Rec.Jan. 29, 2009, Innis Town Hall, University of Toronto. Aired on Big Ideas, TVO, Dec.19, 2009.
Пікірлер: 228
@apple2132 жыл бұрын
It is the beauty of internet that I am taking a lecture like this for free. That audience is lucky to sit there and listen your thoughts about this play in person.
@TheOEDLovesMeNot6 жыл бұрын
This is one of the greatest lectures I've ever heard on any subject from any person.
@NickMount6 жыл бұрын
Thank you! I'm so glad you enjoyed it.
@tonycarton80544 жыл бұрын
I tend to agree ,brilliant
@angelvillamor48384 жыл бұрын
LOL, I am a whisper of a memory that was never spoken.
@davidjohnston19583 жыл бұрын
Check out his t.s. Eliot lecture. Full of insight into an impenetrable poem.
@doropollex28913 жыл бұрын
We should get him to review Dick's Exegesis
@peterfrengel39645 жыл бұрын
You've illuminated what matters most about this play and its playwright. I've loved it for years, but couldn't quite articulate to myself or others what (beyond the bleak humor) moves me. The San Quentin anecdote is a wonderful starting point.
@Heatherkheatherk7 жыл бұрын
This is the most outstanding commentary I have ever heard on Waiting for Godot. Thank you Nick...you're spot on. I was first introduced to this play 35 years ago at Canterbury University in Christchurch, New Zealand. In my 3rd year and I have held on to it ever since as a life compass - the other thing is I have a firm belief in God and huge faith in what will eventually happen to me and my soul - how bizarre is that......... Philip Kubiak
@NickMount7 жыл бұрын
Thanks, Philip. I can't explain why any more than you , but I don''t think having faith and admiring this play are necessarily inconsistent positions.
@ananyadutta73036 жыл бұрын
This is one of the most impeccable works I have seen on Beckett's play, Waiting For Godot. Thankyou so much for taking this initiative Sir Mount.
@sandyphilly15 жыл бұрын
Amazing lecture! I have seen this play live (in Philadelphia/US), and throughout I grew frustrated watching the two men go on and on and watching them wait and wait. I was with a friend who had the same sentiments; at intermission she asked if we should leave, and because the intermission was after more than half the play, I wanted to stay to see how things played out. I just had to see Godot. Was he/she God? Death? A dream realized? 🤷🏽♀️ So we stayed. Of course I left the play disappointed and unfulfilled because of its ending. That was a year ago. I have frequently thought of the play from time to time, smirking at the time wasted in seeing it. It wasn’t until this very moment (about 20 mins ago at 6:39AM Saturday mourning/morning) that I realized how clever Sam B was; not only was his audience thrust into the play themselves to casually see which character they identified with, but for me and my friend, we actually became the two main characters if but for one moment. “Do you wanna leave?” “No...let’s WAIT and see.” And to that end I’ll say, live in every moment; whatever’s coming will come anyway, if it’s meant to; but don’t waste your time watching the time, waiting to act, waiting for Godot. In doing so (waiting) you will upset the balance of your suffering. Just live in the meantime ❤️#waitingforgodot
@josiehoyle9314 Жыл бұрын
You're much more clever than I am. 25 years since I stuck it out until the end but never "got it".
@zeb3585 жыл бұрын
Absolutely brilliant exposition...suffice to say I keep coming back to this, as a way of consoling my own sense of the absurdity of existence.
@spiritsculptor392 Жыл бұрын
Really made me appreciate this play a lot more! Thank you so much!
@JungJuEun4 жыл бұрын
My AP Lit teacher is making me watch this and I'm glad she did. :))
@blackedits19943 жыл бұрын
Same
@ElaineDarlingtonBrown Жыл бұрын
Fascinating. Thank you so very much for this.
@jasminekaur87602 жыл бұрын
This lecture is so enriching and I feel so blessed to be able to hear it, thank you very much for this wonderful work and for uploading!
@alohm8 жыл бұрын
Thank you for sharing this.
@johnbrocato33372 жыл бұрын
Just no words I keep coming back to this make me as good as you!!
@buddhistsympathizer11364 жыл бұрын
Really excellent, Nick - Thank you for sharing
@manofaisal1005 Жыл бұрын
Outstanding lecture, absolutely loved it
@alban19594 жыл бұрын
This is a great lecture. Thank you.
