The Strangest Philosopher in History - Samuel Beckett

this video is sponsored by the book summary app blankest use the link in the description to receive one free week and 40% off a premium membership nothing to be done I'm beginning to come around to that opinion all my life I've tried to put it from me saying Vladimir be reasonable you haven't yet tried everything and I resume the struggle so there you are again Samuel Becket is widely regarded as one of the darkest strangest and most dramatically Innovative writers of the 20th century gaining International Fame in part for confusing and frustrating audiences his work is coded with the goop of absurdity and oozes with the sludge of black humor inside however Becka's work is deeply poignant and honest putting the pains and plights of The Human Experience center stage and Shining a spotlight on it so we can better see it laugh at it cry over it and embrace it Becket was born in Ireland in 1906 from a young age he excelled in academic as well as Sports particularly in Cricket in 1927 he graduated first in his class from the Trinity College Dublin and received the college's gold medal following graduation he partook in a 2-year exchange Fellowship in Paris where he intended to write and teach and then returned to Dublin to become a lecturer during his time in Paris he was introduced to the renowned author James Joyce which surely would go on to influence becket's path in life after returning to Dublin to teach Becket would quit after only a short time hating the the role and feeling uncomfortable teaching others what he was uncertain of himself from here Becket would dedicate himself to writing throughout his early career he faced constant rejection and failure he failed at publishing his first novel and his second novel which did go on to become published titled Murphy was rejected 40 times before finally being accepted by a publisher following publication the novel was not particularly successful and by his 30s Becket remained largely unknown throughout this time and his life more broadly Becket suffered from heavy depression and anxiety spending a notable amount of time in psychoanalysis his mental conditions and career hardships combined with his remarkable intellect surely culminated into the later portion of his life and work a body of literary creation that potently articulated themes of failure futility absurdity ignorance pessimism and psychiatric phenomena Becka's career can roughly be divided into two major parts pre-World War II and post World War II before and during the second world war while still largely unknown as a writer becket's work was more scholarly cerebral and self assured during this time he produced works that included PR more Pricks than kicks and Murphy following the war however his work would naturally begin to change becoming more disordered modest and compact between around 1946 and 1960 Becket wrote fervently with a new creative keenness and intellectual maturity this creative outpouring would ultim UL lead to a major turning point in his career in 1952 becket's play Waiting for godo would almost immediately become a major success upon public showcase going on to achieve International Acclaim in part for being so unconventional confusing and frustrating to audiences in the play Two Men estron and Vladimir meet by a tree on an otherwise desolate empty Country Road estron informs Vladimir that he spent the previous night being beaten by anonymous attackers in a ditch from here the two wait and wait and wait they are waiting for someone named godd throughout the play they discuss and argue over their situation trying to determine when gotd will come why they're waiting how long they've been waiting for him and whether they're waiting at the right place and time they have never met godd and they're not sure if they ever will at some point two other characters arrive lucky a slave and poo his enslaver followed by a boy who informs estron and Vladimir that he is a messenger for godd and that godd will not be coming that night estron and Vladimir continue waiting however no matter what happens they continue waiting let's go we can't why not we're waiting for goddo spoiler alert they never find godo nothing progresses there's no real plot time is meaningless everything is circular and futile estron and Vladimir are lost in a hopeless absurd predicament passing the time by asking senseless questions and undertaking meaningless efforts waiting for godd was produced in a particular context of Western history following the second world war Humanity was left trying to make sense of and Find meaning in the face of unfathomable Devastation and Malice on account of its own kind how does one sustain meaning and create art while so much of the blood of its species is on its own species hands while ideals of religion of social order of human importance are brought so thoroughly into question largely inspired by the movements of existentialism and absurdism particularly the French philosopher Alber kamu and his work the myth of Copus a new artistic and literary movement known as the theater of the Absurd emerged out of the rubble of Destruction Becket will become a major figure of this movement the theater of the Absurd represented and portrayed human existence as fundamentally void of any purpose it saw the human condition as we strive and thrash against the universe in the name of meaning as fundamentally futile and absurd man in this theater is a puppet compelled by some force or will Beyond his purview religious ideals are false political structure is fallible meaning is elcer mirroring these ideas and waiting for God the meaning objects of interest and plot are left undefined unstructured and unresolved there are of course many interpretations of the work but what else as a whole is left undefined unstructured and unresolved what else sounds like goto and never arrives the structure and format of the play particularly in the context of the absurdist movement perhaps is a reflection of what it is attempting to convey thematically about existence itself