Samuel Beckett

Samuel Beckett was born in a suburb of Dublin in 1906. He came from a Protestant, Anglo-Irish background. He went to the Portora Royal School, the same school attended by Oscar Wilde, in Northern Ireland at the age of 14. He studied at Trinity College, where he received his bachelor’s degree and became a teacher for a brief period of time. In his youth he would periodically experience severe depression keeping him in bed until mid-day, and this experience influenced his writing later on.

After graduation, Beckett moved to Paris, where he worked as a lecturer and translator. It was in Paris that he met James Joyce, who became a major influence on his work. Beckett's early writing was heavily influenced by Joyce's modernist style, and his first novel, "Dream of Fair to Middling Women," was written in a similar style.

However, Beckett soon began to develop his own unique style, characterized by minimalist language and a focus on isolation, despair, and the absurdity of human existence. His most famous works, including the plays "Waiting for Godot" and "Endgame," are considered classics of 20th-century literature and theatre.

During World War II, Beckett’s Irish citizenship granted him permission to stay in Paris as a citizen of a neutral country. He fought in the resistance movement until 1942 when members of his group were arrested. He and his lifelong partner, Suzanne, fled to the unoccupied zone until the end of the war. After the war, he settled in Paris and began his most productive period of time as a writer.

In the 1960s, he found great success with his plays across the world. He received many invitations to attend rehearsals and performances, which led to a career as a theater director. He secretly married Suzanne in 1961. He continued to write throughout the 70s and the 80s in a small house outside Paris. In 1969, he was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature, but he declined accepting it personally to avoid making a speech at the ceremony. He died on December 22, 1989 from respiratory problems just months after his wife passed. He is buried in the Montparnasse Cemetery in Paris.

Sources cited:

“Samuel Beckett.” Encyclopædia Britannica, Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc., https://www.britannica.com/biography/Samuel-Beckett/Continuity-of-his-philosophical-explorations.

“Samuel Beckett.” British Library, https://www.bl.uk/people/samuel-beckett.

“Samuel Beckett.” Poetry Foundation, Poetry Foundation, https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/samuel-beckett.

“Samuel Beckett.” Biography.com, A&E Networks Television, https://www.biography.com/authors-writers/samuel-beckett.