I think the thing that nagged me most throughout this story was that the story never really addressed the fundamental questions generated in the first sentence. What is the "lost one" for which each body searches? What is its significance? Late in the text, there is the suggestion that the lost one for which each body searches is another of the bodies, but this isn't entirely clear. Perhaps they just believe that their lost one is one of the others. Whatever, it is clear the bodies are missing something.
The majority of the text -- the longest Beckett piece we've read outside of the longer plays -- is spent describing the "abode" mentioned in the first sentence and the "lost bodies" that live there. Beckett is not exactly precise (several times saying he's talking in round figures) but is nevertheless quite detailed about the space. It is a cylinder, 50 meters around (about 16 meters across) and 16 meters high. Exactly how this qualifies as "vast enough for search to be in vain," I'm not sure. That's like saying you put 200 people (the text describes about 200 bodies) in a 50x50 room and you won't be able to find a particular other person. Or perhaps it suggests that the "life" of this space is short. Beckett also spends a chunk of text describing the temperature (which varies by about 20 degrees -- presumably Celsius -- on a cycle of eight seconds -- four up, four down) and the light ("dim yellow shaken by a vertiginous tremolo" cycling 5 times per second).
Yes, it is a truly bizarre space.
A few things I noticed in the text. Beckett mentions "harmony" several times. For example, the harmony of the cylinder's dimensions, the lack of harmony in the ladders' positions, the harmony of the niches locations -- and that's just the first three pages. So why is he concerned about harmony here? I'm not sure. Or maybe that's the theme of the piece since it seems to focus on the harmony of the space and the rules that ensure harmonious existence among the residents.
It's also worth noting that Beckett refers to the residents of the space as "bodies", not people. Was he perhaps looking for a connection to things dead? The original is French and it's probably worth noting that "body" is "corps" and "corpse" is "cadavre", so the French probably lacks the ambiguity of the English in this respect. But I suspect Beckett knew exactly what he was doing when he translated it and chose "bodies."
The text seems to move in circles. By that, I mean that it revisits itself several times. Beckett gives us a first overview of something, then moves onto something else, then loops back and provides more detail about a prior point, then goes on to something else, loops back to the first or second point, and so forth. For example, the opening describes the general space of the cylinder ending with "So much for a first apercu of the abode." Next we get a broad description of the bodies. "So much roughly speaking for these bodies…" Then we find more about the space, starting with a recap of the dimensions and the environment but with more detail on the light and temperature variations. This circularity pervades the text. So do the words "so much," for that matter.
Conformity, perhaps a variation on harmony, also seems to be important to this work. For example, when Beckett describes the rules that govern the space and its inhabitants, he makes it clear that there are certain points in any given flow of action where the inhabitants have a choice to continue or abandon, but those choices are relatively few. Failing to abandon a particular flow of action, the body is forced to continue it until the next decision point. For example, moving from the central space into one of the rings of bodies that move around the edges can only happen under certain conditions and following certain rules. Moving between rings can only happen according to certain rules. Once one is in line for a ladder, he must stay in line until he reaches the ladder. Once he sets foot on the first rung, he must climb the ladder to the top. The bodies must conform to the rules. Violations are severely punished. For example, "Woe to the rash searcher who carried away by his passion dare lay a finger on the least of [those in a queue for a ladder]. Like a single body the whole queue falls on the offender. Of all the scenes of violence the cylinder has to offer none approaches this." (p. 222 in "Collected Short Prose")
Ultimately, the space dies. One by one, the bodies give up the search, becoming "sedentaries" until the last finally stops and the space falls into darkness and deep cold. Entropy wins.
In searching for information on the French original, I ran across a paper by an FSU English student (http://www.english.fsu.edu/jobs/num07/Num7Murphy.htm). I was focusing on the French, so haven't read this yet, but I did note that the author suggests that the French title, "Le Depeupleur" means "the depopulator". In other words, the space is a killing machine, but one that grinds its victims down slowly at least, in their perception, as they seem to be able to for lines, climb ladders, walk around, etc. It is death by a thousand cuts rather than the guillotine.
A disorienting, blinding, deafening closed system that taunts some with hopes of escape but only delivers despair. A killing machine that slowly destroys those inside it. An endless quest for some "lost one" that is never found, whose significance is never explained, who the seeker wouldn't recognize even if they met. Bodies, dead already, but not having the good grace to lie down and be still. Perhaps Beckett's view of life on earth?
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