I used to be a writer, these days I prefer paint. But the thing is — the two have more in common than I imagine. For the maker it’s all about the process … “I began my diary exercises without a plan, aware that in literature you don’t start because you have something to write…
Tag: Samuel Beckett
On the shape of things
“I am interested in the shape of ideas, even if I do not believe in them” —Samuel Beckett
A letter for Moran
«There is nothing more to tell. The house was empty. The company had cut off the light. They have offered to let me have it back. But I told them they could keep it.» —Samuel Beckett: Molloy
There were times when I forgot not only who I was, but that I was, …
Don’t wait to be hunted to hide, that’s always been my motto. –SAMUEL BECKETT, Molloy
From representational drawing to invented worlds
My recent shift from drawing to painting has not only led to a shift in form, but also, as it turns out, a shift in content. When painting, my focus is no longer on the observed outer world, as it is when I am doing urban sketching, croquis or floral studies. When painting my focus…
A note to Harold:
Harold asks: Do you read that as Beckett saying that he is writing not from “nothingness” in an existential sense but from “a place without intellect or the observation that could declare something to be ‘nothing’ or ‘something’”? That latter seems likely. I’m not sure if I quite understand your question (and this uncertainty of…
Grating along at a lower level …
Further musings on Fear & Anxiety The Canadian professor of psychology, Stanley Rachman, differentiates between anxiety and fear in the following way: Anxiety and Fear are usually distinguished on the basis that, whereas fear is brief and intense, an emotional reaction to a specific, perceived danger, anxiety is diffuse, objectless, unpleasant and persistent [. . .]…
Better to be afraid of something than of nothing …
Further musings on Edmund de Waal’s exhibition During the Night at Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna Edmund de Waal, Albrecht Dürer, Samuel Beckett & the concept of Angst A man (Albrecht Dürer) awakes from a nightmare in the depths of the night. He writes down his fears and illustrates them with a painting. 500 years later, another man (Edmund de Waal) is inspired…
Funny is the New Deep
In Brooklyn gaining new insights on writing … “Writers in early stages … tend to look down upon the comic impulse”, says Almond, and I think he is right. Writers are afraid of not being taken serious. But the thing is: Comedy is not stupid, it is – maybe – the best way to connect…
Try again. Fail again. Fail better.
“It sometimes happens and will sometimes happen again that I forget who I am and strut before my eyes, like a stranger.”
sub rosa 