"Endgame": Beginning to End

The opening of Fin de Partie is different from the opening of Endgame. In the French version, the curtain rises to reveal two covered trash bins, two shaded windows, one shrouded armchair, an inverted painting, and a solitary red-face figure, Clov, "motionless by the armchair." In the Engl...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inJournal of modern literature Vol. 27; no. 4; pp. 121 - 128
Main Author Horowitz, Evan
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Bloomington Indiana University 22.06.2004
Indiana University Press
Subjects
Ambiguity
Beckett, Samuel
Beckett, Samuel (1906-1989)
Coffins
Comparative analysis
Criticism and interpretation
Curtains
Determinism
Determinism (Philosophy)
Drama
Dramatists
English
Engraving
Fatalism
Fleas
Free will and determinism
French language
Modern literature
Theater
Theater criticism
Translation
Translations
Wordplay
United States
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Summary:The opening of Fin de Partie is different from the opening of Endgame. In the French version, the curtain rises to reveal two covered trash bins, two shaded windows, one shrouded armchair, an inverted painting, and a solitary red-face figure, Clov, "motionless by the armchair." In the English, translated by Samuel Beckett himself and mounted just eight months after the French premier, there is a single, seemingly trivial difference: the solitary red-faced figure, Clov, stands "motionless by the door." Horowitz discusses a curios discrepancy between the French and the English openings of the play.
ISSN:0022-281X
1529-1464
1529-1464
DOI:10.1353/jml.2005.0006