قصة الكتاب :
The Unnamable is a novel by Samuel Beckett and is the third in The Beckett Trilogy, which began with Molloy and was followed by Malone Dies. It was originally published in French as L’Innommable in 1953 and in English in 1958. All three books in the trilogy were published together in English for the first time in 1959. The title of the novel is also descriptive of the main character, who has no specific age, gender, race, nationality or any of the conventional markers of identity. The entire book is a monologue that seems to be narrated by a single person - a fact that is left to conjecture. All the three books in Beckett’s trilogy lack any conventional plot and this novel, like the two before it, furthers the search for self within the realm of human tragedy and inevitable suffering.

\r\nThe unnamed protagonist in The Unnamable takes credit and claims authorship of the main characters in the previous novels in the trilogy as well as other books authored by Beckett. As the entire disjointed monologue is narrated without the perspective of a concrete plot or setting, it becomes confusing whether the other characters that appear in the midst of the rambling, like Mahood or Worm, are real or simply other facets of the narrator himself. The entire novel is a bunch of recollections and existential musings by the narrator. Yet not much is revealed specifically about the narrator himself which makes his cries and moaning strike a chord with almost anyone who has pondered his own existence. The narrator, if we can call him that, just seems to sit in one place and bemoan his existence, his identity and even the language that traps his expressions insufficiently. Intelligent and witty, the protagonist does indicate that although he is unclear about his identity, he believes he has been used for unknown reasons by unknown persons who have put words in his mouth. He can’t seem to stop the words that are flowing out of him and describes his ordeal to that of someone having to satisfy the tormentors who put him in this place. He believes his incessant blabbering may be a punishment and hopes that in the process he may finally utter the right words that will free him from his trapped existence and help him earn ‘the silence’ he longs for. In saying this, he may be alluding to death which puts an end to human suffering. ‘Silence’ seems to be like a promise that the novel constantly makes but is unable to fulfill.

\r\nThis book starts with the words Where now? Who now? When now? and ends with I don’t know, I’ll never know, in the silence you don’t know, you must go on, I can’t go on, I’ll go on. Some describe The Unnamable as an attempt to make sense of a literary event that arises out of the interaction between two distinct realms – the inner being and the outer contexts, as they attempt to converge and make sense. The Unnamable can best be viewed as an attempt to completely define oneself and discover the limitations language imposes when attempting to do this. \r\n