Simply Beckett

Katherine Weiss

• Publisher: Simply Charly
• Year: 2021
• Print ISBN: 9781943657278
• eBook ISBN: 9781943657797
• Topic: Literature
• Subtopic: English Literary Criticism
• Index: Literature

"Katherine Weiss' Simply Beckett is a beautifully written book, one brimming with fresh critical insights. What is obvious is her utter command of her material. As part of the Simply Charly series, the book is designed for university students and theatergoers, but, in fact, it also appeals to scholars long familiar with Beckett's work. Drawing on history, politics, trauma, and memory, Weiss leads the reader through Beckett's plays in clear, engaging prose. In sum, Weiss' book has the reach and depth to make it one of the more important coordinates in Beckett scholarship."
—Matthew Roudané, Regents' Professor of English and Theater, Georgia State University

Born in Dublin on Good Friday, Samuel Beckett (1906-1989) attended Trinity College and taught briefly in Belfast before moving to Paris, where he lived for most of his adult life. Deeply influenced by James Joyce, who became a close friend and mentor, he published poetry, novels, essays, and reviews before stunning Paris, and eventually the rest of the world, with his play Waiting for Godot in 1953. Famously described by one critic as "a play in which nothing happens, that yet keeps audiences glued to their seats, " Godot redefined dramatic structure and showcased Beckett's commitment to an art based on the ideas of "non-knowing" and powerlessness.

In Simply Beckett, professor Katherine Weiss provides a highly accessible and insightful introduction to the award-winning author and his paradoxical works, with a particular focus on Beckett's theater activities, both as a writer and director. Through discussion of the written texts, significant productions of the plays, and audience and critical reactions to Beckett's work, Weiss helps the reader understand the groundbreaking nature of his achievements and points the way toward a greater appreciation of his oeuvre.

Combining admirable erudition with reader-friendly style, Simply Beckett is a fascinating journey into the world of an author whose work went to the heart of the human condition.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Copyright
• Table Of Contents
• Praise for Simply Beckett
• Other Great Lives
• Series Editor's Foreword
• Preface
• Acknowledgements
• Introduction: “Astride of a grave and a difficult birth”: Samuel Beckett’s beginning
• Le Kid, Human Wishes, Eleuthéria: “we might well ring down the curtain.”
• Waiting for Godot and Endgame: Place and History on the Absurdist Stage
• Krapp’s Last Tape, That Time, Ohio Impromptu: Remembering That Time, That Place
• All That Fall, Happy Days, Footfalls, Not I: “Spared Love”: The Trauma of Being Seen; the Trauma of Being Unseen
• Acts without words: Avoiding the danger zone in Beckett’s Act Without Words I, Act Without Words II, Film, Quad, and What Where
• Beckett’s Legacy
• Endnotes
• Sources
• Suggested Reading
• About the Author
• A Word from the Publisher