Literature / Writers Datebook: April 13
Brief biography of Irish writer Samuel Beckett, playwright, poet and novelist, influential writer of the 20th century, leading dramatist and Nobel laureate in literature. He was famous for Waiting for Godot.
Samuel Beckett was one of the most important and influential writes of the 20th century. He is best known as the leading playwright of the 1950s movement called the theatre of the absurd. He won the Nobel Prize for literature in 1969 and the Prix Formentor in 1961.
Early Life
Born in Dublin on April 13, 1906, he was brought up in a middle-class, Protestant household. After graduating from Trinity College, Dublin, he visited Paris in 1929, where he began writing.
He then taught English there, where he first met his lifelong friend, James Joyce. He returned to Trinity College at the age of 24 but decided that he disliked academic life. He took off on his travels around Europe.
Several years later he settled in Paris hoping to earn a living as a writer. During the Second World War, Beckett became a member of the French Resistance, fighting against the German occupation of France.
Beckett's Works and Theme
Beckett's first full-length novel, Murphy, was written in English and published when he was 32. Most of the works that followed were written in French and then translated into English, including the important trilogy of novels Molloy, Malone Dies and The Unnameable.
Beckett's Play Waiting for Godot
The French play En attendant Godot (1952,) translated in English, Waiting for Godot (1954,) tells the story of two tramps, whiling away the time as they wait in vain for Godot, the enigmatic man. This is Beckett's vision of certain emptiness in human condition.
Beckett's presentation, however, is such that he manages to inject a kind of wit that keeps the tone of the play less empty but more witty. Waiting for Godot brought Beckett international fame.
Later Years of Samuel Beckett
As Beckett grew older, his later plays became even more strange, something of preferential jokes, for example, Breath, written when he was 64 years old, consists of a pile of rubbish, a breath and a cry. And his later plays. He died on December 22, 1989, at the age of 83.
Insight to Beckett's Literary Work
Samuel Beckett's works are complex, and they deal with difficult questions. His theme is often dark, and characters seem to be full of despair about death and people's failure to communicate with each other. As he grew older, his later plays became even more strange, something of preferential jokes. For example, Breath, written when he was 64 years old, consists of a pile of rubbish, a breath and a cry.
Despite the dreary side and his use of absurd humour with a despairing message, his works have been considered one of the theatre's greatest comedies. Samuel Beckett died on December 22, 1989, at the age of 83.
Books by Samuel Beckett
Murphy, 1938
Molloy, 1951
Malone Dies, 1951
The Unnameable, 1953
Waiting for Godot, 1953
Endgame, 1957
Happy Days, 1961
Breath, 1970
Not I, 1873
Ill Seen Ill Said, 1981
Photo credit:
Samuel Beckett. Wikipedia Commons / Public Domain. (Beckett in 1977)
Resources:
Ousby, Ian. The Cambridge Guide to Literature in English. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1993.
Oxford Who's Who in the 20th Century. Oxford: OUP, 1999
Payne, Tom. The A-Z of Great Writers. London: Carlton, 1997
(c) April 2010. Updated April 13, 2024. Tel. All rights reserved.
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