Samuel Beckett (1906–1989)
Author of Waiting for Godot: A Tragicomedy in Two Acts
About the Author
Nobel Prize winner (1969) Samuel Beckett was born on April 13, 1906 near Dublin, Ireland into a middle-class Protestant family. As a boy, he studied French and enjoyed cricket, tennis, and boxing. At Trinity College he continued his studies in French and Italian and became interested in theater and show more film, including American film. After graduation, Beckett taught English in Paris and traveled through France and Germany. While in Paris Beckett met Suzanne Deschevaus-Dusmesnil. During World War II when Paris was invaded, they joined the Resistance. They were later forced to flee Paris after being betrayed to the Gestapo, but returned in 1945. Beckett and Deschevaus-Dusmesnil married in 1961. Samuel Beckett's first novel was Dream of Fair to Middling Women. Among his many works are Murphy; Malone Dies; and The Unnameable. His plays include Endgame, Happy Days, Not I, That Time, and Krapp's Last Tape. In 1953, the production of Waiting For Godot in Paris by director and actor Roger Blin earned Beckett international fame. Beckett was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1969. His style was postmodern minimalist and some of his major themes were imprisonment in one's self, the failure of language, and moral conduct in a godless world. Despite his fame, Samuel Beckett led a secluded life. In his later years he suffered from cataracts and emphysema. His wife Suzanne died on July 17, 1989 and Beckett died on December 22nd of the same year. (Bowker Author Biography) show less
Image credit: Samuel Beckett foto by Lütfi Özkök
Series
Works by Samuel Beckett
Three Novels: Molloy, Malone Dies, The Unnamable (1951) — Author; Translator, some editions — 3,050 copies
Novels I of Samuel Beckett: Volume I of The Grove Centenary Editions (Works of Samuel Beckett the Grove Centenary… (2006) 175 copies
Novels II of Samuel Beckett: Volume II of The Grove Centenary Editions (Works of Samuel Beckett the Grove Centenary… (2006) 164 copies
The Dramatic Works of Samuel Beckett: Volume III of The Grove Centenary Editions (Works of Samuel Beckett the Grove… (2006) 135 copies
The Grove Centenary Editions of Samuel Beckett Boxed Set: Contains Novels I and II of Samuel Beckett, The Dramatic… (2006) 109 copies
The Poems, Short Fiction, and Criticism of Samuel Beckett: Volume IV of The Grove Centenary Editions (2006) 83 copies
Company / Ill Seen Ill Said / Worstward Ho / Stirrings Still: WITH Ill Seen Ill Said AND Worstward Ho AND Stirrings… (2009) 61 copies
Evergreen review 13 copies
Beckett Short: Dramatic Works and Dialogues v.2: Dramatic Works and Dialogues Vol 2 (Beckett Short No. 2) (1999) 11 copies
Eh Joe 10 copies
Hé, Joe ; Sintels ; Woorden en muziek ; Cascando ; Komen en gaan ; Allen die vallen ; Spel zonder woorden 1 ; Spel… (1989) 10 copies
The Theatrical Notebooks of Samuel Beckett: Endgame (Theatrical Notebooks of Samuel Beckett) (1992) 8 copies
Los Premios Nobel de literatura. 18, Samuel Beckett, Odysseas Elytis, William Golding (1989) 8 copies
Nothing: AND Fizzles 7 copies
Senza, Lo spopolatore 7 copies
Words and Music 6 copies
O despovoador & Mal visto mal dito 6 copies
As No Other Dare Fail: For Samuel Beckett on His 80th Birthday by His Friends and Admirers (1986) 6 copies
Catastrophe [play] 6 copies
Spectaculum IX. Sieben moderne Theaterstücke. Beckett - Duras - Mrozek - Shaw - Sperr - Steinheim - Weiss (1966) — Author — 5 copies
Õnnelikud päevad ja teisi näidendeid 5 copies
Act Without Words I 5 copies
Fim de Jogo 4 copies
Ohio Impromptu 4 copies
