• Title: Murphy
• Author: Samuel Beckett
• Genre/Subject: Irish literature
• Publisher: Grove
• Publication Date: 1938
• Start date: 6/1/24
• Finish date: 6/14/24

Review:

The first published novel from the author who would later become known for Waiting for Godot. Rejected by 42 publishers it was finally published by Routledge in 1938. As much as I enjoyed this, I can see why it was rejected by so many publishers.

Why? Because this is a peculiar book, just shy of the weird line that Beckett’s fellow countryman Joyce blew past with Ulysses. So, to be clear on this point, this is not a Joycean copycat but rather a very original and visionary work. Not a masterpiece like Ulysses but still a work of excellence.

I was tempted to take the easy route and say that to understand this you need to read it, but I will do my best to explain it as far as that goes.

The protagonist is like the title suggests a man named Murphy. After you read about twenty pages you begin to get a sense of who Murphy is and what he’s about. He is jobless but uncomplaining about that situation. He likes to dream in his rocking chair and is much taken with astrological predictions. Irish, a Dubliner by birth he lives now in London for reasons not entirely clear. His woman, Celia, a prostitute is introduced and they move lodgings to accommodate her and Murphy better. This is important to note as the lodgings and landlady play a role in the tale.

It becomes clear that Murphy is being sought and pursued by three men and a woman for some reason. Neary, Wylie, Cooper and Miss Counihan are the pursuers and their motto is simply: Find Murphy.

Murphy eventually finds a position at a mental institution called the Magdelen Mental Mercy seat which surprisingly he enjoys to an unprecedented extent. The interactions with the residents that Murphy has explores the fine line between sanity and insanity, and the even finer line between the supposedly sane staff and the supposedly insane residents. So as not to spoil the novel I will just say that various adventures and misadventures ensue until the ending.

The tone and dialogue are difficult for a reader to understand at first and even once I figured that out the prose was still loaded with curiousities, archaic language, obscure words and multiple adjectives where one would have sufficed.

The peculiarities notwithstanding this was a work of genius with plenty of unexpected humor, pathos and genuine emotion throughout. It took me two weeks to read the 168 pages but in looking at it objectively this was time well spent. I stopped myself from skimming over parts and losing attention. In books like this every word counts and that demands more time and attention than we are normally used to, but the experience is very rewarding in the end. While I would not recommend this as an introduction to Beckett I would recommend it to anyone with an interest in Yeats, Joyce and the Irish poets and authors of the early 20th century. Time well spent.