Murphy: That Harmless Lunacy

Abstract

The most problematic part of Beckett's oeuvre centers around his relation to madness. It is known that he was a psychiatric nurse for some period of time and that he was interested in the work of Freud and Jung, but that goes but a little way in explaining his interest, his absorption with madness. This paper argues that this fascination is not one registered from the outside—as one observing—but from an intuitive realisation that the categorising that both signals and comforts Western civilisation attempts to invalidate something that is already there. Murphy's journey (or languid perambulation) seeks to explore the limits of the category of unreason, and the tragedy exists in his inability to transgress that limit as much as he wills it. Unlike death, madness accepts no volunteers. Murphy, it is argued, designates a turning point in Beckett's writing whereby he realises the full impact of this paradox, a paradox that is not only absorbed into his later writing but also one that points to the "essential fiction" that preserves Western consciousness and maintains the facade of sanity. For Beckett, the rot has already set in, and it is embedded in the entrails of sanity. Sanity may wear a different, more acceptable face, but it always hides the damage already done. It is this damage that will become Beckett's modus operandi in his subsequent work, and it is for this reason that the author grants Murphy the esteemed Beckettian gift: death.

Opsomming
Die mees problematiese deel van Beckett se oeuvre setel in sy relasie tot kranksinnigheid. Dit is bekend dat hy 'n psigiatriese verpleër vir 'n rukkie was en dat hy belanggestel het in Freud en Jung se werk, maar dit verduidelik geensins sy geïnteresseerdheid in en beheptheid met kranksinnigheid nie. Hierdie referaat maak die stelling dat die ge­fassineerdheid nie van buite af registreer—soos deur een wat waarneem—nie, maar vanuit 'n intuïtiewe gewaarwording dat die kategorisering wat die Westerse beskawing kenmerk sowel as troos, probeer om iets ongeldig te verklaar wat al reeds bestaansreg het. Murphy se reis (of rustige omwandeling) is om die limiete van die kategorie van onsinnigheid te verken, en die tragedie le daarin dat hy nie by magte is om die grense te oorskry soveel as hy graag wil nie. In tegenstelling tot die dood, aanvaar kranksinnigheid nie vrywilligers nie. Murphy, so word geredeneer, dui op die keerpunt in Beckett se skryfkuns aan waar hy die volle trefkrag van hierdie paradoks besit, 'n paradoks wat nie net in sy latere werk geabsorbeer word nie, maar een wat wys na die "essensiële fiksie" wat Westerse bewussyn bewaar en 'n fasade van gesonde verstand voorhou. Vir Beckett, die verrotting het reeds ingetree en is dit onlosmaaklik ingebed in die rasionaliteit. Rationaliteit mag 'n ander, meer aanvaarbare front voorhou, maar dit verdoesel altyd die skade wat alreeds aangerig is. Dit is hierdie skade wat Beckett se modus operandi sal word in sy daaropvolgende werk, en dit is om hierdie rede dat die skrywer Murphy die gewaardeerde Beckettse geskenk vergun: die dood.