Model
Digital Document
Publisher
Florida Atlantic University
Description
Critics of Beckett's trilogy (Molloy, Malone Dies, The
Unnamable) have long puzzled over the profusion of
bilabials in the characters' names: Molloy, Moran, Malone,
Macmann. They all share a common initial. "Les Tripedes
de la Trilogie" attempts to offer yet another
interpretation: with its three bases, the letter M suggests
in the context of the trilogy a man and his stick,
reminiscent to Beckett of the three-legged "animal" in the
riddle of the Sphinx. The omnipresent stick, in both its
physical and symbolic functions, is shown to be the crucial
instrument keeping the unstable Beckettian creatures
briefly upright in their "struggle for life." As an
extension of the body, it allows them to fight and to
survive. As a cylindrical rod, it acquires metaphysical
associations with divine or supernatural power.
Unnamable) have long puzzled over the profusion of
bilabials in the characters' names: Molloy, Moran, Malone,
Macmann. They all share a common initial. "Les Tripedes
de la Trilogie" attempts to offer yet another
interpretation: with its three bases, the letter M suggests
in the context of the trilogy a man and his stick,
reminiscent to Beckett of the three-legged "animal" in the
riddle of the Sphinx. The omnipresent stick, in both its
physical and symbolic functions, is shown to be the crucial
instrument keeping the unstable Beckettian creatures
briefly upright in their "struggle for life." As an
extension of the body, it allows them to fight and to
survive. As a cylindrical rod, it acquires metaphysical
associations with divine or supernatural power.
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