Beckett at Eighty : Beckett in Context Book

Samuel Beckett, the only living playwright whose work—including Waiting for Godot and Endgame—guarantees him a place centerstage in the great modernist tradition, will mark his 80th bithday in April. This collection of original essays by thirteen noted critics evaluates the profound impact that Beckett's long and productive career continues to have on the contemporary imagination.

From Foxrock, an affluent suburb of Dublin, to the Left Bank of Paris, and on to international—and Nobel Prize-winning—fame, Beckett developed a dramatic style that in many ways represents the theater of our times. A minor figure in the Paris avant-garde of the 1930s, Beckett does not come from nowhere," writes Enoch Brater. "He is very much a writer of his time, shaped by the forces of his time to speak to the new audience of his time." On the eve of his eightieth birthday, this book draws together essays by both established Beckett scholars and by drama specialsists who are commenting on Beckett for the first time. Together they establish a context and a precedent for thinking about Beckett's unique use of dramatic convention.

Distinguished contributors include Ruby Cohn on "Growing (Up?) with Godot," John Russell Brown on "Beckett and the Art of the Non-Plus," the late Bernard Beckerman on "Beckett and the Act of Listening," and Martin Esslin on "Samuel Beckett—Infinity, Eternity." That the writers here often appear to be in dialogue with one another is a fitting tribute to that quality of spontaneity so many audiences still find in the Beckett repertory.

About the Author:

Enoch Brater is Associate Professor of English and Theater at the University of Michigan. He initiated a lecture series in Ann Arbor during 1984-85 which formed the basis for this book.

Thirteen experts reevaulate the contributions of the great modernist playwright