Beckett Before Beckett: Samuel Beckett's Lectures on French Literature

by Brigitte Le Juez, Ros Schwartz (Translator)

Investigating the themes and ideas that sparked Samuel Beckett’s writing career, this valuable guide explores one of the least known periods in Beckett’s early life. Having just returned from Paris where he had met James Joyce, Beckett’s brief academic career at Trinity College is detailed through a student’s extensive notes from modern French lectures delivered in 1930 and 1931. Outlining Beckett’s opinions and thoughts during a formative intellectual period, many important questions are explored, such as How did he define the modern novel of his day? What should literature strive to achieve? and What should literature avoid? Revealing the authors that he studied, praised, and criticized—including Racine, Flaubert, Balzac, Gide, Stendahl, and Dostoyevsky—this informative study of his early teachings examine his preferences as a reader and the literary theories he was developing that later influenced his novels and drama. The many arguments discussed in this perceptive history provide an understanding of the intellectual basis of modernism and spotlight a previously unstudied stage in life of one of the greatest writers of the 20th century.

96 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2010

Reviews

[Piper · Rating 3 out of 5]

I bought this book about eight years ago and wasn't really aware of what it was about.
I only made it 1/3 through the book.
I remember liking it so I picked it up again to give it another try.
I really enjoyed "Eneigner, c´est s´exhiber", Beckett on French Literature, Drama (and the Conclusion).
While reading The Novel, I quickly figured out why I stopped reading the first time.
Those two chapters are dedicated to Balzac, Stendhal, Flaubert, Proust and Gide.
Since I haven´t read anything by any of those authors it was only mildly interesting to me.
But overall I enjoyed the little inside we´ve got into Beckett the student but also the reluctant teacher and it goes to show
how different your own personal perception can be from other peoples perceptions.
Brigitte Le Juez ends the conclusion with the words that she "always had a great sadness in (her) heart that this brilliant man, Samuel Beckett, still thinks he was a bad lecturer " and that she hopes to correct that image.
I enjoyed the book but I think it would be a great deal more interesting if one had a more complex knowledge of the French literature that is discussed in this book.
3,5 Stars

[Steven · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fascinating wee book. Le Juez extensively analyzes a notebook kept by one of Beckett’s students from his lectures on French Literature at Trinity College in 1930-31. Particularly with his teachings on Gide and Racine - and how they are presented contra Balzac and Corneille - many of Beckett’s preoccupations show up in these lectures in their formative stages. Most distinct is the focus on monologues where nothing happens. A treat to get insight into Beckett’s lectures.