Beckett at Cerisy

Celebration of the 2006 Beckett centenary began with unGodot-like haste this summer with a ten-day conference at the 17th century chateau of Cerisy-la-Salle, located in the Cotentin region of France, not far from Mont St. Michel. Throughout the conference, we enjoyed the exceptional hospitality of Mme. Heurgon-Desjardins’daughters, Edith Heurgon and Catherine Peyrou, and of Jacques Peyrou. Catherine de Gondillac patiently and good-humoredly attended to all of the practical details of our visit.

Those of us who knew of Cerisy only by reputation – as an institution made famous by its prestigious conferences – were disarmed by the warm, “familial” atmosphere that was created by its gracious and accommodating staff. Participants were housed either in the chateau itself or in its converted stables. Meals -- accompanied by generous quantities of wine as well as the local hard cider and delicious regional cheeses – were served family style in a dining room that, three time a day, became an animated and convivial meeting place for all. The fact that, of the approximately seventy participants, only half were Beckett specialists added to the distinctive ambiance created. The others??psychologists and psychoanalysts, painters, school teachers, etc. –came for the intellectual stimulation promised by the conference’s subject and the natural beauty of the site. Angela Moorjani spoke for many of us when she said that she had had no idea that so many of those attending would not be Beckett specialists and how enriched she felt by her conversations with them.

The organizers of the conference (Tom Cousineau, Sjef Houppermans, Bogdan Manolojvic, Yann Mével, Maurice Pergnier, Michèle Touret, and Gisèle Valency-Slakta) had met in Paris over a two-year period to arrange details of the conference. Their decision to invite all participants to present an hour-long “conférence,” rather than restricting this invitation to a small group and consigning the other participants to roundtable discussions, was especially appreciated by the group. This format fitted perfectly with the leisurely rhythm that is a hallmark of Cerisy ; each day had, on average, four papers, followed by lengthy discussions that allowed for a much more prolonged focus on each topic. This atmosphere also contributed to the younger Beckettians’ feeling that the senior scholars were much more “sympa” and “abordable” than they had expected. It was a special pleasure for those of us belonging to the latter category to meet with young scholars – from England, France, Switzerland, Japan and elsewhere--whose papers were an encouraging sign of publications to come.

Several evenings were devoted to Beckett-related performances that had been arranged by Bogdan Manojlovic. These included a presentation of music and poems inspired by Beckett offered by composer-musician Ayser Schmid-Vançin, a striking and affecting stage version of selections from L’Innommable presented by the actress Fransoise Simon, and a reading of texts (Dis Joe, Berceuse, and Bing) in which Fransoise Simon was joined by the actress Edith Garraud. Piotr Kajdasz, a violinist with the Orchestre de Chambre de Lausanne, who had accompanied one of the conference’s participants, treated us to an impromptu, and beautifully rendered, performance of J. S. Bach’s Partita No. 2 in the library of the chateau. An unanticipated delight was a highly convincing performance of La dernière bande by Sjef Houppermans. Sjef made ingenious use of the unpromising theatrical space afforded by the chateau’s attic, which bore little resemblance to Krapp’s den as conceived by Beckett. He was also forced to deal with the challenge of introducing a cassette-player onto the stage when the reel-to-reel tape recorder that he had brought with him from The Netherlands refused to function. Midway through the conference, an entire day was devoted to “Présence des Beckettiens en Normandie,” which included the traditional excursion to Mont St. Michel. Participants – approaching this celebrated landmark by way of a two-hour walk along the adjoining bay – had the uncanny experience of walking through a landscape in which sea, land, and air merged as Mount St. Michel itself loomed in the distance.

During our concluding “séance de cloture,” participants were unanimous in praising the high quality of both the organization of the conference and the reception given to them by their hosts at Cerisy. Those of us who had worried beforehand that a “Décade de Cerisy” would be too long by several days were surprised to discover, as the end approached, that we would, indeed, have wished it longer.

Thomas J. Cousineau
Washington College
USA