Try Again Fail Again Try Again
Samuel Beckett: Fail Better and "Worstward Ho!"
Today we're featuring a Samuel Beckett quote that has gained immense popularity in recent years. You may not take known that this quote comes from Irish writer Samuel Beckett, but there's no uncertainty you know the words.
Even if you aren't involved in tech, entrepreneurship, lifehacking, or other such digital-age ubiquities, you've probably heard the most famous office of this Samuel Beckett quote: "Neglect better."
The "Fail Ameliorate" Quote by Samuel Beckett
The "neglect ameliorate" quote was originally published in Samuel Beckett's short piece of prose entitled Worstward Ho!, his second-to-terminal work ever published. The full Samuel Beckett quote reads like this (and by "total," we really hateful the part that gets repeated):
"E'er tried. Always failed. No matter. Try again. Fail again. Neglect improve."
By itself, yous can probably understand why this phrase has become a mantra of sorts, specially in the glamorized world of overworked offset-upwards founders hoping confronting pretty loftier odds to make it.
Even outside of the business development niche, this quote does sound inspiring. Right?
We call back so, too. That is…until you read the rest of it.
Is the "Neglect Better" Quote Actually Inspirational?
Here's the continuation of that Samuel Beckett quote, the role that immediately follows the famously catchy bit (our emphasis added):
"First the body. No. Kickoff the place. No. Commencement both. Now either. Now the other. Ill of the either try the other. Sick of it back ill of the either. And then on. Somehow on. Till sick of both. Throw up and become. Where neither. Till ill of there. Throw up and back. The body again. Where none. The place over again. Where none. Effort once more. Fail again. Better once more. Or better worse. Fail worse again. Notwithstanding worse again. Till sick for skillful. Throw up for proficient. Go for good. Where neither for good. Good and all."
Equally this markedly darker snippet of text demonstrates, Worstward Ho! seems to have nothing to exercise with positivity, motivation, or progress.
In fact, it seems that the only recompense Beckett's narrator tin can come with for the absurdity of existence is to "fail better" the adjacent time.
Non exactly inspiring, correct?
The Meme-ification of the "Fail Better" Samuel Beckett Quote
In Beckett's bleak worldview, life is already a 1000 failure (or a tragi-comedy, if y'all'd prefer) in which we are all, similar the narrator ofWorstward Ho!, sitting in an inexplicable "dim void." The fact that this Samuel Beckett quote has been taken so far from its original roots is pretty fascinating.
Mark O'Connell, a writer forSlate, describes the ironic meme-ification of the "neglect better" quote similar this:
"The entrepreneurial way for failure with which this polished shard fits so snugly is non really concerned, as Beckett was, with failure per se—with the necessary defeat of every human endeavor, of all efforts at advice, and of language itself—only with failure equally an essential stage in the private'due south progress toward lucrative self-fulfillment."
As O'Connell notes, Samuel Beckett was interested in failure, full stop. Not failure as a necessary path toward riches, or fame, or (anybody's favorite buzzword) "innovation." Just failure.
The "Dim Void:" Beckett'sWorstward Ho!
Except for this one "fail better" quote, nearly every other snippet fromWestward Ho! reflects the real Samuel Beckett: heart-searching, morbid, and completely avant-garde.
Indeed, far from encouraging techie CEOs to attain their greatest potential, Beckett's primary obsession inWestward Ho! is "the void":
"Longing that all go. Dim go. Void go. Longing go. Vain longing that vain longing become."
In many means, this text can be seen equally an extended meditation on the inexplicable nature of being and not-being. Beckett's narrator seems to be trying to work out the paradox of emptiness and presence, of nascence and death.
Worstward Ho! vs. Westward Ho!
The title ofWorstward Ho! is a riff on the 19th century novelWest Ho! past the English novelist Charles Kingsley, offer a very contrasting view of life.
