All of the essays in this collection reflect a sense that Beckett's power as a playwright derives largely from a mythic vision that informs his drama. Their approaches to the definition and use of myth and ritual in his plays vary considerably, however, ranging from the Jungian to the Marxian to the Lacanian, and drawing on the theories of Campbell, Freud, Eliade, Frye, Turner, Girard, Baudrillard, and others.

This book is the first introduction to unite accessible accounts not only of Beckett's life and work, but of the key literary and theoretical concepts used in the study of his writing.

Semiotics is an interdisciplinary field of research and Beckett s theatre is one which engages a large spectrum of subjects and concerns that touch upon multiple aspects of human experience. The Beckettian dramatic text, as shall be demonstrated in this book, is a fertile ground for a semiotic investigation that is orchestrated by the profound insights of C. S. Peirce. As it applies semiotics to Beckett s theatre, this book seeks to preserve, communicate and throw into relief those universal values in the playwright s works which remain unchallenged despite every change and every revolution in human societies. What this book will hopefully contribute to the general canon of theatrical studies is its study of the Beckettian dramatic text not as a model of the absurd tradition, but rather as a cultural product whose writer's thinking can scarcely be dissociated from the cultural environment within which it took shape, and whose deciphering requires the use of cultural codes and sub-codes which will undergo detailed examination in the course of analysis, a study that we may so generically call a cultural semiotic study of Beckett.

The world fame of Samuel Beckett is due to a combination of high academic esteem and immense popularity. An innovator in prose fiction to rival Joyce, his plays have been the most influential in modern theatre history. As an author in both English and French and a writer for the page and the stage, Beckett has been the focus for specialist treatment in each of his many guises, but there have been few attempts to provide a conspectus view. This book, first published in 1994, provides thirteen introductory essays on every aspect of Beckett's work, some paying particular attention to his most famous plays (e.g. Waiting for Godot and Endgame) and his prose fictions (e.g. the 'trilogy' and Murphy). Other essays tackle his radio and television drama, his theatre directing and his poetry, followed by more general issues such as Beckett's bilingualism and his relationship to the philosophers. Reference material is provided at the front and back of the book.

Samuel Beckett's work forever changed the concepts of literature and theatre. His work remains a core part of introductory courses on literary history, drama, theatre or performance and also features in more specialist modules such as Modernism or The Absurd. Samuel Beckett is a comprehensive introduction to his life and work as well as an outline of the critical issues surrounding his work. This guidebook leaves judgements up to the student by explaining the full range of often very different critical views and interpretations and offers guides to further reading in each area discussed.

A critical look at the work of one of the twentieth century's most influential playwrights emerges from the viewpoint of numerous Beckett actors and directors and includes the author's personal experiences as well.

'This book makes a significant and needed contribution to post-structural philosophy and literary theory. In this impressive analysis that delicately weaves together philosophical and literary texts, Ewa Ziarek powerfully and persuasively demonstrates that the rhetoric of the failure of traditional subject-centered rationality does not lead to nihilism or nominalism.'-Kelly Oliver, University of Texas at Austin

Presents a series of critical essays discussing the structure, themes, and subject matter of Samuel Beckett's Waiting for Godot.

An introductory study into tragedy in drama and literature, and in the real world.

Eric P. Levy’s book investigates the mentality or attitude of cognitive apprehension expressed in Beckettian texts. Primary areas of concern include how the Beckettian attitude began, what concepts it invents or transforms to sustain its mode of thought, how the mentality wards off factors which would refute or heal it, and, most paradoxical of all, why this mentality ultimately reduces the mind to an estranged source of thought, continuously repudiated by its own awareness. The study uncovers the strategies by which experience is evacuated of all content but that consistent with the attitude registering it.