This is The New Yorker Fiction Podcast from The New Yorker magazine.

I'm Deborah Treesman, fiction editor at The New Yorker.

Each month we invite a writer to choose a story from the magazine's archives to read and

discuss.

This month we're going to hear Il Seen, Il Said, by Samuel Beckett, translated from

The French by the author, which was published in The New Yorker in October of 1981.

Other than she sits as though turned to stone face to the night, save for the white of

her hair and faintly bluish white of face and hands all his black.

The story was chosen by Sayid Saira Fizzare, who is the author of a memoir and two story

collections, the most recent of which American Estrangement was published in 2021.

Hi Sayid.

Hi Deborah.

So why did you choose a piece by Samuel Beckett to me today?

I'll tell you exactly why because when I was going through and saying what story would

I like to read and the moment I saw Beckett, I said, that's the one.

That's the one.

He made me want to be a writer.

I used to be an actor.

I've performed in some Beckett plays.

I said, how could I not?

I think this is the only Beckett that was ever published in The New Yorker.

Yeah.

...