Whoroscope : [poem] 4 copies
Aquela Vez e outros textos 4 copies
Watt 3 copies
Comment C'est / How it is and / et L'Image: A Critical-Genetic Edition / Une Edition Critico-Génétique (2016) 3 copies
Samuel Beckett, Bruce Nauman: Kunsthalle Wien, 4. Februar-30. April 2000 (German Edition) (2000) 3 copies
De ontvolker 3 copies
Quad 3 copies
Skuespill 3 copies
Breath 3 copies
Rough for Radio II [play] 3 copies
Rough for Radio I 3 copies
Rough for Theatre II [play] 3 copies
Rough for Theatre I [play] 3 copies
Molloy l'expulsé 2 copies
Act Without Words 2 copies
Quad Ve Diger Televizyon Oyunlari 2 copies
Samuel Beckett's Mal vu mal dit/Ill Seen Ill Said: A Bilingual, Evolutionary, and Synoptic Variorum Edition (1996) 2 copies
Endspiel und Alle die da fallen 2 copies
New world writing. 10 2 copies
Teatro di Beckett: Aspettando Godot. Finale di partita. L'ultimo nastro di Krapp. Giorni felici (1970) 2 copies
Samuel Beckett's Company/Compagnie and A Piece of Monologue/Solo (Garland Reference Library of the Humanities) (1993) 2 copies
Prancūziški apsakymai 2 copies
Poemas escolhidos 2 copies
Malone vdes 2 copies
SUEO CON MUJERES QUE NI FU NI FA 2 copies
Jogo do Fim 2 copies
Beckett 2 copies
Il teatro di Samuel Beckett 2 copies
Malone Muere 1 copy
Spectaculum 34 - Ein Szenarium und fünf moderne Theaterstücke (Der Verwaiser / Aus der Fremde / An den Rand der… (1981) 1 copy
Molloy : Roman 1 copy
Fiche de lecture Oh les beaux jours de Samuel Beckett (Analyse littéraire de référence et résumé complet) (2019) 1 copy
Wir sind Zauberer : Godot und die anderen ; Drama, Hörspiele, Prosa, Gedichte und Originalton-Aufnahmen (2006) 1 copy
FRAGMENTO DE TEATRO II 1 copy
Prosa Teatro Poesia 1 copy
Hry 1 copy
Πρώτος ἔρωτας 1 copy
Play Beckett - Uma pantomima e tres dramaticulos de Samuel Beckett - Atos sem palavras II. Comedia. Play Catastrofe.… (2019) 1 copy
Krapp's Last Tape 1 copy
Μονόπρακτα 1 copy
Damals 1 copy
את הימים היפים 1 copy
E PAEMERTUESHMJA 1 copy
PROUST por BECKETT 1 copy
Svršetak igre 1 copy
Théâtre 1 Beckett relié 1 copy
Fiche de lecture L'Innommable de Samuel Beckett (Analyse littéraire de référence et résumé complet) 1 copy
Ergstwaarts vooruit 1 copy
Stirrings Still / Soubresauts: Comment Dire / What Is the Word (Samuel Beckett's Bilingual Works) (2009) 1 copy
Il Castoro 1 copy
Molloy - Premi Nobel 1969 1 copy
UDHETIM I MBYLLUR 1 copy
Πρώτος έρωτας 1 copy
OBRAS ESCOGIDAS 1 copy
Üçleme 1 copy
Mutlu Günler 1 copy
ΒΑΤΤ 1 copy
ΜΟΛΛΟΫ 1 copy
Ο ΜΑΛΛΟΫ ΠΕΘΑΙΝΕΙ 1 copy
Η ΕΙΚΟΝΑ 1 copy
Relatos 1 copy
El innombrable 1 copy
China chair project 1 copy
Poesias Completas 1 copy
Teatr 1 copy
TEATRO DI BECKETT 1 copy
Più pene che pane 1 copy
Objet 1 copy
Poesia Teatro Poesia 1 copy
En Attendant Gadot 1 copy
Nowele 1 copy
Come è 1 copy
متن هایی برای هیچ 1 copy
ගොඩෝ උන්නැහේ එනකං 1 copy
Commedia (in Teatro) 1 copy
Bram Van Velde 1 copy
Malone meurt 1 copy
Lulkanto 1 copy
Sechs Theaterstücke: Endspiel - Das letzte Band - Glückliche Tage - Spiel - Akt ohne Worte 1 - Akt ohne Worte… (1989) 1 copy
Companhia A prosa do mundo 1 copy
Två dikter (Fenix 1:5/6) 1 copy
Gesammelte Werke, 10 Bde. 1 copy
Beckett, Samuel 1 copy
beckett théâtre1 1 copy
The End [short story] 1 copy
Como é 1 copy
Sögur, leikrit, ljóð 1 copy
Shorts 1 copy
Poèmes = Básně 1 copy
Beckett in Berlin: Zum 80. Geburtstag (Statten der Geschichte Berlins) (German Edition) (1986) 1 copy
New Writers II 1 copy
Was Wo 1 copy
Spectaculum II sechs moderne Theaterstücke ; Beckett, Brecht, Dürrenmatt, Frisch, Jahnn, Majakowski 1 copy
Waiting for Godot - act 2 1 copy
Ο ακατανόμαστος 1 copy
Pioravante Marche 1 copy
