VIC
AMANDINE
04/11/14
L3S5 LLCER ANGLAIS
Dante and the Lobster
Dante and the Lobster , a short story from the book More Pricks than Kicks , was written by Samuel Beckett in the early 1930s. At that time Beckett was in France and More Pricks than Kicks marks the very beginning of his career as a writer. Later, Beckett will reveal that this book has been written during only one night, on a "white heat". This revelation in very surprising regarding the young age of the author at that time and the full complexity of the book.
The story opens up on Belacqua Shuah studying Canti of the moon of Dante. He is confused with the text and become bored with it. Frustrated, he slams the book shut and thinks about what he would do of the rest of the day. "First lunch, then Italian lesson, then the lobster" he thinks.
Then he thinks about the proper way to make toast and then makes it carefully. He goes to the cheese shop where he knows that the seller has a gorgonzola for him; Judging the cheese as not rotten enough, he is making a scandal, but finally decides to take it without paying it. Leaving the cheese shop, he reconsiders his schedule and thinks that he can spend his money drinking beer until the fishmonger opens. As Belacqua nears the school, he thinks back to his lunch and the satisfaction it has provided to him. But then, remembering of the painful experience of chewing hard, he begins musing about murderers who might be executed. He picks up the lobster at the fishmonger and goes to his Italian lesson. As they talk, the French teacher interrupts them to ask them about the countenance of the package. After his lesson, he goes...