Beckett Remembering/Remembering Beckett: A Centenary Celebration [Hardcover]

James Knowlson (Author), Elizabeth Knowlson (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 4, 2006

This revealing collection offers fresh insights into one of the 20th century's greatest, most enigmatic writers. In life, Samuel Beckett was one of the most private of men, preferring to let his writing speak for itself. In this commemorative volume, through interviews with his official biographer, he speaks of his youth, his home and family, his schools in Dublin, his life in Paris as an exchange student from Trinity College Dublin, his early writings, and his war years in the south of France. The second part of the work includes dozens of pieces written about him by those who knew him best, worked with him most closely, or admired him for his enduring influence, among them Edward Albee, Paul Auster, J. M. Coetzee, Hume Cronyn, Eugène Ionesco, Anthony Minghella, Tom Stoppard, and Jessica Tandy. Of special interest are remembrances of Beckett as a young man from fellow students at Trinity College Dublin and from L'Ecole Normale Supérieure in Paris. For those familiar with Beckett's work, this will enhance their knowledge; for those who are not, it is a revealing introduction to the Nobel Prize-winning author's life and work.

--This text refers to the Paperback edition.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Samuel Beckett (1906-1989) wrote that we are all "born astride the grave." Now on the centenary of the absurd dramatist and writer's birth, noted Beckett scholar and biographer Knowlson and his wife offer a valuable literary memorial. As the title suggests, the book is a collection of the notoriously private Beckett's reminiscences about his life and remembrances of Beckett from scholars and those who knew, worked or were impacted by him. The abundant glimpses Beckett provides are remarkable for their openness as much as their scarcity: these pieces, drawn from Knowlson's interview transcripts, haven't appeared elsewhere and cover topics like his friendship with painter Jack Yeats ("I think he thought he was the only painter.") and his doomed teaching career ("I didn't intend to be a writer. That only came later when I found out that I was no good at all at teaching."). Childhood friends, family members and a who's who of literary and theater heavyweights-Edward Albee, J.M. Coetzee, Jessica Tandy, Martin Esslin, Ruby Cohn, Billie Whitelaw-contribute memories, stories or essays. Organized chronologically, the anthology includes a chapter on Beckett as a theater director and an appendix containing notes on Beckett's lectures on Racine during his stint at Trinity College. Formatted like George Plimpton's biographies of Edie Sedgwick and Truman Capote or Legs McNeil's oral histories of punk and porn, Knowlson's Beckett tribute straddles the absurdist's immortality.
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Product Details

• Hardcover: 336 pages
• Publisher: Arcade Publishing; First Edition edition (January 4, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1559707720
• ISBN-13: 978-1559707725
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.5 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,533,651 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A good book, November 9, 2006

By 

George Owen - See all my reviews

This review is from: Beckett Remembering/Remembering Beckett: A Centenary Celebration (Hardcover)

This book is very useful for scholars working on Beckett and also for the more casual reader. I particularly like the Knwolsons' reprinting of some important critical works on Beckett that they feel have been neglected in Beckett studies. I also liked J. M. Coetzee's short piece on Beckett.

4 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars a little bit of a let down, February 25, 2007

By 

Matthew Hoyt (CA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Beckett Remembering/Remembering Beckett: A Centenary Celebration (Hardcover)

while this book does have some really interesting parts in it i felt that some of it was either rehash or simply stuff I couldn't care less for (Beckett as a golfer for example).It's sad that all the interviews with Beckett are pre-WWII because I'd really like to hear his thoughts on the trilogy,Godot,so on. Beckett's thoughts on the Joyces are really interesting and the rare photos throughout the book are great as well, many I'm sure can only be found here.I'm actually only half way though this book so these are only my thoughts so far but I'd recommend picking up a Beckett bio before this book (I can recommend the one by Deidre Bair since I've read it).