"Failing better" : declinazioni del tema del fallimento nell'opera di Samuel Beckett

Moving from some general considerations on the popular resonance of the theme of failure with regard to the figure of Samuel Beckett, this article intends first of all to contextualise the famous Beckettian quote "Fail again. Fail better", to proceed then with an investigation of the evolution of the theme and its various declinations in the prose and theatrical works of the author. The main focus will be on the novel Murphy (1938) and the play Krapp's Last Tape (1958), taken as examples, respectively, of a juvenile phase, in which the theme of failure is explored mainly on a social level, and a maturer one, in which failure is presented in its universal and most human aspect. [Publisher's Text]