Digital Manuscript ProjectL'Innommable / The Unnamable

[1647] Some
nice point in semantics, for example, of a
nature to to accelerate the march of the hours,
could not retain my attention.[1648] For others
the [⁁] [ADDITION]Addition on page
21vtime-abolishing [⁁] joys of impersonal and disinterested
speculation.
[1651]
To think so would be to underestimate the
extent of the repertory in which I am
plunged and which, it appears, is nothing
compared to what is waiting for me at
the conclusion of my novitiate.[1652] These lights,
gleaming low afar, then rearing up,
in a blaze and sweeping upon me, blinding,
to devour me, are merely one example.
[1653]
My familiarity with them avails me nothing,
each time they give me to reflect.[1654] [ADDITION]Addition on page
21vEach time up to now
at the last moment, just as I am beginning
to sizzle, they go out, smoking and hissing,
I know, and nevertheless each
time my phlegm is shattered.
[1655]
And in my head, which I am beginning
to locate to my satisfaction, above and a
little to the right, the sparks spurt and
dash themselves out against the walls.
[1656]
Sometimes I say to myself that I too am in my
head, it's terror makes me say it,
and the longing to be in safety, surrounded
on all sides by massive bone.
- Segments
L'Innommable / The Unnamable © 2013 Samuel Beckett Digital Manuscript Project.
Editors: Dirk Van Hulle, Shane Weller and Vincent Neyt