Samuel Beckett, Worstward Ho

Dirk Van Hulle (University of Antwerp)

The Literary Encyclopedia. Volume 1.2.1.09: English Writing and Culture: Postwar and Contemporary Britain , 1945-present.
Vol. editors: Gina Lyle (University of Glasgow), Graham MacPhee (University of Manchester), Kerry Myler (Birmingham Newman University), Jenni Ramone (The Nottingham Trent University)

Dates

First circulation or publication 1984

Places

Ireland, Republic of (Eire) (Country of Origin)

Genres and Modes

Novel

Resources

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As one of the most enigmatic of Samuel Beckett's texts, and the last of the three works published under the title

Nohow On

Worstward Ho

(1983) seems to express the desire to come to some form of closure. The final words “Said nohow on.” are an answer to the opening words “On. Say on.” As such, they are an illustration of the important maxim from Beckett's

Endgame

: “The end is in the beginning and yet you go on.”

Worstward Ho

is the most radical elaboration of this “and yet”. It is an attempt to reach the worst possible condition, which proves to be an asymptotic journey: like the infinitesimal attempt to reach ‘nothing' with words, the worst cannot be attained with words. For as Shakespeare already wrote in

King Lear

: “And worse may I be yet; the worst is not, / So…

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1681 words

Citation: Van Hulle, Dirk. "Worstward Ho". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 04 October 2004 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=8883, accessed 07 May 2024.]

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