in the wake of Destruction both literally from the war and figuratively from the mounting decay of religion and other metaphysical foundations what are estron and Vladimir if not all mankind gruesomely awaken to its absurd lost condition waiting and longing incapable and undeserving of being saved all mankind is us whether we like it or not says Vladimir as the audience like Vladimir and estron all we can do during the play is clumsily wait around and hope for a resolution That Never Comes unsure whether to laugh or cry this condition of course isn't just contained in the theater but in every moment outside of it our gods or godos are not coming we were abandoned at the tree of knowledge left to wait for nothing confused about the point where we are and what we should do and so what do we do we labor we enslave our own for labor we putter around back and forth thinking and battering with ourselves against ourselves we desire further we sin further we wait perhaps godd need not even be a representation of God but rather the fundamental object of longing or salvation perhaps Vladimir is a man and estron is the personification of his desire and yearn or perhaps they are two aspects of the mind of mankind and as long as they have each other they keep going and keep waiting convincing themselves there is something to do and wait for when I think of it says Vladimir to estron all these years but for me where would you be you'd be nothing more than a little heap of bones at the present minute no doubt about it there are times when I wonder if it wouldn't be better for us to part later says estron to Vladimir as humans we want the sense of having found the thing truth salvation Peace of Mind satisfaction or resolution to longing itself but this is not in our nature it is not written in the script and so it never arrives and we keep starting over asking more stupid questions doing more meaningless stuff don't protest we are bored to death there's no denying it good a diversion comes along and what do we do we let it go to waste come let's get to work in an instant all will vanish and we'll be alone more in the midst of nothingness says Vladimir of course these are just interpretations the lack of clear meaning in Waiting for God leaves it open to endless interpretations particularly since Beckett refused to confirm or deny any theories of his work during his lifetime the only thing I'm sure of is that they're wearing Bowlers Beckett said when discussing the play the key word in my plays is perhaps he said another time when referring to his work more broadly following waiting for G Becket would go on to produce several other plays and works of literature most notably endgame Happy Days play and not I each work largely follows similar themes of the absurdest view Humanity being trapped confused tormented ignorant and yet still somehow hopeful in endgame the characters reside in an abandoned house in a post-apocalyptic landscape waiting for some undefined end in Happy Days a woman contentedly goes about her daily routine while buried in sand in play characters are stuck in ears spending their remaining time in a Purgatory like State discussing their trivial romantic triangle not I is just an illuminated mouth of a character contained and surrounded by a black void the character refusing to acknowledge that things have happened to them in 1969 Becket won the Nobel Prize in literature for quote his writing which in new forms for the novel and drama in the destitution of modern man acquires its elevation and quote of course his work is not for everyone it is Bleak confusing and perhaps frustrating but for those for whom it is for it is honest it is funny it brings the Absurd experience of existence onto a stage or page where we can see it in all its terrible Glory perhaps in the end we will wait our whole lives for answers that will never come but while we wait Becket reminds us that we can make art we can connect over the struggle we can laugh at it we can turn boredom absurdity and misery into their counterparts Intrigue creativity and Beauty in the words of Vladimir at this place at this moment of time all mankind is us whether we like it or not let us make the most of it before it is too late let us represent worthily for one the foul brood to which a cruel fate consigned us what do you say it is is true that when with folded arms we weigh the pros and cons we are no less a credit to our species the tiger bounds to the help of his conjurers without the least reflection or else he slinks away into the depths of the thickets but that is not the question what are we doing here that is the question and we are blessed in this that we happen to know the answer yes in the immense confusion one thing alone is clear we are waiting for go to come Teddy enjoys learning about history politics and philosophy he both finds it fascinating as well as beneficial to his ability to deal with the often unscrupulous nature of society the problem is he so often finds himself reading books that aren't that great or are great but are difficult to parse or recall while talking with his friend Ryan about a book he recently read how the world really works Teddy mentions this problem to Ryan hold on check this out Ryan says to Teddy taking out his his phone it's an app I found called blinkist where you can read or listen to summaries and key insights from over 6,600 non-fiction books in podcasts takes just around 15 minutes each it even has how the world really works on it Ryan shows Teddy's phone revealing some of the ideas they were just discussing like the current conditions of energy food production and globalization as well as the importance of being aware of how things work in the world when most of us just accept what we've been told Teddy downloads blinkist immediately now he's able B to easily explore tons of titles he was 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Channel: Pursuit of Wonder

Views: 234,367

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Id: MXSmXNvS3VY

Length: 13min 20sec (800 seconds)

Published: Tue Jun 04 2024