Malone morre e Dias felizes 1 copy
Comedia. Seguido de Cascando. Seguido de Palabras y música. En total 3 obras en un mismo volumen. Estudio… (1971) 1 copy
Dashuria e parë 1 copy
Come è 1 copy
Molloy et L'expulsé, suivi de "Beckett le précurseur" par Bernard Pingaud, et du "Dossier de presse"… (1959) 1 copy
Σάμουελ Μπέκετ γιά τόν… 1 copy
Sobresauts 1 copy
Godot: An Imaginary Staging 1 copy
Gelukkige dagen 1 copy
Spel 1 copy
Fragment 1 copy
Film notebook 1 copy
Genesis 1 copy
Театр: Пьесы 1 copy
Associated Works
The Graphic Canon, Vol. 3: From Heart of Darkness to Hemingway to Infinite Jest (2013) — Contributor — 147 copies
The Actor's Book of Scenes from New Plays: 70 Scenes for Two Actors, from Today's Hottest Playwrights (1988) — Contributor — 80 copies
New World Writing: Fifth Mentor Selection - Fiction, Drama, Poetry, Criticism (1954) — Contributor — 9 copies
Die Geschichtenerzähler: Neues und Unbekanntes von Allende bis Zafón (suhrkamp taschenbuch) (2008) — Contributor — 5 copies
Spectaculum Band 13: Beckett, Bond, Fleißer, Hacks, Handke, Horváth, Michelsen (1951) — Contributor — 4 copies
Film / Notfilm (DVD Blu-ray) — Author — 3 copies
Van Flaubert tot heden : Franse verhalen — Contributor — 3 copies
Sulfur 6 — Contributor — 2 copies
Die Sammlung der Nationalgalerie : 1945-1968 : Der geteilte Himmel : die Dokumentation einer Ausstellung (2014) — Contributor — 2 copies
Tagged
Common Knowledge
- Legal name
- Beckett, Samuel Barclay
- Other names
- Bellis, Andrew
- Birthdate
- 1906-04-13
- Date of death
- 1989-12-22
- Burial location
- Cimetière du Montparnasse, Paris, Île-de-France, France
- Gender
- male
- Nationality
- Ireland
- Birthplace
- Foxrock, County Dublin, Ireland
- Place of death
- Paris, France
- Education
- Earlsfort House School, Dublin
Portora Royal School
Trinity College, Dublin (BA ∙ Italian and English ∙ 1927) - Occupations
- playwright
lecturer
poet - Relationships
- Joyce, James (mentor)
Havel, Václav (friend)
Yeats, Jack Butler (friend)
Kenner, Hugh (friend)
Arikha, Avigdor (friend)
Buffet-Picabia, Gabriële (colleague) (show all 7)
Federman, Raymond (friend) - Organizations
- Olympia Press
- Awards and honors
- Nobel Prize (Literature, 1969)
Royal Society of Literature Companion of Literature
New York Drama Critics' Circle Award (Special Citation, 1983-1984)
International Publishers' Formentor Prize (1961) - Short biography
- Samuel Barclay Beckett (13 April 1906 – 22 December 1989) was an Irish novelist, playwright, short story writer, theatre director, poet, and literary translator. A resident of Paris for most of his adult life, he wrote in both English and French.
Beckett's work offers a bleak, tragicomic outlook on human existence, often coupled with black comedy and gallows humor, and became increasingly minimalist in his later career. He is considered one of the last modernist writers, and one of the key figures in what Martin Esslin called the "Theatre of the Absurd."
Beckett was awarded the 1969 Nobel Prize in Literature "for his writing, which—in new forms for the novel and drama—in the destitution of modern man acquires its elevation." He was elected the Saoi of Aosdána ( a literary association of Irish writers) in 1984.
Members
Discussions
Samuel Beckett in Fine Press Forum (October 2021)
October 2013: Samuel Beckett in Monthly Author Reads (October 2013)
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Awards
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Statistics
- Works
- 522
- Also by
- 42
- Members
- 38,365
- Popularity
- #470
- Rating
- 3.9
- Reviews
- 442
- ISBNs
- 1,144
- Languages
- 35
- Favorited
- 259