Written initially in French, later translating it into English, Molloy is the first book in Dublin-born Samuel Beckett’s trilogy. It was published shortly after WWII and marked a new, mature writing style, which was to dominate the remainder of his working life. Molloy is less a novel than a set of two monologues narrated by Molloy and his pursuer Moran. In the first section, while consumed with the search of his mother, Molloy lost everything. Moran takes over in the second half, describing his hunt for Molloy. Within this simple outline, spoken in the first person, is a remarkable story, raising the questions of being and aloneness that marks so much of Beckett’s work, but is richly comic as well. Beautifully written, it is one of the masterpieces of Irish literature. This is the world premiere recording. Written by a master dramatist, it is ideally suited to the audiobook medium.
Tempted to put down Beckett's novel as unreadable? Just two separate monologues, with little or no apparent connection today? Don't be too hasty. In print the two monologues are hard to connect, it's true. Molloy, a homeless derelict in search of his mother, narrates Part I, while Moran, a pretentious, outwardly devout prig, seeks Molloy himself in Part II. Sean Barrett and Dermot Crowley each read separate parts, and, oddly, these two skilled actors hold the book together remarkably well. Though the connection between the two monologues is thin, each is richly nuanced with Beckett's sometimes dark, sometimes ribald humor. The distinct readings lend the book a dramatic presence, playfully yet skillfully rendering all the characters to illuminate Beckett's irony. So while in print it seems dark, even absurd, in audio this work takes on the full richness of comedy, probably as Beckett, preeminently a dramatist, intended. P.E.F. (c) AudioFile 2004, Portland, Maine
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