Beckett, Samuel (Vol. 2) - Beckett, Samuel 1906–

Beckett, Samuel 1906–

A Nobel prize-winning playwright and novelist, Beckett, an Irishman who has lived in France since 1937, writes almost exclusively in French and then translates his works into English. He is best known for the absurdist drama, Waiting for Godot. (See also Contemporary Authors, Vols. 5-8, rev. ed.)

Murphy, [Beckett's] first novel, which appeared and disappeared in England (1938), occasioned no greater notice in its French translation in 1947. All of Beckett is there already, however, in a more accessible form than what he was to choose subsequently. Since then he has renounced all compromise with the superficial and conventional. This author is at the opposite pole from writers who sugar-coat or prettify reality. In order to bring into relief its fundamental nature, he arbitrarily deprives life of what makes it livable. Take away the matter-of-fact or illusory charms which make it tolerable and there remains...

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