@yelia87428 ай бұрын
Absolutely stunning!!
@chaophray Жыл бұрын
Such a great lecture, and a wonderful complement to my watching Godot yesterday (for the first time). Thank you!
@tatine99203 жыл бұрын
these lectures are brilliant
@214santanuАй бұрын
Thank you for this brilliant lecture sir
@shakespearaamina9117 Жыл бұрын
Thank you for your amazing lecture ☺️! Just fascinating!
@harshikadhawan1906 жыл бұрын
This is the best lecture on Waiting For Godot...thank you for making me fall in love again with literature with your commentary.Will be looking forward to more of your commentaries Sir.
@debarghyaroy99486 ай бұрын
That this lecture is awe-inspiring would be an understatement. It is unparalleled.
@BWMcT8 жыл бұрын
Once again, brilliant!
@lifeonanotherplanet4 жыл бұрын
Like the way Mr Mount keeps glancing at his watch ...
@danielliao265 Жыл бұрын
Thank you for this excellent lecture!
@shreyakrishnan87894 ай бұрын
This was so well presented and articulated. Thank you for this, it helped me understand so many more layers that "Waiting For Godot" has to it.
@michaelcollins71923 ай бұрын
Brilliantly delivered exposition 👌🏻.
@DuhaAYaghmour2015 Жыл бұрын
A great informative lecture! Thank you so much
@SatishYadav-jw1bi2 жыл бұрын
Xcellent lecture...the best i ever herad while going through waiting for godot..thanx sir
@nannanya5798 ай бұрын
my god this is a genius, extremely informative, enriching lecture. i wish it were longer. so many points that you mentioned, i noticed while reading the play, and it's amazing to have you analyze it and share your knowledge. teachers like yourself are the ones who make me love learning. thank you a ton, can't wait to watch your lecture on woolf's to the lighthouse!
@tobydobbs86686 жыл бұрын
Well done. Excellent. Thank you
@tanujraut98308 жыл бұрын
Interpretation of a text which has no context, within a multitude of possible contexts, requires skill. This was great. Especially, the focus on 'waiting' as a medium for Time to show itself in the space of a stage. :)
@devyanisingh19724 жыл бұрын
Truly understood every single point of this very absurd play. The lecture is absolutely the best I have come across on the internet regarding the concept.
@paulhegarty8380 Жыл бұрын
Brilliant, extremely helpful. Thank you.
@draganbozilov52683 жыл бұрын
What an enjoyable lecture Sir! Kudos!
@BrentCrihfield3 жыл бұрын
Amazing. Thank you
@bigtoe3333334 жыл бұрын
I watched this thinking I would be given an explanation of the strange-seeming events in the play that I watched recently, and found so deeply compelling but so inexplicable. Instead you explained that there is no explanation, and that somehow makes the play all the more appealing and brilliant.
@ashitasaggi25542 жыл бұрын
Please count me in the people who were clapping in the last two seconds of the video. You deserve the loudest applaud.
@angelamonferrato40574 жыл бұрын
This is such an excellent explanation of people now waiting for President Godot in the time of the Corona virus.
@bebelaq61137 жыл бұрын
Well done!! Very enlightening
@shahidshabbir75725 жыл бұрын
Richly Rewarding Lecture. Grateful For Enlightenment, Sir. Great Contribution To My Translation Into Punjabi. Regards.
@ashell144 жыл бұрын
Thanks so much for posting this terrific lecture online. Beckett's evasiveness about who Godot is has always puzzled me (was this just the artist being coy?). Your observation that it's the waiting that matters, not Godot, resolved this issue convincingly. I watched your lecture in preparation to see a new production of Godot coming to New York. It's of course now cancelled, but at least the play will take on renewed relevance as we all sit in quarantine :)
@retnakumari1637 жыл бұрын
Thank you so much!
@NickMount7 жыл бұрын
You're welcome!
@safinyousif9008 Жыл бұрын
Now I comprehend what Waiting for Godot is about! Thank you.
@Hitesh0011008 жыл бұрын
Thank you !
@gladissemensato20614 жыл бұрын
Today i saw waiting for godot for the fist time. In the internet. I love it. Captured me. Only this. tks
@jupitired7773 жыл бұрын
thank you so much
@parthpant88943 жыл бұрын
Sir, I sincerely wish that we had more professors like you. Thank you for such an illuminating insight on the play....And u summed it up brilliantly by saying that Godot represents "any belief system that promises a complete explanation to life!"
