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427
MisreadingWatt
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429
signal,"Murphy"pausedto letthefore-period
develop,thatfirstofthe
ofreactioninwhich,according
to theKtilpeschool,the
threemoments
major tormentsof responseare undergone.Then he applied the
we learn,"had some faithin the Kflpe
stimulusproper."'16
Murphy,
school. Marbe and Buhlermightbe deceived,even Wattwas only
human,buthowcouldAchbe wrong?"(Murphy,
81).
At the Wiirzburgschool,the all-too-human
Watt studiedunder
OswaldKiilpewithKarlMarbeandNarzissAchbetween1902and1906,
obtaininghis Ph.D. fora paper on thoughtprocessesand "problem
to Ktilpe'sexperimental
studiesofword
Wattalsocontributed
solving."'17
Thesestudieschallenged
association
responseand"imageless
thought."
the idea (of WilhelmWundtand EdwardBradfordTitchener)that
vehiclesofthought,
imagesweretheprimary
claiminginsteadthatno
to introspection
is necessary
in certaintaskswhere
imagery
susceptible
orjudgmentis thought
to be required(thetaskscenteredon
thinking
and speaking).'8
readingandwriting,
listening
Beckett'sMalone ratherexplicitly
expoundsthisnon-introspective
in MaloneDies:
mechanicsofspeechformation
I cansayUptheRepublic!,
forexample,
orSweetheart!,
forexample,
towonder
ifI shouldnotrather
without
having
havecutmytongue
is needed,before
out,orsaidsomething
else.Yes,no reflection
or
I haveonly
toopenmymouth
forittotestify
totheoldstory,
after,
my
oldstory.... AndifI everstoptalking
itwillbe becausethereis
moreto be said,eventhough
all hasnotbeensaid,even
nothing
hasbeensaid.'9
though
nothing
is needed"-goes Watt,
This Wiirburgian
meditation-"noreflection
as wellas "before"
reflection
"after"
Ktilpe& Co. one betterbydenying
verbalperformance.
declaresa completeabsenceof
Malone,moreover,
hermeneutic
content:despitean arbitrarily
long streamof speech,
has been said."
"nothing
This speech analysisflowsfromMalone'spencil shortlyafterhe
noticesthathiswindow"sometimes
looksas ifit werepaintedon the
whata tourist
I musthavebeen,
wall,likeTiepolo'sceilingatWiirzburg,
thediaeresis,
ifitis one" (MD, 235). Beckett,
I can evenremember
we
a bitmorethana graphological
suspect,remembers
nicetyinassociation
withthisword-he mayevenconstruct
Malone'stransition
fromwriting
towriting
"noreflection
is needed"as deliberately
excluding
"W\irzburg"
Malone'sconsciousreflection
betweenthetwoacts.
upona connection
we findtheactualmention
oftheword'Wtirzburg"
Readinginnocently,
bearsnoproperreference
totheWiIrburgian
issuesraisedinthepassage
430
Watt
Misreading
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431
MisreadingWatt
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433
hisown,Wattwantstotidy
itcomesto questionsandwords,particularly
fromhim,andforget
it"(W,123),
a problemup andthen"putthematter
but once a conclusionis seemingly
reached,"thenit was too late,the
wordswere said and could neverbe forgotten"
(W,124).29Wattvacillates
434
MisreadingWatt
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and in factevenaway
to guideus awayfromtheScottishpsychologist,
earlierbookandcharacter.
fromBeckett's
permutative
stonesepisode,we maycompareMolloy's
In thesucking
and forwards.
therighthandand theleft,backwards
performance-"to
Anddeep downitwas all thesameto me whetherI suckeda different
stoneeach timeor alwaysthe same stone,untilthe end of time"(M,
memory,
one of
74)-to H. J.Watt'sstoryof a manwitha remarkable
by
was to learna seriesofthreehundredfigures
whose"performances
heart in fifteenminutes,or thereabout,and say them backwards,
up and down,anyway,at the end of time"(ETM, 34-35).
