What do you think?
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
June 19, 2021
بعد از خوندن این کتاب متوجه خواهید شد بکت پیچیدهتر از چیزیه که قبلا تصور میکردید
November 4, 2021
absurdism = stinky poopy existentialism
November 3, 2025
I really don’t know anything about the nobel
January 27, 2016
In this book, part of a series of Cambridge Introductions to various literary figures, Ronan McDonald aims to familiarize readers with Samuel Beckett’s life and work in about 150 pages. The most helpful part of the book is the first two chapters, which consist of a short biography and a discussion of the cultural and intellectual context in which Beckett worked.
Unfortunately, after that, McDonald explains that he expects readers to have already read all of Beckett's major works before coming to this book. As a result, this volume is no longer a convenient introduction to Beckett for readers who know little about him. The second part of the book consists only of McDonald's examination of various facets of the plays (mainly Waiting for Godot, Endgame and the radio plays) and novels (Watt, Murphy, the Trilogy) that will prove utterly opaque to anyone who hasn't already spent a great deal of time reading and thinking about Beckett. What was the Cambridge University Press editor thinking? Because McDonald chose to make this book more a companion to Beckett than an introduction to him, the book ends up competing with – and losing to – more ample works like The Grove Companion to Samuel Beckett and Hugh Kenner's classic A Reader’s Guide to Samuel Beckett.
Furthermore, these “Cambridge Introduction to X” volumes typically end with a survey of scholarship on the writer in question, but McDonald decides to limit his comments to English-language scholarship. That does readers a real disservice, because so much of Beckett’s reception and influence has been in France and Germany. All in all, I cannot find any reason to recommend this.
Unfortunately, after that, McDonald explains that he expects readers to have already read all of Beckett's major works before coming to this book. As a result, this volume is no longer a convenient introduction to Beckett for readers who know little about him. The second part of the book consists only of McDonald's examination of various facets of the plays (mainly Waiting for Godot, Endgame and the radio plays) and novels (Watt, Murphy, the Trilogy) that will prove utterly opaque to anyone who hasn't already spent a great deal of time reading and thinking about Beckett. What was the Cambridge University Press editor thinking? Because McDonald chose to make this book more a companion to Beckett than an introduction to him, the book ends up competing with – and losing to – more ample works like The Grove Companion to Samuel Beckett and Hugh Kenner's classic A Reader’s Guide to Samuel Beckett.
Furthermore, these “Cambridge Introduction to X” volumes typically end with a survey of scholarship on the writer in question, but McDonald decides to limit his comments to English-language scholarship. That does readers a real disservice, because so much of Beckett’s reception and influence has been in France and Germany. All in all, I cannot find any reason to recommend this.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews