Le retour du pire dans mirlitonnades (1976¬1978)
The return of the worst in mirlitonnades 1976¬1978 of Samuel Beckett

Summary/Abstract: Written in the context of the late 1970s, Samuel Beckett’s mirlitonnades poems evoke the possible return of the old ghosts of the past, which, if one is not careful, will once again affect and infect the present and compromise the future. Samuel Beckett’s quest for the worst has historical sources – to be found in the Second World War – as well as literary sources, namely King Lear, a play in which the destiny of Edgar both interested and moved him. According to philosopher Herbert Marcuse, to whom one of the poems of mirlitonnades is dedicated, certain outsiders and artists are bearers of “human qualities” that are “contrary to social requirements”. Thus they may be able to prevent the worst from happening again.

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