The World of Samuel Beckett 1906–1946 - Hardcover

Gordon, Lois

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0300064098 ISBN 13: 9780300064094

Publisher: Yale University Press, 1996

Synopsis

Samuel Beckett, whose play "Waiting for Godot" was one of the most influential works for the post-World War II generation, has long been identified with the debilitated and impotent characters he created. In this book, Lois Gordon offers a new perspective on Beckett, challenging the prevalent image of him as reclusive, self-absorbed and disturbed. Gordon investigates the first 40 years of Beckett's life and finds that he was, on the contrary, a kind and generous man who responded sensitively and even heroically to the world around him. Gordon describes the various places and events that affected Beckett during this formative period: war-torn Dublin during the Easter Uprising and World War I, where he spent his childhood and student days; Belfast and Paris in the 1920s and London during the Depression, where he lived and worked; Germany in 1937, where he travelled and witnessed Hitler's domestic policies; prewar and occupied France, where he was active in the Resistance (for which he was later decorated); and the war-ravaged town of Saint-Lo in Normandy, which he helped to restore following the liberation. Gordon also portrays the individuals who were important to Beckett, including Jack B. Yeats, Alfred Peron, Thomas McGreevy, and, most significantly, James Joyce, who was a model for Beckett personally, artistically and politically. Gordon argues that Beckett was very much aware of the political and cultural turmoil of this period and that the creative works he wrote after World War II can, in fact, be viewed as a product of and testament to those tumultuous times.

About this title

About the Author:

Lois Gordon is professor of English and comparative literature at Fairleigh Dickinson University.

About this edition

• Publisher: Yale University Press
• Publication date: 1996
• ISBN 10: 0300064098
• ISBN 13: 9780300064094
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 260