Critical Essays on Samuel Beckett (Hardcover)

This is an anthology of Beckett criticism from the earliest reviews to the advanced work that was being done at the time of his death and is designed to give scholars and students of Beckett's work access to material that they would otherwise have difficulty finding. This collection aims to provide a showcase of the critical thought on Beckett from the earliest reviews to the latest poststructuralist approaches. There are a range of Becketts to consider here: a Christian Beckett and an Indian Beckett, for example make strange bedfellows with the Beckett of psychoanalysis or postmodernism. The Beckett seen by early reviewers in Paris and London is very different from the Beckett observed from the perspective of neurology, or in comparison with Kafka. Beckett's power to disturb is shown in this collection which provides a range of different responses to him, and includes essays by Dylan Thomas, Andre Rousseaux, Kenneth Tynan, Claude Mauriac, William Empson, Philip Toynbee, Northop Frye, Christopher Ricks and A. Alvarez.