Molloy (novel)

Molloy
1955 Grove Press edition
Author(s)	Samuel Beckett
Translator	Patrick Bowles, in collaboration with the author
Country	France
Language	French
Series	'The Trilogy'
Genre(s)	Novel
Publisher	Editions de Minuit (French); Grove Press (English)
Publication date	French, 1951; English, 1955
Media type	Print (Hardback & Paperback)
Pages	298 pages (1st French edition)
ISBN	ISBN 2-7073-0558-X (Editions de Minuit edition)
Followed by	Malone Dies (Malone Meurt)

Molloy is a novel by Samuel Beckett. The English translation is by Beckett and Patrick Bowles.

Plot introduction

On first appearance the book concerns two different characters, both of whom have interior monologues in the book. Both characters have red hair and are offended by the term "ranga". As the story moves along the two characters are distinguished by name and hair only as their experiences and thoughts are, to say the least, similar. The novel is set in an indeterminate place, most often identified with the Ireland of Beckett's birth. It was written in Paris, along with the other two books (Malone Dies and The Unnamable) of 'The Trilogy', between 1946 and 1950. 'The Trilogy' is generally considered to be one of the most important literary works of the 20th century, and the most important non-dramatic work in Beckett's oeuvre^[1][2][3][4].

Plot summary

The plot, what little there is of it, is revealed in the course of the two inner monologues that make up the book. The first monologue is split into two paragraphs. The first paragraph is less than a page long; the second paragraph lasts for over eighty pages.

The first is by a former vagrant named Molloy, who is now living "in [his] mother's room" and writing to "speak of the things that are left, say [his] goodbyes, finish dying." He describes a journey he had taken some time earlier, before he came there, to find his mother. He spends much of it on his bicycle, gets arrested for resting on it in a way that is considered lewd, but is unceremoniously released. From town to anonymous town and across anonymous countryside, he encounters a succession of bizarre characters: an elderly man with a stick; a policeman; a charity worker; a woman whose dog he kills running over it with a bike (her name is never completely determined: "a Mrs Loy... or Lousse, I forget, Christian name something like Sophie"), and one whom he falls in love with ("Ruth" or maybe "Edith"); He abandons his bicycle (which he will not call "bike"), walks in no certain direction, meeting "a young old man"; a charcoal-burner living in the woods, whom he murders with a hard blow to the head; and finally a character who takes him in, to the room.

The second is by a private detective by the name of Jacques Moran, who is given the task by his boss, the mysterious Youdi, of tracking down Molloy. He sets out, taking his recalcitrant son, also named Jacques, with him. They wander across the countryside, increasingly bogged down by the weather, decreasing supplies of food and Moran's suddenly failing body. He sends his son to purchase a bicycle and while his son is gone, Moran encounters a strange man who appears before him. Moran murders him (in manner comparable to Molloy's), and then hides his body in the forest. Eventually, the son disappears, and he struggles home. At this point in the work, Moran begins to pose several odd theological questions, which make him appear to be going mad. Having returned to his home, now in a state of shambles and disuse, Moran switches to discussing his present state. He has begun to use crutches, just as Molloy does at the beginning of the novel. Also a voice, which has appeared intermittently throughout his part of the text, has begun to significantly inform his actions. The novel ends with Moran delineating how the beginning of his report was crafted. He reveals that the first words of the section were told to him by this nascent voice, which instructed him to sit down and begin writing.

'It is midnight. Rain is beating against the window.' It was not midnight. It was not raining.

Thus, Moran forsakes reality, beginning to descend into the command of this "voice" which may in fact mark the true creation of Molloy.

Due to the succession of the book from the first part to the second the reader is led to believe that time is passing in a similar fashion; however, the second part could be read as a prequel to the first.

Characters in "Molloy"

Molloy is a vagrant, currently bedridden; it appears he is a seasoned veteran in vagrancy, reflecting that "To him who has nothing it is forbidden not to relish filth." He is surprisingly well-educated, having studied geography, among other things, and seems to know something of "old Geulincx". He has a number of bizarre habits, not least of which is the sucking of pebbles, described by Beckett in an enormous and infamous passage, and also having an odd and rather morbid attachment to his mother (who may or may not be dead).

Moran is a private detective, with a housekeeper, Martha, and son, Jacques, both of whom he treats with scorn. He is pedantic and extremely ordered, pursuing the task set him logically, to the point of absurdity, expressing fear that his son will catch him masturbating and being an extreme disciplinarian. He also shows an insincere reverence for the church and deference to the local priest, perhaps indicative of Beckett's perception of attitudes in Ireland. As the novel progresses, his body begins to fail for no visible or specified reason, a fact that surprises him, and his mind begins to decline to the point of insanity. This similarity in bodily and mental decline leads readers to believe that Molloy and Moran are in fact two facets of the same personality, or that the section narrated by Molloy is actually written by Moran.

Allusions/references to other works

Molloy includes references to a number of Beckett's other works, especially the characters, who are revealed as fictional characters in the same manner as Molloy and Moran: "Oh the stories I could tell you if I were easy. What a rabble in my head, what a gallery of moribunds. Murphy, Watt, Yerk, Mercier and all the others." (Part II)

Dantesque imagery is present throughout the novel, like in most of Beckett's work. In Part I, Molloy compares himself to Belacqua^[5] from the Purgatorio, Canto IV and Sordello from the Purgatorio, Canto VI. There are also Molloy's frequent references to the various positions of the sun, which calls to mind similar passages in the Purgatorio.

Sources, references, external links, quotations

• The Modern Word: Apmonia
• Samuel Beckett Endpage
• Samuel Beckett Resources and Links

References

1. ^ [1], A NY Times theater review mentioning the significance of the Trilogy.
2. ^ [2], A second NY Times article by a different author mentioning the Trilogy's significance.
3. ^ [3], An article in the New Yorker about Beckett's legacy.
4. ^ [4], Editorial about Beckett from Ceasefire magazine mentioning the significance of the Trilogy.
5. ^ [http://www.jstor.org/stable/3847978 ], Notes allusions to Dante in Molloy and Murphy.