@NickMount3 жыл бұрын
I'm glad it connected, Parth. Stay safe, be well, be kind, all of you. We're all waiting right now.
@bellringer9293 жыл бұрын
@@NickMount please don't say this.. We can't go on like this for another year 🤕😞
@cranstjs8 жыл бұрын
Very interesting and I appreciate the interpretation after watching the whole playing, and truly not understanding much of Beckett's life history that formed much of the structure. Well done.
@kapildwivedi84034 жыл бұрын
great lecture, thanks
@DomhnallOSuileabhainPrin-tm1fw3 жыл бұрын
Correction - Waiting for Godot (performed in St Quentin) was not an obscure avant-garde French play. Its an Irish play. The narrator says that Beckett's play was a hit with the prisoners because the play was unpretentious as was its author, Becket. I would suggest that his unpretentousness is hardly a French characteristic but it is an Irish one.
@stevennour7 жыл бұрын
Thank you for sharing this
@TowardsUnity6 жыл бұрын
These are great talks.
@mostee773 жыл бұрын
Good job ,,, really I thank you
@tovagertner3 жыл бұрын
you become my friend i listen to you taking to my self about your thoughts, this is friendships...
@johnalbert57862 жыл бұрын
Excellent … very enjoyable!
@bellringer9292 жыл бұрын
It's becoming a ritual to watch this video every year....In this world where everything is a muddle this lecture makes a lot of sense...
@favouritemusic89592 жыл бұрын
Yes Bell - a muddle and a mess.
@ultimatejul8 жыл бұрын
Absolutely brilliant. I wish i could watch it for the first time again.
@iqiwq4 ай бұрын
I am just a random person and for me this is the best lecture of all times
@wolfbenson6 ай бұрын
I read WFG when I was young, in the US Navy off the coast of Viet Nam. Didn't really get it. Read it many times over the years and watched the play on KZfaq a few times. Why would someone who didn't get it, return to it over and over? Because there is something intriguing in it. A thing of beauty that we can't describe. A hole that shouldn't be there with an unknown depth. Fortunately, by flipping through various things on KZfaq, this lecture came up. Now I understand what I don't understand. Absolutely brilliant lecture that opened many doors to different universes. Never thought I'd be able to see something invisible, but your lecture has changed my view.
@matthewstokes1608 Жыл бұрын
Nick Mount - you are a mightily impressive lecturer on these modern giants of literature. You cut away pretense and reveal the magic... Thanks so much for what you do.
@NickMount Жыл бұрын
You are most welcome!
@matthewstokes1608 Жыл бұрын
@@NickMount PS - Your lecture on the Wasteland was astounding - and terribly dramatic, too - which I believe, from what I've read over the years, the poet would have approved of! It is a terrifying poem - a just indictment... were it not for Eliot's still fledgling Christian soul and ethical sense to temper it all... And for the fact that he left us his final superlative masterpiece to set the record straight - with its dignified restraint yet unsurpassed elation. I learned so much from your lecture... Thanks again.
@xyzllii7 жыл бұрын
Excellent...in every way.
@BradBrassman3 жыл бұрын
Excellent. I believe that one of the original critical reviews was, "a play of two acts; where nothing happens, twice"
@colinlavery6253 жыл бұрын
Having listened to your brilliant lecture on WAITING FOR GODOT, I see remarkable similarities with the thinking in Eckhart Tolle's celebrated THE POWER OF NOW. Especially the issue of time running through both books.
@barryschwarz4 жыл бұрын
Nice lecture. Enough clarity to anchor the listener, enough uncertainty to allow that this is but one interpretation, albeit multifaceted.
@debasishbhattacharya99642 жыл бұрын
Mesmerizing !
@titidiz63433 жыл бұрын
My favorite play.It was sold out when I tried to get my ticket to go and see it in London.I m still waiting for the play to be on again, even tho, I know,I won't be able to get a ticket and will have to wait for a next time...
