Comments on: Say Everything: some initial coverage

By: Scott Rosenberg

Scott Rosenberg — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 18:02:40 +0000

The Beckett quote came out a little incoherently, possibly because I didn’t express it precisely enough or possibly as a result of condensation.

My point (which I hope can be understood intuitively) was pretty simple: Beckett understood (and conveyed) a deep sense of the unbearable monotony of so much of daily life that we have no choice but to bear. I watched (and read) a lot of Beckett. So that informs my skepticism about the value of lifecasting.

So no, Beckett’s art is nothing like a lifecast. But it can help us see why lifecasting might be futile.

By: David Edelstein

David Edelstein — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 14:49:51 +0000

SAR: “Lifecasting is an alternative where you’re pressing a button and recording everything. But it’s very hard to have an interesting life 24/7. I spent enough years as a theater critic watching Samuel Beckett to believe that.”

Hmmmm. Are you saying what I think you’re saying? That Beckett’s ultra-compressed dramatic poetry–with its hallucinatory sensory deprivation (“Something dripping in my head… Splash, splash, always on the same spot…”)–is akin to a “lifecast” with the camera on some idiot exhibitionist 24/7? Get from behind your monitor! There is a higher despair!

By: Scott Rosenberg

Scott Rosenberg — Sun, 05 Jul 2009 00:29:02 +0000

Thank you, Sylvia! I hadn’t yet seen your kind review before I’d written this post.

By: Sylvia Paull

Sylvia Paull — Sat, 04 Jul 2009 21:22:35 +0000

i couldn’t stop reading it, even while the Tour de France live coverage was on my computer this morning. That’s saying something.

By: Sylvia Paull

Sylvia Paull — Sat, 04 Jul 2009 21:21:26 +0000

and check out my comments about your book at the post “Say Everything Says It All” on whoisylvia.typepad.com