The Letters of Samuel Beckett: Volume 1, 1929–1940: 01 - Hardcover

Beckett, Samuel

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0521867932 ISBN 13: 9780521867931

Publisher: Cambridge University Press, 2009

Synopsis

Rare Book

About this title

Review:

'It is hard to credit the magisterial scholarship and publishing expertise that has gone into the editing of this first of four volumes of the letters of Samuel Beckett ... a breathtaking and essential work of human understanding ... This is a great book; simply priceless.' Gerald Dawe, The Sunday Business Post

'For all of us who love Samuel Beckett, there can be no more thrilling book. These letters not only cast light on his life and work, they are a considerable addition to his writing ... This is a volume to treasure, not just study. No Beckett reader will need it recommended, merely announced.' David Sexton, The Evening Standard

'There is so much in the pages of this volume, and the editors honour both the writer and the reader with the painstaking detail with which they frame each carefully chosen letter. The excitement generated in this reader is not only from the perusal of the contents of this amazing collection of correspondence but of the promise of three more volumes to come.' Beverley Curran, Journal of Irish Studies

'The first volume of Beckett's letters, The Letters of Samuel Beckett, 1929–1940 (Cambridge University Press), was the funniest, most intelligent and most poignant book I read this year, and since three more volumes are promised by Cambridge University Press we should be moved and entertained for some years to come.' Gabriel Josipovici, The Times Literary Supplement

'This edition is beautiful to read. It sets the very highest standards of presentation and organizes inherently complex and often partial material most coherently. For example, many letters written to Beckett are lost, yet the reader is able to infer the tone and scope of his correspondence through the editors' meticulous annotation.' M. S. Byron, The Review of English Studies

'One can hardly wait for Volume Two.' John Walsh, The Independent

'The most bracing read [of 2009] was The Letters of Samuel Beckett, 1929–1940, a portrait of the Dubliner as a young European with a hard gemlike gift for language, learning and mockery. ... Constantly Beckett is veering between certainty about his need to write and doubt about the results, all expressed in prose that is undoubting, delighted and demanding.' Seamus Heaney, The Times Literary Supplement

'... these similarly anticipated letters have quite definitely arrived, and in an edition more sumptuous than one ever imagined. Has any modern author been better served by his editors than Beckett? ... Best of all, each letter is annotated in detail, with every person, event and allusion scrupulously identified.' Michael Dirda, The Washington Post

'Be in no doubt about it, if Godot and Molloy lit up the dreary landscape of writing in the immediate post-war era, these letters are set to do the same for the new century.' Gabriel Josipovici, The Times Literary Supplement

'Beautifully edited and annotated.' Philip Hensher, The Spectator

Book Description:

The Letters of Samuel Beckett offers for the first time a comprehensive range of letters of one of the greatest literary figures of the twentieth century. This volume provides a vivid and personal view of Western Europe in the 1930s, marked by the emergence of Beckett's unique voice and sensibility.

About this edition

• Publisher: Cambridge University Press
• Publication date: 2009
• ISBN 10: 0521867932
• ISBN 13: 9780521867931
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 866
• Editor: Fehsenfeld Martha Dow, Overbeck Lois More