@MegaFount3 жыл бұрын
One thing Professor Mount fails to mention is the Theater of the Absurd movement that began in Paris. Beckett lived in Paris from 1937 till his death, (and wrote both "Godot" and "Endgame" in French.) . Both Camus and Beckett frequented a literary bar called Pont Royal Hotel. Camus was, after the war, the foremost and most popular of the Existentialist writers, and is generally regarded as the inspiration of the "Theatre of the Absurd", to which Beckett and many others , through Harold Pinter to Tom Stoppard, belong. Beckett was an avid reader of philosophical tracts, and would certainly have read "Sysiphe". So would most educated Frenchmen in the 1950's. He must have been familiar with Camus’s philosophical work and his plays. He must have known of the theatrical movement which was best expressed by Camus, Sartre and Ionesco.
@criticalmama Жыл бұрын
Lecture is selective in order to prove his point. One thing that irked me is dismissing historical context of creators- Beckett was a generation younger than Eliot and Woolf. Modernism as a style was over- also- like this commentator says- Camus and the Absurd seems more context of Beckett’s work.
@kerrymuir98915 жыл бұрын
Love this
@rrogorrec3 жыл бұрын
Superb. I like intelligent explanations. Meaning :)
@mrigakshidas73466 жыл бұрын
sir you are really good..please upload more such videos.....i can continuously hear you for hours....this was really interesting....
@NickMount6 жыл бұрын
Thank you! I am working on another set of filmed lectures about Canadian writers
@mrigakshidas73466 жыл бұрын
Nick Mount that would be great sir....waiting for your new videos ...love from India
@MasrurArtworks5 жыл бұрын
you are brilliant man (y)
@roundchaos3 жыл бұрын
Amazing.
@beyondseeingHK Жыл бұрын
Brilliant!
@meanrat18 жыл бұрын
This lecture does well to give some additional meaning and background, as well as sharing the thoughts of one person on the play. However I think the most important take away from this play is what it means to each person who watches. The answers the convicts gave were correct, for each in his own. Thank you so much for sharing. I will have to watch some of your other lectures!
@ferrispictures3 жыл бұрын
Excellent!
@seancurran659011 ай бұрын
It is about the dichotomy between the humans search for meaning in a meaningless universe. But we just keep going as we've no option. 'Try, fail, try again, fail better' as Sam said.
@richasharma91878 жыл бұрын
there is no definitive authority on waiting for godot.. that is waiting for godot.
@rmleighton12 жыл бұрын
I just had a 10 day stay in a hospital while in severe pain. It was a humbling experience. Always waiting. I was cared for but after that my issues weren’t that important. To the nurses. They had real work to do. For example. One poor fellow died.
@AprilMartinChartrandMS4 жыл бұрын
Excellent and insightful review and talk about the nature of this Trinity of a Film. Exceptional stories about our lives now in 2020. Keep looking inside of our Hats...We want Lucky to speak to pass the time, and hoping Lucky will say something meaningful....and does not end offering anything of value.
@rpfifferling2 жыл бұрын
My oldest and dearest friend recently died. His last words were "I've talked with you about this and that, I explained the twilight, admittedly. But is it enough, that's what tortures me, is it enough?" This then, forced me to dive more deeply into Waiting for Godot. This lecture by Nick Mount is pure genius, and very much appreciated. It is a long journey to try and grasp this play, and I am trying. Someone once asked me how smart I am. "I am smart enough to know, that above me are 'next level" geniuses who operate above the clouds, out of my view." My friend Don was certainly that, and would have enjoyed a coffee with Nick Mount, in a peer to peer conversation. Thank you Nick for a near perfect lecture. Best Regards, Richard
@NickMount2 жыл бұрын
I am sorry for your loss, Richard.
@rpfifferling2 жыл бұрын
@@NickMount Thank you for your kind words. Best Regards, Richard
@Heatherkheatherk7 жыл бұрын
I agree Nick .... thank you.
@NickMount7 жыл бұрын
You're welcome
@marisabenson12223 жыл бұрын
The tragicomedy that is the human condition. Great analysis. I am powerfully drawn to this play and absurdist philosophy.
@pasqualified8 жыл бұрын
Thanks for the lecture! I really enjoyed Godot, pairs well with Adorno aesthetic theory, If this play was making people angry thats perfect, its a reflection of their amusement culture which simply wants to laugh all the time rather than seeking truth. Just like the Guinea pigs.
@alanpartridge1385 Жыл бұрын
Very interesting lecture. I thought the play was extremely boring on the first watch, but spent days thinking about it afterwards. It's the perfect allegory for life; it's trivial and nothing much really happens, you assume there must be point to, but there's no big revelation coming and no-one has any real insight or answers.
