Samuel Beckett

NAME Samuel Beckett

WHAT FAMOUS FOR Samuel Beckett is famous for being one of the most influential playwrights, novelists, and poets of the 20th century. He is best known for his existentialist and absurdist works, including the play Waiting for Godot.

BIRTH Samuel Beckett was born on April 13, 1906, in Dublin, Ireland.

FAMILY BACKGROUND Beckett was born into a Upper-middle-class Protestant Anglo-Irish family. His father, William Frank Beckett, was a quantity surveyor and his mother, May Barclay Roe, came from a wealthy family.

CHILDHOOD Beckett had a comfortable upbringing in Dublin, although his father's business suffered during World War I. He enjoyed reading and was exposed to literature from an early age. 

His childhood was escribed by Beckett as lacking joy, with periods of depression.

EDUCATION Beckett attended Earlsfort House School in Dublin then the Portora Royal School in Enniskillen (also attended by Oscar Wilde) and later studied French, Italian, and English literature at Trinity College Dublin.

CAREER RECORD Beckett's career as a writer began in the late 1920s. He worked as a lecturer and translator while developing his own literary style. His resume reads.

Taught English in Belfast for a short period.

Worked as a reader in English at the École Normale Supérieure in Paris (1928).

Published his first novel, Murphy, in 1938.

Gained international recognition with the 1952 play Waiting for Godot.

Continued to write innovative plays, novels, and poems throughout his career.

APPEARANCE Beckett was known for his tall and slender frame, with sharp facial features and deep-set eyes. He was described as having a brooding and melancholic air. 

Beckett in 1977 

FASHION Beckett was not particularly interested in fashion and was often seen in simple, practical clothing.

CHARACTER Beckett was known to be introspective, reserved, and deeply intellectual and philosophical. He was also fiercely private and guarded about his personal life. 

Bleakness? Beckett did bleak like Michelangelo did sculptures. His most famous quote, "Try again. Fail again. Fail better," is practically existential scripture at this point.

SENSE OF HUMOUR Beckett had a dark wit which is reflected in his works. He used humor to highlight the absurdity of human existence

RELATIONSHIPS  Beckett nearly became part of a real-life tragedy in 1938. A Parisian pimp with questionable taste (and even worse manners) decided Beckett needed some... unwanted attention. Let's just say Beckett wasn't interested, and ended up getting stabbed in the chest for his troubles. Thankfully, James Joyce, the literary giant, helped Beckett get the best hospital room money could buy.

Here's where things get a little less, well, absurd. During his hospital stay, a friend named Suzanne Dechevaux-Dumesnil,  an austere woman known for avant-garde tastes and left-wing politics, came to visit. Sparks flew, a romance blossomed, and they ended up living together for years. In March 1961, Beckett married Déchevaux-Dumesnil in a civil ceremony in Folkestone. Their relationship was close and enduring.

He had close friendships with writers and artists like James Joyce and Jean-Paul Sartre. Beckett assisted Joyce in various ways, one of which was research towards the book that became Finnegans Wake. Beckett's close relationship with Joyce and his family cooled when he rejected the advances of Joyce's daughter Lucia owing to her progressing schizophrenia.

MONEY AND FAME Beckett initially struggled financially but achieved financial security with the success of Waiting for Godot.

Despite his later fame, Beckett lived modestly and was not driven by financial success.

In 1969, while on vacation in Tunis with Suzanne, Beckett heard  the news he'd won the Nobel Prize for Literature. True to his refreshingly unmaterialistic form, he gave away all the prize money.

FOOD AND DRINK Beckett preferred simple and unpretentious food. He enjoyed wine and was known to be a regular at Parisian cafés.

MUSIC AND ARTS Beckett had a great appreciation for classical music, particularly composers like Beethoven and Mozart, and modern art, which influenced his writing. 

He bequeathed his extensive art collection to museums after his death.

LITERATURE Beckett was influenced by writers such as James Joyce and Marcel Proust. His own works often explored themes of existentialism, human suffering, and the absurdity of life.

