ABSTRACT
At the end of the Second World War Beckett took two decisions that proved crucial for the development of his art. He decided to create an art that dealt directly with failure: and he turned from English to French, because French as a language gave him the simplicity of expression that his writing required [33]. Working in a language that forced him toward simplicity would also enable Beckett to create work that resolved the problematic content of his early novels; the contrast between the demands of a prose narrative and the tendency of his central characters towards stasis and impotence. In Murphy and Watt, the central characters' lives had been described by a narrator who made no claim to omniscience; in the nouvelles and the Trilogy Beckett simply united the narrator and the central character, making the narrator's inability to describe and account for himself the central dilemma that his writing explored
... I shall not answer any more questions. I shall even try not to ask myself any more. While waiting I shall tell myself stories, if I can. They will not be the same type of story as hitherto, that is all. They will be neither beautiful or ugly, they will be calm, there will be no ugliness or fever in them any more, they will be almost lifeless, like the teller. What was that I said ? It does not matter. I look forward to them giving me great satisfaction, much satisfaction ...
