began work on ‘Gone’ he arranged for his whole house to be painted “grey like the proprietor” and, on his return from a trip to Germany seeing the walls now bare and uncluttered, he chose to let them remain that way. As James Knowlson puts it in Damned to Fame (p 650): “Life here emulated art, or at least echoed the mood that inspired it.” Related texts Breath The oxymoron "Birth was the death of him" evokes a fusion of the two events. We find this in Breath, in which a stage littered with rubbish is accompanied by a faint cry, followed by inspiration, silence, expiration, another cry and silence again. End of piece. Krapp's Last Tape To access his memories (i.e. to see the wall) the man in Monologue has first to turn on the lamp. In Krapp's Last Tape before Krapp can access his he needs to locate the appropriate tape and switch on the machine. Today, when digital technologies accentuate the process of the externalisation of memory begun with the invention of written language, these plays are more relevant than ever. References External links Text of the play The New York City La Mama Theatre 1980 plays Plays by Samuel Beckett Theatre of the Absurd