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Samuel Beckett

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Samuel Beckett


Born
in Foxrock (Dublin), Ireland
April 13, 1906

Died
December 22, 1989

Website

Genre
Literature & Fiction, Theatre, Poetry

Influences
James Joyce, Dante Alighieri, Schopenhauer, Marcel Proust, Yeats, Sad ...more


Samuel Barclay Beckett was an Irish avant-garde novelist, playwright, theatre director, and poet, who lived in France for most of his adult life. He wrote in both English and French. His work offers a bleak, tragicomic outlook on human nature, often coupled with black comedy and gallows humour.

Beckett is widely regarded as among the most influential writers of the 20th century. Strongly influenced by James Joyce, he is considered one of the last modernists. As an inspiration to many later writers, he is also sometimes considered one of the first postmodernists. He is one of the key writers in what Martin Esslin called the "Theatre of the Absurd". His work became increasingly minimalist in his later career.

Beckett was awarded the 1969 Nobel ...more

Combine Editions

Average rating: 3.87 · 304,869 ratings · 15,649 reviews · 666 distinct works • Similar authors
Waiting for Godot
3.84 avg rating — 194,477 ratings — published 1952 — 254 editions
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Endgame
3.80 avg rating — 21,075 ratings — published 1957 — 96 editions
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Endgame & Act Without Words
3.92 avg rating — 10,942 ratings — published 1957 — 30 editions
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Molloy / Malone Dies / The ...
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4.28 avg rating — 8,832 ratings — published 1958 — 81 editions
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Molloy
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4.04 avg rating — 8,207 ratings — published 1951 — 134 editions
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Happy Days
3.88 avg rating — 6,395 ratings — published 1961 — 71 editions
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Murphy
3.83 avg rating — 5,717 ratings — published 1938 — 97 editions
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Malone Dies
3.85 avg rating — 4,878 ratings — published 1951 — 116 editions
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Krapp's Last Tape & Embers
4.04 avg rating — 4,428 ratings — published 1958 — 12 editions
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Watt
3.91 avg rating — 3,305 ratings — published 1953 — 71 editions
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More books by Samuel Beckett…

Series by Samuel Beckett

Molloy Malone Dies The Unnamable
(3 books)
by
4.09 avg rating — 24,661 ratings

The Letters of Samuel Becke... The Letters of Samuel Becke... The Letters of Samuel Becke... The Letters of Samuel Becke...
(4 books)
by
4.44 avg rating — 251 ratings

Film
(1 book)
by
3.80 avg rating — 97 ratings

نمایش‌نامه‌های بکت، جلد اول نمایش‌نامه‌های بکت، جلد دوم
(2 books)
by
4.05 avg rating — 77 ratings

Quotes by Samuel Beckett  (?)
Quotes are added by the Goodreads community and are not verified by Goodreads. (Learn more)

“We are all born mad. Some remain so.”
― Samuel Beckett
tags: rena-silverman, samuel-beckett
2399 likes
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“All of old. Nothing else ever. Ever tried. Ever failed. No matter. Try again. Fail again. Fail better.”
― Samuel Beckett, Worstward Ho
tags: failure, perseverance
1834 likes
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“Dance first. Think later. It's the natural order.”
― Samuel Beckett
1825 likes
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Polls

February 2016 Monthly Short Story Poll

1942, The Stranger by Albert Camus, 123 pages
 
  27 votes, 18.5%

1915, The Metamorphosis, Franz Kafka, 98 pages
 
  22 votes, 15.1%

1945, Animal Farm by George Orwell, 102 pages
 
  22 votes, 15.1%

1952, Waiting for Godot by Samuel Beckett, 109 pages
 
  17 votes, 11.6%

1937, Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck, 103 pages
 
  16 votes, 11.0%

 
  9 votes, 6.2%

1871, Carmilla by Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu, 108 pages
 
  7 votes, 4.8%

1936, Double Indemnity by James M. Cain, 115 pages
 
  7 votes, 4.8%

1894, A Respectable Woman by Kate Chopin, 26 pages
 
  6 votes, 4.1%

1960, Dreamtigers by Jorge Luis Borges, 96 pages
 
  6 votes, 4.1%

1912, Pygmalion by George Bernard Shaw, 96 pages
 
  5 votes, 3.4%

 
  2 votes, 1.4%

146 total votes
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Topics Mentioning This Author

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