Weekend Economists Waiting for Godot March 7-9, 2014 [View all]

[Demeter]

This is a snowdrop. I have a clump of them in the sunniest, warmest spot in what I can call my own garden in this condo association. I have been waiting 2 months already, and I'm probably going to have to wait another for the snowdrops to return to Capitstrano....I mean, Ann Arbor.

Snow drops will force their way through the last inch of snow to reach the light, but they cannot manage the 8-12 inches of ice that cover them right now. I looked. I wait.

There are lots of people waiting for Spring, around here. Or jobs, or the final collapse of Western civilization. Everything is in suspended animation, a state of being once described by Samuel Becket.

Waiting for Godot (/ˈɡɒdoʊ/ GOD-oh) is a play by Samuel Beckett, in which two characters, Vladimir and Estragon, wait endlessly and in vain for the arrival of someone named Godot. Godot's absence, as well as numerous other aspects of the play, have led to many different interpretations since the play's 1953 premiere. Some categorize this as an absurdist play.

Waiting for Godot is Beckett's translation of his own original French version, En attendant Godot, and is subtitled (in English only) "a tragicomedy in two acts". It was voted "the most significant English language play of the 20th century". The original French text was composed between 9 October 1948 and 29 January 1949. The première was on 5 January 1953 in the Théâtre de Babylone, Paris. The production was directed by Roger Blin, who also played the role of Pozzo.