“this little people of searchers”

Abstract

Abstract This essay revisits Samuel Beckett’s prose text The Lost Ones by situating it within the broader contexts of anthropology and documentary cinema. The period of its composition (1965–1970) coincides with Beckett’s concentrated work for, and direct involvement in, film and television, an experience that was also reflected in his drama and prose fiction. Reading the text’s narrative voice as adopting the technique of extradiegetic voice-over—the ‘voice of God,’ a common feature of classical documentaries—the essay explores Beckett’s critique of such a representational strategy.