Works
Early Life
- Born April 13, 1906 in Dublin
- Attended school at Earlsfort House School
- At age 14, went to Portora Royal School
- Excelled at cricket, played for Dublin University
- Bachelors degree from Trinity College in 1927
- Wrote in English and French
- His work offers a bleak, tragicomic outlook on human existence
- Last of the Theater of the Absurd
Waiting for Godot
Murphy
Molloy
Malone Dies
The Unnamable
Watt
Endgame
How It Is
Environment
Mid-Life
- After World War II, society as a whole lost trust in everyone else. The loneliness that this distrust caused is portrayed in some of his works.
- There were many countries that went into recession following World War II, which influenced some of his characters in their behavior and diction.
- Beckett becomes a student of James Joyce
- Embarks on a trip through Germany, France, and Britain (1931)
- Beckett settles in Paris (1937)
- Stabbed by a pimp
- Meets Suzanne Dechevaux-Dumesnuil
- Fights in French resistance movement
- Most prolific period as a writer
Awards
Late Life
- Croix de Guerre
- Medaille de la Resistance
- Nobel Prize for Literature (1969)
- Great success with his plays
- Career as a theater director
- Marries Suzanne in secret
- Commissioned by BBC
- 70s and 80s - Beckett writes in a small house outside Paris
- Late 1980s - nursing home
- Dies December 22, 1989
Personality
Legacy
- "I had little talent for happiness"
- Beckett was moody and prone to fits of depression.
- He often acted recklessly and without fear of consequence.
- His pessimism lead him to associate with Absurdist thought.
- Sustained attack on the "realist tradition"
- 20th century composers have created musical works based on his texts
- One of the most widely praised writers by critics for his philosophies
- All rights for performance of his plays are held by the Beckett Estate
(only allows them to be performed exactly as they were written.)
bio.
http://www.biography.com/people/samuel-beckett-9204239#synopsis
Wiki
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samuel_Beckett#Early_works
Britannica
http://www.britannica.com/biography/Samuel-Beckett