Digital Manuscript ProjectL'Innommable / The Unnamable

[2317] cause is heard, it is not he, he who I know
I am, that's my only knowledge, he
who I cannot say I am, I can't say
anything, I've tried, I'm trying,
he knows nothing, knows of nothing,
neither what it is to speak, nor what
it is to hear, to know nothing, be
capable of nothing, and to have to try,
[2317]
you don't try any more, you don't need to
try, it goes on by itself, it drags
on by itself, from word to word,
a weary whirl, you are inside it
somewhere, everywhere, not he,
if I could forget him, have one second,
a second of this noise that sweeps me
away, without having to say, I
[2317]
don't say it, I haven't the time,
It's not me, I am him, after
all, why not, why not say it, I must
have said it, might as well that as
anything else, it's not me, it's not
me, I can't, it came like that, it
comes like that, it's not me, if this
could be about him, if this could
[2317]
come to be about him,
I'd deny him with pleasure, if that
would be a help, it's me, here's it's me,
speak to me of him, let me speak of
him, I never asked for anything,
make me speak of him, what a
mess, there is no one left,
long may that last.
[2318] That's
what it comes to in the end, the
survival of that alone, then the words come
back, someone says I, unbelieving.
[2319]
If I could make an effort, an effort of
attention, to try and discover what's
happening, what's happening to me, what
then, I don't know, I've forgotten the
apodosis, but I can't, I don't even
hear anything more, I'm sleeping, they
call that sleeping, there they are again,
[2319]
we'll have to start killing them again,
I hear this horrible noise,
coming back takes time, I don't know
where from, I was nearly there, I
nearly slept, I call that sleeping, there
is no one but me, there was never anyone
but me, here I mean, elsewhere is a
- Segments
L'Innommable / The Unnamable © 2013 Samuel Beckett Digital Manuscript Project.
Editors: Dirk Van Hulle, Shane Weller and Vincent Neyt