Samuel Beckett

(Paperback)

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Description

Samuel Beckett (19061989) presented a world of abject misery, failure, and the absurd in his theatre pieces, novels, stories and poetry. Yet the despair in his work is never absolute, leavened as it is with bleak humour and an indomitable will to survive; this is perhaps best embodied by his most famous characters Vladimir and Estragon, in the play Waiting for Godot. An original and provocative historical interpretation of Beckett and his art,Samuel Beckett is not just a 'life and times', but also an 'anti-life' of a figure who, like many of the very greatest writers, was profoundly repelled by his age.

Reviews

[the book] undoubtedly sheds light on the historical circumstances that informed [Becketts] texts, and there are many interesting details that allow us to see his literary achievement more clearly. * TLS *
Drawing on Becketts major works, his letters, and theoretical notebooks, as well as on recent research in Beckett studies, Gibsons critical life of Samuel Beckett is a pleasure to read, providing an instructive and original insight into Becketts life and work in relation to the events by which they are framed. * Modern Language Review *
This new biography . . . considers the writers work in relation to the historical circumstances of his life and provides an original insight into one of Irelands greatest writers. * Irish Post *
In his recent short biography of the writer, Samuel Beckett, Andrew Gibson makes the essential attempt to restore to the dramatist and his characters the difficult and thankless nobility of the compassionate view . . . An excellent and necessary volume. * George Hunka, Artistic Director, theatre minima, New York *

Author Bio

Andrew Gibson is Professor of Modern Literature and Theory at Royal Holloway, University of London. He is the author of Ulysses (2002), Samuel Beckett (Reaktion, 2010). He is coeditor of Reaktion's London from Punk to Blair and the author of Joyce's Revenge: History, Politics and Aesthetics in Ulysses and James Joyce, the latter also published by Reaktion.