Murphy, Samuel Beckett's first novel, was published in 1938. Its work-shy eponym
ous hero, adrift in London, realises that desire can never be satisfied and with
draws from life, in search of stupor. Murphy's lovestruck fiancee Celia tries wi
th tragic pathos to draw him back, but her attempts are doomed to failure.
Mu
rphy's friends and familiars are simulacra of Murphy, fragmented and incomplete.
But Beckett's achievement lies in the brilliantly original language used to com
municate this vision of isolation and misunderstanding. The combination of parti
cularity and absurdity gives Murphy's world its painful definition, but the shee
r comic energy of Beckett's prose releases characters and readers alike into exu
berance.