In 1932, Samuel Beckett, ever the optimist, penned his first novel, Dream of Fair to Middling Women. Sadly, publishers weren't exactly lining up to shower him with riches, so he shelved it for a time (it finally saw the light of day in 1993, proving that good things, like moldy cheese, do come to those who wait).

Now, imagine a world ravaged by war, a world where the very meaning of existence seems to have gone AWOL. That's the backdrop for the Theatre of the Absurd, a movement that emerged after World War II. Playwrights, understandably a touch unsettled by the whole ordeal, used humor, parody, and situations that would make Dali raise an eyebrow to explore themes of loneliness, existential dread, and the general absurdity of it all.  Samuel Beckett was one of the Absurd's leading lights. His plays were like existential funhouses, perfectly capturing the spirit of the movement.

International acclaim finally embraced Beckett in 1953 with the Parisian premiere of his play En attendant Godot. Two years later, it landed in London as Waiting for Godot, and then New York in 1956. The play's become a bit of a legend, and for good reason.

NATURE Beckett found solace in nature and often took long walks in the countryside.

HOBBIES AND SPORTS Beckett was a proficient chess player.

Beckett was a bit of a cricket whiz. In his youth, he even played two first-class matches for Dublin's Trinity College. He apparently bowled a mean left-arm medium-pace and swung a lefty bat with aplomb.

This love of the game earned him a unique distinction: Beckett's the only Nobel laureate to be mentioned in the Wisden Cricketers' Almanack, the sport's holy book.

SCIENCE AND MATHS Beckett had a keen interest in mathematics and its philosophical implications.

PHILOSOPHY & THEOLOGY Beckett's works are infused with existentialist themes and questions about the meaning of life and existence.

His parents were members of the Church of Ireland and he was raised as an Anglican, Beckett later became agnostic, a perspective which informed his writing.

SCANDAL Beckett's works often challenged societal norms and received mixed reactions from critics and audiences.

MILITARY RECORD During World War II, Beckett joined the French Resistance and assisted in hiding Jewish refugees.

HEALTH AND PHYSICAL FITNESS Beckett struggled with depression and other health issues throughout his life.

HOMES Beckett spent most of his adult life living in Paris, France. He found a sense of anonymity and freedom in the city that allowed him to focus on his writing.

In 1953, Beckett decided to put down roots and buy some land near Paris. He enlisted the help of Boris Roussimoff, the father of wrestling legend Andre the Giant, to build a cottage.

Speaking of Andre the Giant, Beckett used to ferry the young giant (who was, well, giant) to school in his truck because Andre was too big for the bus. Apparently, their conversations revolved mostly around cricket, which is both hilarious and strangely heartwarming.

TRAVEL In his youth, Beckett traveled extensively throughout Europe. He lived in London for a time and spent a significant period in Germany, where he studied under the renowned writer James Joyce. These experiences exposed him to different cultures and artistic movements, which undoubtedly influenced his work.

DEATH Confined to a nursing home and suffering from emphysema and possibly Parkinson's disease, Samuel Beckett passed away on December 22, 1989, in Paris, France, at the age of 83. He lived a relatively quiet life and there were no public ceremonies following his death.

Beckett was interred together with Suzanne Déchevaux-Dumesnil in the Cimetière du Montparnasse in Paris. They share a simple granite gravestone that follows Beckett's directive that it should be "any color, so long as it's grey."

APPEARANCES IN MEDIA Due to his aversion to fame and publicity, Beckett made very few public appearances. He rarely gave interviews and refused to participate in film adaptations of his plays. There are a handful of recordings of Beckett reading his own work, but for the most part, he preferred his work to speak for itself.

ACHIEVEMENTS Beckett's achievements are undeniable. Here are some of the most notable:

Awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1969 (although he famously declined the ceremony).

Considered one of the most important playwrights of the 20th century, revolutionizing theatre with his exploration of existential themes and dark humor in works like "Waiting for Godot."

A major influence on 20th-century literature, particularly the Theatre of the Absurd.

His innovative plays, novels, and poems continue to be performed, studied, and admired by audiences worldwide.