to interpretation and I there are still things I do not fully understand about it, but that is what makes it beautiful to me; it is the antithesis of our information culture which demands that everything they see makes sense. This work gives the finger to the aforementioned culture and demands that we rationalize it to ourselves in our own personal way. We need more things like it.

[Matt · Rating 5 out of 5]

Heartbreaking.

Here's one version, directed by the author himself:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fI9k2v...

[luce (cry bebè's back from hiatus)]

Eating so many bananas is a recipe for disaster.

[Lotfia · Rating 4 out of 5]

رائعه واعتقد اني ماكنتش هستمتع بيها المتعه دي لو قرئتها كتاب
المسرحيه بصوت حمدي غيث و أدائه متعه لا توصف
و ادعوكم لسماع هذا الجزء بصوته
"ان الامر يبدو لي بلا امل ولا جدوي بالاستمرار .فأومات لي بدون ان تفتح عينيها .سالتها ان تنظر الي و بعد بضع لحظات..فعلت ولكن بعينين كانهما شقان بسبب الشمس
انحنيت عليها لتصبح في الظل..فانفتحتا
اذنتا لي بالدخول
كنا ننساب بين القصب فانحبس الزورق..ما اروع ما كانت الاعواد تنثني متنهده امام المركب
انزلقت عليها..وجهي في نهديها ويدي عليها ومكثنا هناك ..راقدين بلا حراك
ولكن من تحتنا كان كل شئ يتحرك ويحركنا في رفق من اعلي الي اسفل و من جانب الي اخر
بعد منتصف الليل ما سمعت في حياتي صمتا كهذا..كأن الارض غير مسكونه.....
....
...
لعل احسن سنواتي قد انقضت ..ايام كان امامي فرصه للسعاده.لكني ما عدت اريدها لو اتيحت..لن اريدها الان..وفي نفسي هذه النار..لا
ما عدت اريدها"..

المسرحيه الصوتيه
http://archive.org/details/P2-dra-Kra...

[Bettie · Rating 1 out of 5]

Krapps's Last Tape: http://youtu.be/uphqyjAkYIU

From wiki: Krapp's Last Tape is a one-act play, in English, by Samuel Beckett. With a cast of one man, it was written for Northern Irish actor Patrick Magee and first titled "Magee monologue". It was inspired by Beckett's experience of listening to Magee reading extracts from Molloy and From an Abandoned Work on the BBC Third Programme in December 1957.[1]

The play was first performed as a curtain raiser to Endgame (from 28 October to 29 November 1958) at the Royal Court Theatre, London, directed by Donald McWhinnie and starring Patrick Magee. It ran for 38 performances.

Expect I am not the only person to conjoin crap and crapp...

[Colleen · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love Beckett, and this was no exception.

[Matthew Boylan · Rating 5 out of 5]

"Perhaps my best years are gone. When there was a chance of happiness. But I wouldn't want them back. Not with the fire in me now. No, I wouldn't want them back." — Krapp's Last Tape

"It was not enough to drag her into the world, now she must play the piano." — Embers

[77ships · Rating 3 out of 5]

An old man sits alone in a room surrounded by darkness and nothing more. He pulls out a tape recorder and starts listening to recordings that he made back when he was younger. The memories float back to him from times long gone. He is dying but has no one left around him to talk to and nothing to talk about. He listens to the recordings that he made when he was younger. Memories float back to him but they have lost all their meaning, their grandeur and their playfulness, they mean very little to him and excite no emotions or sense of loss or abandonment. He just sits their dutifully playing his tapes, reliving his past whilst dying in solitude. No despair, no anger, no longing, just one last thing to do before I go.
There is beauty in it mostly the beauty of reliving your own memories of times happier and long gone but without sadness that usually accompanies them. It is not an objective view for Krapp for no judgment is made.

Beckett’s work to me is not about meaning but largely about the absence of meaning. Life is not only pointless but it is downright absurd as well to top it off. Playfull nihilism.
You can see life as one big Monty Pyton sketch if you must. Sure there is sadness, despair, longing etc. and happiness perhaps even. In the end is just all absurd and ridiculous. The world is a stage and we are all actors. Yes, but no one has received their script and it is a huge mess. It is one big joke without a clue or punch line. ”Knock. Knock.” “Who is there?” “The meaning of life.” silence. exit stage after a very long pause.

Conclussion: It is to the best of my knowledge the best work of one of histories greatest writers. I place it even higher then Waiting for Godot, you know the drill get if by any means possible. Buy it, steal it, borrow it, beg for it,…

[Ali · Rating 3 out of 5]

آخرین نوار کراپ، نمایش نامه ی ست تک پرده ای که تنها یک شخصیت دارد؛ "کراپ" در یک تک گویی بلند در طول یک شب، از گذشته و حال خود، و افکارش در مورد آینده، چیزهایی می گوید، که گاه روی نوار ضبط می کند، و گاه به نوارهای ضبط شده ی قبلی گوش می دهد، انگاری که پیوسته با گذشته و حال خود در گفتگوست. این نمایش نامه هم مثل اغلب کارهای مهم بکت به فارسی ترجمه شده، منتها به یاد ندارم که منتشر هم شده باشد.


در مورد "تیاتر ابزورد" اینجا را بخوانید
http://www.goodreads.com/author_blog_...

[Mat · Rating 5 out of 5]

Two short but very brilliant plays.
I don't want to comment or analyze these plays at any length yet as I am sure there is so much depth to them but will say this - Beckett has the intellectual brilliance of Joyce minus the pretentious overabundance of obscure and esoteric references. I loved both of these plays but to me Embers is really superb. Beckett is officially now my favourite modern playwright.

[melissa · Rating 2 out of 5]

i'm not a huge beckett fan. maybe if i read beckett in class.

[Farzane · Rating 3 out of 5]

شاید بهترین سال های زندگیِ من رفته باشند. وقتی که هنوز بختی برای خوشبخت شدن بود. ولی نمی خوام که این سال ها دوباره برگردند. نه با اون آتشی که حالا در من هست. نه، نمی خوام این سال ها دوباره برگردند.