About
Samuel Beckett was born in Dublin into an Anglo-Irish Protestant family. After studying at Trinity College, he settled in Paris in 1937, where he became close to James Joyce. During World War II, he joined the French Resistance. His most fertile period (1946-1953) produced his novel trilogy (Molloy, Malone Dies, The Unnamable) and his play Waiting for Godot, a masterpiece of the Theatre of the Absurd. Awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1969, he profoundly renewed the novel and drama through his minimalist style and his vision of the human condition.
* 1906-04-13 — † 1989-12-22
Major works
- En attendant Godot (1953)play
- Molloy (1951)novel
- Malone meurt (1951)novel
- L'Innommable (1953)novel
- Fin de partie (1957)play
Key milestones
- 1969Awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature.
- 1942Flees Paris after his Resistance network is betrayed.
- 1938Settles permanently in Paris.
Themes
the absurdwaitinghuman conditionminimalismmemory
Sources: beta.nobelprize.org · poetryfoundation.org · tcd.ie
