Waiting for Godot: A Bilingual Edition: A Tragicomedy in Two Acts (English and French Edition) (Hardcover)

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Product Description

From an inauspicious beginning at the tiny Left Bank Theatre de Babylone in 1953, followed by bewilderment by American and British audiences, Waiting for Godot has become one of the most important and enigmatic plays of the past fifty years and a cornerstone of twentieth-century drama. Now in honor of the centenary of Samuel Beckett's birth, Grove Press is publishing a bilingual edition of the play. Originally written in French, Beckett translated the work himself, and in doing so chose to revise and eliminate various passages. With side-by-side text the reader can experience the mastery of Beckett's language and explore the nuances of his creativity.

Upon being asked who Godot is, Samuel Beckett told Alan Schneider, "If I knew, I would have said so in the play." Although we may never know who we are waiting for, in this special edition we can rediscover one of the most magical and beautiful allegories of our time.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 368 pages
• Publisher: Grove Press; Bilingual edition (March 13, 2006)
• Language: English, French
• ISBN-10: 0802118216
• ISBN-13: 978-0802118219
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.1 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #292,113 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars TOWARD A THEOLOGY OF WAITING: BILINGUAL BECKETT, March 25, 2008

By	C. Scanlon "least helpful reviewer" (among us humans) - See all my reviews (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review refers to the recent and very welcome bilingual edition of En attendant Godot.

Originally written in French as a break while Mr. Beckett tackled his obscure and thick novel writing in exile within southern France from occupied Paris (where he served in the Resistance until directly threatened; please the excellent biography Samuel Beckett: A Biography), Waiting for Godot became one of the most influential plays of the Twentieth Century.

Grove Press early cornered the American market for Beckett, its wisest and most respected publications. Here Grove Press and Les Editions de Minuit graciously combine copyrights to publish this important bilingual edition.

This edition contains only the barest of introductions, basically the English textual genesis with little background. For instance we do not read in this introduction how barely authorized, if at all, was the Miami production with the great Bert Lahr, a production one wishes deeply might have been recorded in some media, yet we read the cast of characters twice. We do not read of several other influential and important productions, including the full story of those directed by Mr. Beckett himself, not the prison productions. I certainly wish this play could be produced as written with a quartet of sextagenarians.

We have here in this introduction only the barest of bones of some textual variants, with a very brief bibliogrpahy.

Yet not much more is needed. The history and meaning have been deeply discussed in other publications, including several available here upon the amazon. For those who wish to learn the "back story" of Didi and Gogo, we may read the entertaining Beckett novel Mercier and Camier; also recommended for beginners is his intriguing first novel Murphy By Samuel Beckett.

What counts here is this bilingual edition, presenting face to face, line by line, the two languages, English and French, in which this play was written by Beckett.

The left hand page presents the original French text; the right hand page presents what the introduction indicates is the most authentic English translation available. This presents us with several advantages, and not only in bilingual education or sencond language instruction. We see here more broadly the intent of the author.

This therefore is a very important copy to have and to study, in this generous and easily readable Grove bilingual edition, durably hardcovered.

We each of us wait for Godot. Maybe tomorrow. Maybe we will forget.

Read here and remember.

11 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Waiting and Waiting and Waiting and ..., March 24, 2008

By	Stephen Williams "Stephen Williams" (Hawthorne, California) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Waiting and Waiting and Waiting and ...

Review of Play: Waiting for Godot - A Tragicomedy in Two Acts

Written in: 1949

Premiere in: 1953

By: Samuel Beckett (1906 - 1989)

Originally written in French and translated to English by the author himself.

This play takes place on a desolate road next to a barren tree. There are two aimless men loitering and passing the time in discussion. They are soon joined by two others. The first act of the play lasts through one evening. The second act lasts through a second evening almost identical to the first. When ever the subject of leaving their spot arises, we learn that they can't leave because they are "Waiting for Godot" and need to stay at this particular spot on the road.

There is a sense of timelessness. The second evenings (second act) seems to be slightly altered copy of the first evening (first act). The characters are "Waiting for Godot" and for salvation. Their wait for salvation might well be endless since all of them are loath to face their true motives, their real needs, their personal wants and honest desires. They don't seem to know why they are "Waiting for Godot" or what Godot (God?) will bring them. When they mention suicide they flippantly dismiss the subject. One time they say they can not hang themselves because they have no rope when in fact there is a rope lying on the stage as one of the few props.

They appear to have voluntarily subjected themselves to a purgatory and don't have the courage or initiative to even question their situation.

The discussion ranges from an inane account of boots being too tight to sophistic meanderings on the purpose of life. The characters seem to relentlessly keep talking to avoid facing something. We are not privy to any of their pasts or in fact any personal information about any of the characters. They might have been meeting on the desolate road for an endless time, so that any past that they had is lost in the mist of their memories.

The nearly barren tree reminds them of a hanging tree and by implication a crucifixion cross. The tree dominates the stage background just as Godot dominates the lives; free choice and every expression of the four main characters. Does the milieu force the characters to think of salvation to the exclusion of a meaningful life? Could their need for salvation keep them trapped in a purgative existence where escape would be a form of condemnation which none of them could tolerate?

The play "Waiting for Godot" forces the reader to ask questions of himself/herself.


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I completely enjoyed and highly recommend this book.