Samuel Beckett
SAMUEL BECKETT (1906 – 1989, NOBEL PRIZE FOR LITERATURE 1969)
Born in Dublin in 1906, Samuel Beckett was educated at Portora, Enniskillen and at Trinity College Dublin. He spent most of his life in France and died in Paris in 1989. He won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1969 and the citation stressed the comfort he had given through his work to those who occupy the lowest and most despised strata of society, while his whole life radiated kindness, compassion and the need to help others. It is impossible to underestimate his importance as a writer, playwright and thinker. His 1953 play En Attendant Godot (Waiting For Godot) had a profound influence on 20th Century drama and theatre practice and his later plays such as Not I, Rockaby and Footfalls can be said to have influenced visual artists, photographers and filmmakers.
Beckett’s short stories, novels and the later prose fragments, what he considered ‘the important work’ have had a similar impact on literature even if many of the works remain relatively unknown by the general reading public, those readers who discover his prose find a rich gift that keeps on giving. His trilogy of novels Molloy, Malone Dies and The Unnamable stand among the very greatest works of literary achievement and his last full-length novel, How It Is, is at once a masterpiece of structure and form and a clarion call to writers and artists everywhere to push the boundaries of what is possible in their work.
SAMUEL BECKETT (1906 – 1989, NOBEL PRIZE FOR LITERATURE 1969)
Born in Dublin in 1906, Samuel Beckett was educated at Portora, Enniskillen and at Trinity College Dublin. He spent most of his life in France and died in Paris in 1989. He won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1969 and the citation stressed the comfort he had given through his work to those who occupy the lowest and most despised strata of society, while his whole life radiated kindness, compassion and the need to help others. It is impossible to underestimate his importance as a writer, playwright and thinker. His 1953 play En Attendant Godot (Waiting For Godot) had a profound influence on 20th Century drama and theatre practice and his later plays such as Not I, Rockaby and Footfalls can be said to have influenced visual artists, photographers and filmmakers.
Beckett’s short stories, novels and the later prose fragments, what he considered ‘the important work’ have had a similar impact on literature even if many of the works remain relatively unknown by the general reading public, those readers who discover his prose find a rich gift that keeps on giving. His trilogy of novels Molloy, Malone Dies and The Unnamable stand among the very greatest works of literary achievement and his last full-length novel, How It Is, is at once a masterpiece of structure and form and a clarion call to writers and artists everywhere to push the boundaries of what is possible in their work.