@garethpossinlylawless49283 жыл бұрын
Waiting for God. My childhood having the craic around an alley. There is no endurance
@izzymurat19607 жыл бұрын
Absolutely brilliant - I love this play in the way that it is complete absurd and without meaning, its effortlessly both simple and complexe at the same time. Thank you for this! To me, the audience trying to find meaning where there is possibly none, is interesting because we try to fill this "void" and if this play had no meaning, it would be utterly terrifying. It is interesting also to compare Waiting for Godot to Camus' Sisyphus. Camus explore the 7 ways in which we deal with meaninglessness: 1- Suicide (Didi and Gogo), 2- Distraction (Play with hats, insult each other), 3- Denial (they wait for Godot, they sometimes are religious, therefor they pretend there is meaning where there is none), 4- Become an actor (All of them are), 5- Get involved in other art (Didi's singing), 6- Get political (Pozzi and Lucky) The last element is acceptance (Lucky accepting his fate). If we look into more detail into this concept, we can see that each character confronts one or more aspects out of the 7. So many different takes are possible, that's what makes it so approachable and not at the same time!
@Reymundodonsayo4 жыл бұрын
Izzy Murat life has no meaning
@blandskydontcry25643 жыл бұрын
12:52 it ends exactly as it begins Does not have an ending, does not adhere to a resolution nor even a sighting of a resolution in the classical unity of plays 36:14 action helps us to forget the passage of time, the excruciating wait for full meaning, or a full answer 38:24 not an existentialist play?
@22grena6 жыл бұрын
It's not a French play. It was written in French. The San Francisco play was in English. I don't think the reason why the original audience didn't like this play is because they were sophisticated but because unlike the prisoners, they were not broken people. Broken people recognise the emotions of the characters immediately on a visceral level.
@colesmatteoАй бұрын
masterful lecture… phew!
@susanmarie2231 Жыл бұрын
All the references to “amnesia” and forgetfulness reminds me of dementia. I share this as a self-employed senior Caregiver for many years.
@trubblebubble16 жыл бұрын
This is an interesting and insightful deconstruction of Waiting for Godot. The only issue I have is with the use of the word 'schizophrenic' when talking about tragedy. It seems to be used, as it often mistakenly is, to describe either multiple personality disorder or bipolar disorder. Schizophrenia is more about misinterpreting the world around you or hearing voices (usually telling you to hurt yourself or others). Both these symptoms could be used to interpret various aspects of the play, but that's a different story.
@istalkghosts4973 жыл бұрын
Never in my life had i sat still for 48:14 minutes
@andrewwatson69133 жыл бұрын
What a strange person you must be.
@puffin514 жыл бұрын
Good lecturer. I'm sure he's right. There are no answers. There is nothing else; there is no hope in the wreckage. Thus "Godot". But what if you reject the entire thing? What if we are not born over a grave? What if we are all on a fascinating journey into a beautiful and endlessly wonderful Universe? The journey will end, as all journeys must - but the end is not important. It hardly matters. It is the journey that matters. What if you think that? Why, then, the play is meaningless. Does that mean that any time spent on it is wasted? No. Not if it causes the utter rejection above, and the determination to find something better. I wonder... could that have been Beckett's purpose?
@bellringer9292 жыл бұрын
Thank you nick, you should upload a little more frequently....and i request you to give pozzo lucky duo more space in your lecture....and i feel like i have already made this request....but never mind, what's life if it's not repeated 😁
@JezQuayle3 жыл бұрын
An excellent lecture. So nice to hear 'Godot'' pronounced as Beckett intended as well, not in that weird way that North Americans tend to pronounce French (or French sounding) words.
@Poemsapennyeach4 жыл бұрын
Vivien Mercer, who was a friend of my father's, said ..the play in which nothing happens...twice.
@UnkleRiceYo3 жыл бұрын
While I didn't enjoy the play at all, I have to say I really appreciated what you said and I can now at least appreciate the play for its nuance and intentions even if I struggle to personally connect with it.
@josiehoyle9314 Жыл бұрын
Very insightful comment
@bellringer9293 жыл бұрын
Like the play this lecture has endless fascination.. Loved it and its clearness. Only if there was more on whether the play is existentialist or not.. Is waiting not a sign of hope? Or the tramps are pretending to be hopeful?