Gordon's treatment of the modernist master and author of Waiting for Godot is less harsh than the influential 1978 biography by Deirdre Bair, in which Beckett was represented as neurotic, cold, and hermitic. Gordon's study presents Beckett as an alert, even compassionate observer of his times and an heir to the Great Tradition of literary heavyweights. Much of the book focuses on the times rather than the life, summarizing political and intellectual history. Beckett once said that while James Joyce worked toward "omniscience and omnipotence as an artist," he himself worked from "impotence, ignorance." Gordon's work belies that modesty.
From Publishers Weekly
Gordon, professor of English and comparative literature at Fairleigh Dickinson University, looks at the circumstances that shaped Beckett's writing. She begins with Beckett's native city, Dublin, how he viewed it as a Protestant among Catholics and the effect the Irish Rising of 1916-1922 had on him. She discusses Beckett's life in Paris during the 1920s and his relationship with James Joyce. She paints a pleasant portrait of Joyce the family man and artist; considers Beckett's friendship with Jack Yeats, the poet's brother; and recounts Beckett's time in London during the early 1930s. The most gripping chapters are about the WW II occupation of France and Beckett's heroic role in the Resistance, which was inspired, according to the author, by the spirit of the great Irish revolutionary Michael Collins. Although there are annoying inaccuracies (e.g., Joyce and Irish politician Eamon DeValera do not, as the author claims, share the same birthday), this meticulously footnoted bio serves as a sober corrective to many of Deirdre Bair's more speculative theses in Samuel Beckett. Photos not seen by PW.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.
See all Editorial Reviews