forwards,
minutesto
Becketthas moved"theend oftime"fromfifteen
Although
to
and shiftedfromH. J.Watt'swonderment
mind-numbing
eternity,
of
Watt'sweariness,not onlythe verbalpatternsbut the absurdity
resonatesbetweenthe twopassages.In a moresuccinct
permutation
referenceseveralpages laterin Molloy,Beckettservesup the rather
facts":
"are notthesesignificant
following
genericcliche,immediately
"Timewilltell"is a headingforone
"Timewilltell"(M,80). Significantly,
is attributed
underwhich"uncertainty"
ofH. J.Watt'srulesofmemory,
associations"
or disturbed
(ETM, 126).
to "imperfect
toH. J.Watt,we findMolloy's
Betweenthesetwopossiblereferences
disdainful
somewhat
complaint:
atmytowndirectly,
bysea,butyou
So therewasnowayofcoming
orthesouthandtaketotheroads,
welltothenorth
hadtodisembark
that
forthey
hadnever
heardofWatt,
justimagine
that,
justimagine
too.(M,76)
Lookingaboveandbelowinthetext(northandsouth,ifyouwill,though
you mightnot) we can hear echoes of H. J. Watt.Or, considering
in passing,we mighthear
Beckett's
penchantforobliqueself-reference
thetext
thispassageask,"Canyouimagineanyonewouldtrytonavigate
for
first
Butthemostlogicalreferent
ofMolloywithout
readingWatt?"30
of the steam
"Watt"in thiscontextseemsto be JamesWatt,inventor
oftransportational
Becausetheinhabitants
progress.3'
engine,harbinger
of Molloy'sregionhave "neverheardof [James]Watt,"no trainline
is obligedto
traveler
servestheoutlying
ports,andtheinconvenienced
"taketo the roads."Thus,thoughMolloy'smeaningfor"Watt"seems
ofothermeanings
possibility
restricted
here,therelurksthetantalizing
thatmayhave existedat othertimes,"A periodof mylifericherin
to patchtogether
here,I meanricher
illusionsthantheone I am trying
in otherspoorer"(M, 76).
in certainillusions,
MartinKevorkian
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435
MisreadingWatt
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ofH. J.Watt.
biography
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437
MisreadingWatt
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necessary
to tryto set thatoutin termsacceptableto menofgood
sense.(CSD, xiv)
It is thissortof emptymethodological"good sense" thatis the refugeof
Beckett'sWatt-and a good portionof his madness.
Watt, somewhere along his persistentway, has begun to feel that
thoughone cannot reallyexplain anything,a certainsystematic"technique" mighthelp one to discoverwhatever"something"itis thatmaybe
"in it."Wattendorses,forinstance,the good sense of Spiro: "Here then
was a sensibleman at last.He began withthe essentialand then,working
on, would deal withthe less importantmatters,one afterthe other,in an
orderlyway" (W, 27). ThroughoutWatt,this methodologicalapproach
often appears coupled with a memorizationmandate. Several scenes
proffera methodizedmemoryas the necessary,if empty,stratagemfor
disorderedidiocyor simulatingmiracledgenius. The multiforestalling
plied difficulties
of Louit'sexaminingcommitteeall stem,Arthuror Watt
or Sam has suggested,froman inexcusable"lack of method"(W, 178),
whichcould be remedied byimplementinga numericalrule of orderto
"be carefullycommittedto memoryby membersof the committee"(W,
179)42 Nackybal,Louit's prime exhibitbeforethe committee,deceives
the non-methodizedexaminersin kind: he neitherhas powers of true
mathematicalinsightnor of miraculousdivination,but merelymemorizes"byheart"a set of rulesas his "methodof cube-rootingin his head"
(W, 198).
Watt's own adherence to a species of H. J. Watt's "good sense"
constrainshis actionstowardthe ridiculous.Much as H. J.Wattknows
psychoanalysiswon'twash and yet persistsin tryingto conformit to a
logicalsystem,Wattwearsbothhis sockson the footthatis too smallfor
his shoe and none on the other foot-all this "in vain....