While the phrase "Westward Ho!" is associated with expansion, growth, and corking optimism for the future, Beckett's title reminds united states of america that, ultimately, we are all journey "worstward" towards the grave…
…and possibly back over again. It's non quite clear, merely some people see the theory of reincarnation in this work, merely as "metempsychosis" is a major theme in Joyce'southUlysses.
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Unreliability of Linguistic communication
Another important theme inWorstward Ho! (again, something skipped over in the famous Samuel Beckett quote) is the narrator'south lack of faith in language. Later in the piece, Beckett writes the post-obit:
"With leastening words say least best worse. For want of worser worse. Unlessenable least best worse."
This phrase succinctly encapsulates Beckett'due south later on minimalist aesthetics. You can as well see the unreliability of linguistic communication equally "give-and-take" almost slips into "worse" in this quote.
What DoesWorstward Ho!Even Mean?
A few literary critics have tried to classifyWorstward Ho! as a novella, but it'southward quite difficult to make out a clear plot in this text. Readers who support the theory thatWorstward Ho! is a novella point out that this text is mainly about an old man, an old woman, and a child visiting a graveyard. Information technology's left up to usa, perhaps, to make full in the blanks surrounding these three figures.
As with many of Beckett's other works, there'south a great deal of disagreement over whatWorstward Ho! actually "ways." The woman, human, and child might be symbolic of stages in the homo condition. Or they might non.
Equally with whatever other piece of work of fiction, readers only go out of Beckett's text as much equally they put into it.
Samuel Beckett: And then Much More than "Fail Improve"
A Nobel Prize-winning author, Samuel Beckett'due south been chosen many things: Avant-garde. Dark. Intense. Depressive.
But inspiring? Non and then much.
Samuel Beckett Portrait [Public Domain], via Wikimedia Eatables
In fact, Morris Dickstein at The New York Times Book Review says this of Beckett's life and piece of work:
"He arrived early at an extremely bleak view of life and a sense of the peculiarity of his own detached and morbid temperament."
To sympathize more nigh this famous Irish writer—and see what's across his out-of-context "fail meliorate" quote—allow's have a little deeper look at his life.
Friendship with Joyce and WWII
Samuel Beckett was built-in in 1906 in Dublin and was raised in a Protestant household.
Later on receiving his BA in Romance languages at Trinity Higher, Beckett moved to Paris where he became close friends with young man Irish author James Joyce. Beckett learned a cracking deal about writing from Joyce and helped the great author with his last novelFinnegans Wake.
When World War Ii bankrupt out, Beckett remained in France and worked with resistance fighters. For his efforts, Beckett was awarded the Croix de Guerre from the French government in 1945. Before the war, Beckett mainly wrote essays on literary criticism. The only work from this period students read today is Beckett's assay of French writer Marcel Proust.
Avant-Garde Theater and Literary Development
Virtually literary historians concur that Beckett'due south first great novel wasWatt, which was published in 1953. Beckett and so published a major trilogy of novels calledMolloy,Malone Dies, andThe Unnamable.
But it wasn't until he produced his classic absurdist drama Waiting For Godotthat Beckett became a celebrity of Avant-garde theatre.
Beckett spent the rest of his life by and large moving between the Marne Valley and Paris. He was a famously reclusive writer who rarely gave interviews, although he was generous with his time for serious artists that sought him out.
As he matured, Beckett tried to parse down his prose to the blank essentials. In fact, some of Beckett's later works (similar the thirty-second play "Jiff") had no words at all.
Beckett's style of prose went in the verbal opposite of his mentor James Joyce. Whereas Joyce'southward works expanded over time, Beckett'southward later texts had fewer and fewer words. A few of the bang-up works from his middle and late career include:
- Endgame
- Eh Joe
- Krapp'southward Final Tape
Manuscript of Embers, a one-human activity radio play by Samuel Beckett, by Dmitrij Rodionov, via Wikimedia Commons
Nobel Prize in Literature and Later Life
The Nobel Prize Commission awarded Beckett the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1969. Although he accepted the award, he didn't make a speech and he generously gave away all of his prize money.
