The Unnamable (L’Innommable,
1953)
by Samuel Beckett
(Key Facts)
Key Facts: The Unnamable by
Samuel Beckett
Full Title:
The Unnamable (L’Innommable)
Author:
Samuel Beckett
Type of Work:
Experimental novel;
stream-of-consciousness narrative
Genre:
Literary modernism,
absurdist fiction, existentialist literature
Language:
Originally French
(L’Innommable), translated into English by the author
Time and Place Written:
Written in Paris, France,
1949–1952
Date of First Publication:
1953
Publisher:
Les Éditions de
Minuit (French edition); Grove Press (English translation, 1958)
Tone:
Bleak, introspective,
existential, minimalist, occasionally ironic
Setting (Time):
Indeterminate; the narrative
exists largely in an abstract, timeless void
Setting (Place):
Primarily an undefined,
interior, liminal space; a void-like interior world of consciousness
Protagonist:
The Unnamable (a
disembodied, bodiless voice or consciousness)
Major Conflict:
Existential struggle of
consciousness: the Unnamable questions its own existence, identity, and the
possibility of expression while confronting isolation, the limitations of
language, and the absurdity of life.
Rising Action:
The narrator begins
speaking, recalling fragmented memories and past lives.
Attempts to name itself and
describe its existence repeatedly fail.
The voice references prior
Beckettian characters like Molloy, Malone, and Belacqua.
Recollections, imagined
characters, and other voices intrude, complicating the sense of identity.
Climax:
The Unnamable reaches the
peak of existential introspection, confronting the impossibility of fully
knowing or expressing itself.
The voice articulates the
paradox of persistence despite futility: “I can’t go on. I’ll go on.”
Falling Action:
The monologue continues in
recursive loops.
Attempts at narrative,
memory, and identity remain unresolved, highlighting endless circularity.
Themes:
Existential uncertainty and
the search for identity
The absurdity of existence
Isolation and alienation
The limitations and failures
of language
Persistence and endurance in
the face of futility
Memory and the fluidity of
time
Motifs:
The voice/narration as
consciousness
Repetition and circularity
The void and emptiness
Fragmented memory
Motion vs. stasis
Symbols:
The disembodied voice: human
consciousness and self-awareness
The void: existential
isolation and uncertainty
Repetitive phrases (“I can’t
go on. I’ll go on”): persistence amidst futility
Fragments of other
characters: the fluidity of identity and memory
Foreshadowing:
Early references to previous
Beckettian characters (Molloy, Malone, Belacqua) foreshadow the Unnamable’s
existential extremity and the collapse of physical narrative into pure
consciousness.
The narrator’s repeated
questioning of identity anticipates the novel’s unresolved, cyclical ending.
 by Samuel Beckett (Key Facts)){kind=link}
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