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Mel Gussow, drama critic for the New York Times, first meets Beckett in Paris in 1978. They meet virtually once a year for the next ten years, the last time being in 1989 in the French nursing home where Beckett would die later that year. This book is a record of those encounters. When they meet, it is often just after the playwright has directed - or Gussow has reviewed - one of Beckett's plays, so the talk is of actors and directors, the success or otherwise of various productions, and the general state of the theater, art, life - and tennis. None of these conversations has been published before, and they serve to show the reputedly austere author as modest, humorous, and open-minded but always precise and frequently revealing about his own work, which he discusses with great acuity. Rounding off the book are interviews with Beckett's chief collaborators and interpreters: among them Bert Lahr, Gogo in the first American Godot; Jack MacGowran and Billie Whitelaw, Beckett's own favorite actors; directors Mike Nichols and Deborah Warner; and Edward Beckett, his nephew and literary executor.
| Price | Condition | Delivery | Seller | Action |
| $99.99 | Digital |
| WonderClub |
Kristin Barr
reviewed Conversations with and about Beckett on February 11, 2014
Conversations with and about Beckett
If you are only a casual reader of Samuel Beckett's works, "Conversations With And About Beckett" may not warrant your attention. If, on the other hand, you are a Beckett disciple, this book is indispensible. Mel Gussow had a lengthy relationship with Sam Beckett and he provides insight and perspective that is a worthy addition even to the excellent biography by James Knowlson "Damned to Fame".
There are rare interviews with the incomparable Billie Whitelaw, his nephew Edward Beckett et al, that provide much information about this very private man. There is also an insightful section devoted to essays and reviews from the periods when many of his plays were introduced as well as interesting commentary on the radio plays.
Don't be surprised if you become somewhat verklempt while working your way through this volume, I did. Particularly moving is the lengthy obituary written by Gussow and appeared on the front page of the New York Times.
If there is fault with this book, my only complaint would be is that it is too short.
I often say to some of my friends: "Thank God for the BBC", because if it wasn't for them, the availability of decent history and literature would be wanting in America. I feel the same way about Samuel Beckett: "Thank God for Grove Press".
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Add Conversations with and about Beckett, Mel Gussow, drama critic for the New York Times, first meets Beckett in Paris in 1978. They meet virtually once a year for the next ten years, the last time being in 1989 in the French nursing home where Beckett would die later that year. This book is a r, Conversations with and about Beckett to the inventory that you are selling on WonderClubX
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Add Conversations with and about Beckett, Mel Gussow, drama critic for the New York Times, first meets Beckett in Paris in 1978. They meet virtually once a year for the next ten years, the last time being in 1989 in the French nursing home where Beckett would die later that year. This book is a r, Conversations with and about Beckett to your collection on WonderClub |
