Samuel Beckett: A Critical Study

by Hugh Kenner

Examines the themes, structure, and significance of selected works by the nobel prize-winning playwright

Genres: Literary Criticism, Criticism, Literature, Irish Literature, Literary Fiction

226 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1965

Reviews

[Jacob Hurley · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a rare book but apparently the first complete book written about Beckett; Ashbery has some interesting stories about the dissemination of Beckett's books, the province of the select few elite readers who had gotten access to a few of his works and spread them among their friends before the larger surge in popular in the 60s. Anyways, Kenner commentates on Beckett in his usual way: trying to get a sense of how the author understands his primary influences and motifs, and then reiterate them in an artsy way. Since Beckett's influences are relatively peripheral and deliberately excised, Kenner gets to spend the entire 200 pages talking obscurely about Beckett's machine men, geometrical nightmares, and desperate motions. Much of it is fairly obvious to one who's read most of the major works of Beckett, but it's pleasant to see it reiterated by a different voice - and the preface indicates that Beckett made no objections to Kenner's characterizations. There are some interesting ideas, though: whereas I've always felt that Beckett's books are variations upon the same theme, different expressionist schemas around a basic ur-plot in hopes of creating pure nothing, Kenner sees the books as a chronological progression from pure motion (in Molloy and Mercier, etc) to pure stasis (The Unnameable, Comment C'est); he is of course aware of the relative indeterminacy of Beckett's schemas. Additionally there are a few pages of comparison between the french and english versions of Beckett's works, revealing that the original french is even purer in its lack of dialect cliches and its rigidly inverted series of questions. Worth reading if you can find it; this book doesn't seem to have been digitized

[Salvatore · Rating 4 out of 5]

(2019) Refreshing to re-read after re-reading so many Beckettromane. It's unique in style and tone and rhythm. This is one of the more ridiculous books of criticism to respond to.

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(2012) This book, its author, and its subject are all smarter than I am. This is another one of those works that I should have read in college when it was suggested to me. It wouldn't have hurt to know about the bicycles discussed. I can't go on, I'll go on.

[Eric Boles · Rating 4 out of 5]

fratello, a cosa serve ascendere?