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439
440
Watt
Misreading
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MartinKevorkian
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441
syllables(excluding
Kittler
(note12) takesNarzissAch's1905studyof"meaningless
to whichsubjects. . . wereto respondwithmeaningless
thesyllableach,unfortunately),
ofWatt's
of1900."Fora synopsis
network
of"thediscourse
rhymes"
(220)as paradigmatic
CorpoLearningSystems
Encyclopedia
(London:International
research,
see Chamber's
in Wattin
in "problem
solving"
re-surfaces
ration,Limited,1973).H. J.Watt'sinterest
ofhow
ofthe"mecanism"
suchpassagesas thediscussion
(W, 117) ofthearrangement
to Mr. Knottand thedog.Wattcomposesa mocktreatisein
foodis to be distributed
derives"themannerinwhichthisproblemhadbeensolved"(W,
whichhe methodically
93).
18 Encyclopedia
ed. Raymond
J.Corsini,4 vols.(NewYork:JohnWiley
ofPsychology,
& Sons,1984),2:185;3:465.
19SamuelBeckett,ThreeNovels:Molloy,MaloneDies, The Unnamable(New York:
fromthesenovelscomefromthisedition,
GroveWeidenfeld,
1965),236.Allquotations
as follows:
Molloy,M; MaloneDies,MD.
abbreviated
20 Beckett
in Molloywitha reference
to
employsan analogoustrickof misdirection
as we willsee below.
"Watt"himself,
21 Maloneclaims,and in a waydemonstrates,
thatthoughts,
howeverintrospective,
in moving
ofresponseinvolved
themechanism
failto maketransparent
oftenpointedly
to thenext.
fromone statement
22 Kenner(note3), 72.
(note11),23.
SamuelBeckett
23 Kenner,
24 Benjamin
betweenWatt'smetaphor
andthe
Braunsuggested
to me theconnection
tale,thetailormustdeliverrepeatedblows
taleof"The BraveLittleTailor."In thefairy
witha duster-hisefforts
lack
as he "beatthemmercilessly"
to dropallsevendrosophila,
Wattdemandsofa conclusive
Onlyat themoment
interpretation.
thesurgicalprecision
the boast"Sevenat a
the heroicdeed (literally,
by embroidering
thetailortextualizes
thatall sevenfliesfitbeneath
ofhissash)doeshe createthefiction
blow"intothetextile
boastbecomesthe subjectof
the strokeof a singleswat.Moreover,the textualized
by those readingthe tailor'sgirdleand
repeatedand humorousmisinterpretations
that
provesso powerful
believinghimto haveslainsevenmen.This misinterpretation
in his sleep-his false
talking
evenwhenthetailorrevealsthehistrueidentity-while
warrior
prevails.
as a fearsome
reputation
25 I do notsuggest
his
dreams;rather,
thatBeckettwas in the businessof reporting
as H. J.Wattsaw
itis he reports
defiesconventional
interpretation
ofwhatever
reporting
it. Of course,Beckett'sdata, unlikethe "greaternumberof dreams"did not go
Kenner
Quiteto thecontrary,
norhavetheybeenignoredbyinterpretation.
unreported,
ofBeckett's
thephenomenal
ability
birthday
eightieth
notedon theoccasionofBeckett's
to compelcriticsto writebooks:"Beckettcan invadeyourmindwitha single
writing
aboutSam Beckettthanaboutanyother
phrase... therearelikelymorewordswritten
fromestimating
howmanyofthemmakeprofitable
reading.The
livingman.I'll refrain
Fictions[San Francisco:North
writing"
(Historical
pointis, theyall seemednecessary
PointPress,1990],289).
26 CitedfromShepherd
Dawson'sbriefbiographical
sketchprecedingThe Common
SenseofDreams(note8), ix.
27 H. J.Wells,TheEconomy
and Training
ofMemory
(London:EdwardArnold,1909),
me of Beckett's
as ETM. I thankJamesGoodwinforreminding
44; citedhereafter
in hisearlystudyofProust,andin particular
Beckett'sparadoxical
attention
to memory
claimthat"Prousthad a bad memory.. . . The manwitha good memorydoes not
17
442
MisreadingWatt
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MartinKevorkian
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443