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Thursday, 01 October 2020

Samuel Beckett

Samuel Barclay Beckett (/ˈbɛkɪt/; 13 April 1906 – 22 December 1989) was an Irish avant-garde novelist, playwright, theatre director, and poet, who lived in Paris for most of his adult life and wrote in both English and French. He is widely regarded as among the most influential writers of the 20th century.

Beckett's work offers a bleak, tragicomic outlook on human existence, often coupled with black comedy and gallows humour, and became increasingly minimalist in his later career. He is considered one of the last modernist writers, and one of the key figures in what Martin Esslin called the "Theatre of the Absurd."

Beckett was awarded the 1969 Nobel Prize in Literature "for his writing, which—in new forms for the novel and drama—in the destitution of modern man acquires its elevation." He was elected Saoi of Aosdána in 1984.

Biography

Early life and education

The Becketts were members of the Anglican Church of Ireland. The family home, Cooldrinagh in the Dublin suburb of Foxrock, was a large house and garden complete with tennis court built in 1903 by Samuel's father, William. The house and garden, together with the surrounding countryside where he often went walking with his father, the nearby Leopardstown Racecourse, the Foxrock railway station and Harcourt Street station at the city terminus of the line, all feature in his prose and plays.

This page contains text from Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia - https://wn.com/Samuel_Beckett

Latest News for: Samuel beckett

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Council set to abandon €20m Liffey bridge plans

The Irish Times 01 Oct 2020

Plans for a €20 million bridge across the river Liffey are to be shelved indefinitely following An Bord Pleanála’s refusal to allow Dublin City Council to change its location ... The council has had permission to build a new bridge over the Liffey, east of the Samuel Beckett bridge, since 2014 ... Judicial review sought ...   . . ....

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Best Virtual Bets: Altered Books, Diverse-City, and Dance

Houston Press 01 Oct 2020

With music, dance, visual art and even some arts and crafts to get your hands dirty, we think we’ve got a little something for everyone ... Based on Samuel Beckett’s poem of the same name and written for string quartet, the ensemble interacts with the digital playback of a woman (Maura Hooper) reciting the poem during the piece ... 18 No....

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Andrei Platonov: The genius who supported communism but mocked the Soviet system

Russia Beyond 01 Oct 2020

Nobel Prize-winning poet Joseph Brodsky described Platonov as an “outstanding writer of our time”, and one of the major figures of 20th century literature, placing the blue-chip Soviet author alongside Marcel Proust, Franz Kafka, Robert Musil, William Faulkner and Samuel Beckett ... Platonov was originally Andrei Klimentov ... He was 13 ... ....

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GIAF Autumn Edition: Close encounters of the artistic kind

The Irish Times 30 Sep 2020

With live cultural experiences challenged – rare and wonderful – there was art to be found around corners in Galway this month, sometimes unexpectedly ... Cascando is a variation of a 1961 radio play by Samuel Beckett, which Pan Pan’s Gavin Quinn and Aedín Cosgrove (with sound design and music by Jimmy Eadie) have adapted to a live experience ...  . ....

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Pan Pan Theatre captures echo of Beckett’s poetry

The Irish Times 29 Sep 2020

As Samuel Beckett neared the end of his life, he dictated a poem to his trusted collaborator Barbara Bray ... Many interpret it as having been inspired by Beckett’s aphasia, which left him temporarily unable to speak or write ... Quinn says that a lot of people have interesting ideas or impressions of Beckett’s work....

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The music of the virus: sadness, relief and communal consolation

The Observer 27 Sep 2020

One fine untroubled morning in 2019 I was out walking in Potts Point, on my way to see my eldest brother. He lived in a room here when I was 21 and he was 26 ... His room was narrow, with a bed and a wardrobe housing a few shirts on wire hangers. A window opened on to a wall ... At the time, I was writing a thesis on the fiction of Samuel Beckett ... Read more ... ....

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Fintan O’Toole: Covid-19 pandemic might be good for the arts – eventually

The Irish Times 26 Sep 2020

But he began to read dark novels that chimed with the arbitrary overthrow of his assumptions – books like Samuel Beckett’s Malone Dies ... with a mordantly pitiless sense of the absurd, the decline and fall of an empire, written as if Tolstoy and Beckett were working as a tag team....

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Relaunch continues the great odyssey started by David Marcus 74 years ago

Irish Independent 26 Sep 2020

David Marcus was a poet, novelist, editor extraordinaire, starter of literary journals and indefatigable champion of new writers ... He was just 21 when he launched his first literary quarterly, Irish Writing, in 1946 ... Read More ... Samuel Beckett replied from Paris, promising that as soon as he wrote anything reasonable, Marcus would have first refusal ... ....

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Meet The Bachelor - Niamh Campbell on her new Drama On One play

RTE 24 Sep 2020

My first try-outs were written in the voices of younger men, but they didn’t convince. Barry and I had socially distanced coffee in the Phoenix Park ... the bachelor ... The play will air as part of a double bill with Samuel Beckett's The Old Tune, also performed by Barry McGovern, with Eamon Morrissey - listen more from Drama On One here.  ....

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Same Old Tune - Drama On One does Beckett

RTE 23 Sep 2020

The Old Tune is Samuel Beckett's free adaptation of The Crank, a radio play by French writer, Robert Pinget ... The Old Tune by Samuel Beckett, broadcast by kind permission of the Estate of Samuel Beckett will air at 8 pm on Drama On One on Sunday, 27th September 2020 and be available online here....

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How to help siblings get along better

Mooresville Tribune 19 Sep 2020

Hannah, meaning “favor” or “grace,” has biblical roots — Hannah was the mother of Samuel ... Samuel (for boys) ... There’s no shortage of important Samuels in history, beginning with the leader of the Israelites in the Old Testament ... Nobel Prize-winning author Samuel Beckett, and actors Samuel L....

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Jewel Theatre Company continues virtual activities

Santa Cruz Sentinel 17 Sep 2020

“Our hearts go out to everyone affected by the recent fires in our area,” said Artistic Director Julie James ... Thankfully, they did.” ... These follow the charmingly sentimental “Krapp’s Last Tape” by Samuel Beckett, performed by renowned actor Paul Whitworth, which was offered in August under the direction of Patty Gallagher ... ....

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A wall crawl to spot when Facebook stopped being fun

Live Mint 17 Sep 2020

When I clambered on to Facebook in 2009, imagining I was being enterprising, the response from my then 16-year-old son disabused me ... “Don’t stalk me," he added. Naturally, I strenuously denied any such intention ... At times, we were imitative ... So, like the protagonists of Samuel Beckett’s Waiting for Godot, I say, “ Yes, let’s go", but do not move ... ....