A critical account of Samuel Beckett's Nouvelles

Abstract

This is a critical account of three nouvelles or short stories by Samual Beckett entitled "L'Expulse", "Le Calmant" and "La Fin". The text discussed is the 1958 French version rather than the English translation "Stories" bearing the titles "The Expelled", "The Calmative" and "The End". The author does not summarise or paraphrase the stories but instead gives a critical account in which the more important aspects of the individual nouvelles are discussed in their order of appearance. The most frequently recurring topics are: the range of subject-matter; the incidence of satire; the attitude of story-telling; and the control of sympathy. Unlike former criticism, this essay is based on a conviction that the Nouvelles, though difficult, are ordered and intelligible. A coherent interpretation of "Le Calmant" is advanced which greatly simplifies the discussion of the Nouvelles as a whole.