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Beckett before Beckett

Published on May 13, 2013 in Literature. 0 Comments Tags: .
beckett before beckett

Beckett before Beckett
Brigitte Le Juez

978 0285 63812 9
Format HB
£15.00

Samuel Beckett lectured on modern French literature at his old university, Trinity College, in 1930 – 1931 but those lectures are not widely known and have rarely been studied. This is one of the least known periods of Beckett’s life. He had just returned from Paris where he had met James Joyce and had started his literary career but had not yet written his first novel.

In 1930 Rachel Burrows studied French at Trinity College and her notes of Beckett’s lectures have recently been found in the archives of Trinity College. Brigitte Le Juez is the first writer to fully study these lectures, the most complete record of Beckett the young intellectual, and a valuable guide to the inspirations behind his work and concept of literature.

They answer many of the questions about Beckett’s work. How did he define the modern novel of his day? What should literature strive to achieve, or more properly, what should it not be? They reveal the writers he studied and was influenced by and the notebooks demonstrate that Racine is the writer most frequently praised by Beckett while Balzac is the target of his fiercest criticism. Other writers studied by Beckett include Proust, Flaubert and Stendhal, Dostoyevsky and Andre Gide.

Beckett before Beckett reveals Beckett’s own history of French literature and his understanding of the origins of the modern literature of his time.

“We owe a debt of gratitude to Brigitte Le Juez for revealing this previously unknown dimension to one of the giants of 20th-century literature.”
‘Irish Times’

“The young Samuel Beckett’s lectures on literature offer a perspective on 19th century writing that remains fresh – and shows the roots of his own art… At last we can see the genesis of what would turn out to be one of the most extraordinary literary expressions of the 20th century.”
‘Guardian’

“Like a literary detective novel… Tells us a lot about the key French influences on him and his later literary development.”
‘Camden New Journal’

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Beckett/Beckett

Published on May 13, 2013 in Literature. 0 Comments Tags: .
beckett-beckett

Beckett/Beckett
Vivian Mercier

978 0285 63010 9
Format PB
£12.00

This classic study of the novelist and playwright Samuel Beckett has never been surpassed. Written by an outstanding scholar and critic who was one of the first to recognise Beckett’s genius, it was originally published in 1977, and was praised for its refreshingly personal approach and its many new insights. Here was a writer who not only understood Beckett from the shared knowledge of a similar background, but who was not afraid to temper admiration with criticism.

Thirteen years younger than Beckett and like him of Anglo-Irish ancestry, Vivian Mercier attended the same school and university, and first became aware of him in 1934. From then on he followed his progress with keen interest, and his analysis of the many contrasts and contradictions in Beckett’s work is constantly enlivened by his appreciation of Beckett the man.

This personal approach is blended skilfully with a persuasive dialectical discussion of the complex paradoxes in Beckett’s writings – gentleman.tramp, intellect/emotion, Ireland/the World, eye/ear, artist/philosopher, man/woman. No other critic has so lucidly described the many facets of Beckett’s learning – his use of mathematics, his debt to Racine in the classical shaping of his plays, his views on painting and music. He also presents a lively, almost irreverent study of the women in Beckett’s work.

Samuel Beckett has too often been put on a pedestal as a writer beyond criticism and, for many, beyond true understanding. This book, with its wealth of knowledge lightly dispensed, not only gives us a fresh appreciation of the man and his work, but also entices us to read and re-read with enlightened eyes.

“Vivian Mercier’s qualifications for writing a book about Beckett are numerous and impressive… A valuable addition to the published material on Beckett.”
‘Times Literary Supplement’

“This highly personal book remains one of the key books on Beckett – and one of the most readable… The book has been written in such a lively fashion that it is difficult to put down.”
‘Camden New Journal’

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Literature

Published on April 19, 2011 in Literature. 0 Comments
Literature

978 0 285 63858 7 The Beats: A Graphic History £12.00 ed. Paul Buhle
978 0 285 63010 9 Beckett/Beckett £10.00 Vivian Mercier
978 0 285 63862 4 Beckett before Beckett £10.00 Brigitte Le Juez
978 0 285 63889 1 Born to Kvetch £12.00 Michael Wex
978 0 285 63805 1 The Dead Beat £9.99 Marilyn Johnson
978 0 285 63600 2 The Fine Art of Reading £6.99 David Cecil
978 0 285 63800 6 The Moral Imagination £12.99 Gertrude Himmelfrab
978 0 285 63752 8 Outwitting History £12.99 Aaron Lansky
978 0 285 63414 5 The Walls of Illusion £8.99 ed. Peter Haining
978 0 285 63397 1 The World Through Blunted Sight £14.99 Patrick Trevor-Roper