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Samuel Beckett PDF

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Samuel Beckett AndrewGibson Samuel Beckett TitlesintheseriesCriticalLivespresenttheworkofleadingcultural figuresofthemodernperiod.Eachbookexploresthelifeofthe artist,writer,philosopherorarchitectinquestionandrelatesitto theirmajorworks. Inthesameseries JeanGenet ErikSatie GertrudeStein StephenBarber MaryE.Davis LucyDaniel MichelFoucault GeorgesBataille PabloNeruda DavidMacey StuartKendall DominicMoran PabloPicasso LudwigWittgenstein MaryAnnCaws EdwardKanterian FranzKafka OctavioPaz SanderL.Gilman NickCaistor GuyDebord WalterBenjamin AndyMerrifield EstherLeslie MarcelDuchamp CharlesBaudelaire CarolineCros RosemaryLloyd JamesJoyce JeanCocteau AndrewGibson JamesS.Williams FrankLloydWright SergeiEisenstein RobertMcCarter MikeO’Mahony Jean-PaulSartre SalvadorDalí AndrewLeak MaryAnnCaws NoamChomsky SimonedeBeauvoir WolfgangB.Sperlich UrsulaTidd JorgeLuisBorges EdgarAllanPoe JasonWilson KevinJ.Hayes Samuel Beckett Andrew Gibson reaktion books TotheKiberds PublishedbyReaktionBooksLtd 33GreatSuttonStreet Londonec1v0dx,uk www.reaktionbooks.co.uk Firstpublished2010 Copyright©AndrewGibson2010 TherightofAndrewGibsontobeidentifiedasAuthorofthis WorkhasbeenassertedbyhiminaccordancewiththeCopyright, DesignandPatentsAct1988. Allrightsreserved Nopartofthispublicationmaybereproduced,storedinaretrievalsystem, ortransmitted,inanyformorbyanymeans,electronic,mechanical, photocopying,recordingorotherwise,withoutthepriorpermission ofthepublishers. PrintedandboundinGreatBritain bycpiAntonyRowe,Chippenham,Wiltshire BritishLibraryCataloguinginPublicationData Gibson,Andrew,1949– SamuelBeckett.–(Criticallives) 1.Beckett,Samuel,1906–1989. 2.Dramatists,Irish–20th-century–Biography. I.Title II.Series 822.9'12-dc22 isbn:9781861895172 Contents Abbreviations 8 Introduction:FuckLife 9 1 ArrivingatanEnd:Ireland,1906–28 25 2 NotWorthTuppence:ParisandtheÉcoleNormaleSupérieure, 1928–30 42 3 TheRuthlessCunningoftheSane:London,1933–5 57 4 MelancholiaimdrittenReich:Germany,1936–7 74 5 Éliminationdesdéchets:TheWar,Resistance,VichyFrance, 1939–44 95 6 Indignités:Liberation,thePurge,deGaulle,1944–9 109 7 MakeSenseWhoMay:AWorldatColdWar,1950–85 128 8 WhereHeHappenedToBe:CapitalTriumphans,1985–9 146 Afterword:ToBeginYetAgain 161 References 173 SelectBibliography 195 Acknowledgements 203 PhotoAcknowledgements 205 Norcantherebeworksogreat Asthatwhichcleansman’sdirtyslate. W.B.Yeats Abbreviations works cdw CompleteDramaticWorks cp CollectedPoems csp CompleteShorterProse1929–1989 dfmwDreamofFairtoMiddlingWomen di Disjecta eag EnattendantGodot gd GermanDiaries isis IllSeenIllSaid mptk MorePricksthanKicks mu Murphy tr Trilogy:Molloy,MaloneDies,TheUnnamable wh WorstwardHo Exceptwhereindicated,alltranslationsofsecondary literatureinFrenchandGermanaremyown,asare translationsfromtheFrenchtextsinDisjecta. Introduction: Fuck Life InoneofBeckett’slateplays,weencounterahauntingfigure. Aprematurelyoldwomanwithfamishedeyessitsrockingina rocking-chair.Avoicespeaks,tellingherthestoryofawoman whosevainhopeofhumancontactledhertotherocking-chair inwhichhermother‘satandrocked...tillherendcame’(cdw, p.440).Thereshesatdownandrockedherself, sayingtotherocker rockheroff stophereyes fucklife stophereyes rockheroff rockheroff(cdw,p.442) Theplayendswiththeselines. ‘Fucklife’isnotasentimenteverlikelytowinassentfrom biographers.Obviouslyandbydefinition,biographycanhardly accommodateit.Biographyisnecessarilyaffirmative.Theassump- tionthatlifehasvalue,thatindividuallivesdeservemonuments, substantialandoftenbulkytributes,isintrinsictothegenre. Furthermore,thelifethathasvalueisspecificinkind.Itislife asithasalreadybeenlived,lifeasgraspedinretrospect.That thesubjectofthebiographymightforinstancebeawriterwho 9

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