Beckett passed abroad in 1989, just a few months afterwards his married woman Suzanne Déchevaux-Dumesni. The two were buried in the French capital's famous Cimetière de Montparnasse.
Samuel Beckett Bridge, Dublin, by Surrell, via Wikimedia Commons
To honor the great writer, Parisian officials (perhaps ironically) named the Allée Samuel Beckett near the infamous Catacombs in his honor. In 2007, Dublin likewise honored the influential author with the Samuel Beckett Bridge over the River Liffey.
More often than not all of Beckett's works explore heavy themes:
- Expiry
- Memory
- Language'southward human relationship to reality
Although Beckett is often seen as a morbid writer, he often injects his own unique sense of Irish humor into many of his plays and novels. Much similar Joyce's work, many of Beckett's texts are total of references to some of his favorite authors in the Western literary canon, specially Dante Alighieri.
Connections Between Beckett and Dante
Beckett was a neat admirer of Dante'due south poetry. Information technology's even possible that Beckett had the final lines ofParadiso in mind when he equanimous some sections ofWorstward Ho!
Equally Dante stands earlier God in the finale to his thou epic, he utters these unforgettable verses:
Here forcefulness failed my high fantasy; but my
Desire and will were moved already—like
A wheel revolving uniformly—by
The Love that moves the dominicus and the other stars.
For Dante, as it seems for Beckett too, the highest happiness is to surrender all craving and, at least in Dante'due south vision, to allow God to piece of work through usa. Different Dante, however, Beckett is living after the horrors of World War II and afterward the Nietzschean "Death of God."
But similar us, Beckett is in an age far removed from the organized religion of the Middle Ages that inspired the soaring cathedrals all across Europe. Indeed, instead of building the one thousand cathedrals, we are living amongst their rubble. With these immense suffering of World War Ii at the forefront of his mind, Beckett suggests that there's little to be hopeful for in the atomic age.
Interestingly, despite all of his pessimism about the human condition, there is yet a faint want in Beckett's work for union with the divine.
Tips for Further Report ofWorstward Ho!
Beckett'sWorstward Ho! is extremely rhythmic and relies on brusk staccato sentences.
When you listen to thisprose-poem, it near sounds like an incantation and tin have a hypnotic consequence. If you lot practice decide to mind to this text from a trained reader, then yous will want to concur a copy of the poem in your hand to continue track of Beckett's wordplay.
A few words Beckett switches effectually in the piece include the pairs "know"/"no" and "ii"/"too." Also, subsequently in the text, Beckett uses the word "prey," which could be mistaken for "pray" if you lot're just listening to the poem.
In that location are many fantabulous readings ofWorstward Ho! online. You lot can also find Beckett'due south originalWorstward Ho! text aslope helpful glosses by Colin Greenlaw on this webpage.
"Neglect Better": What Does It All Mean?
Here at Books on the Wall, we dearest earthworks into quotes and all things quote related—from what piece of work the quote came from, what the writer meant by information technology, how modern guild has interpreted information technology, and whether the supposed writer fifty-fifty wrote the quote in the first identify.
When you start looking deeper into the many quotes that float around our collective conscience and the internet (and in this example, on tennis player Stan Wawrinka's tattooed arm), you'll see pretty quickly that in that location's always more to the story than the piffling bit of text that happened to get famous.
And by now, y'all'll realize that this is definitely truthful of this particular Samuel Beckett quote.
And this all raises an interesting question: Does a quote's context matter?
If not for the misplaced fame of this Samuel Beckett quote, tons of people would never have even heard of this groundbreaking Irish writer. Plus, information technology could exist argued that—despite its undisputed out-of-contextness—the "fail ameliorate" quote has truly inspired people, maybe even changed lives.
Then does it thing that its writer would probably blench to learn how commercialized and, well, positive it's become? How much should an author's original intent color our view of his or her words?
In the end, we really don't know. It's certainly an interesting question to consider.
What do you lot think? Permit us know your thoughts in the comments below.
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