Samuel Beckett and the Writing Genius
Samuel Beckett and the Writing Genius
Samuel Beckett wrote enduring works of art the imperishability of which is proven by the widely read body of original material and by the numerous reviews and critical approaches to his work. Thus, a unique dimension of his entire creative life, represented by the capacity, structure and movement of the language remains impressive even today, twenty years after his death. What is it thus that makes this author so controversial and widely debated at
conferences and congresses? Is it the mysterious air of his work or rather the windings and the ups and downs that transform our reading into a potent experience which enables the reader “to come alive in his mind,” to quote from Murphy? To this author’s mind, in the end it is the intellectual and emotional exaltation elicited by his novels and short stories which is most important. Some reasons are: his workings are accounts of memorable events in time
and space that captivate the reader with their comical implication and inquisitive problematic tone. These are dimensions of our reading that elicit an emotional response quite hard to resist. However, are these features numerous and relevant enough to account for his success? Are there enough translations for the Romanian reader to attain a fair perspective on Beckett’s creative genius? These are some of the main questions that I will answer in this essay.
Keywords: writing, imperishable, comic, idyllic, tragic, reception, translation, lyrical
- Beckett, Samuel. Nohow On.Company. I’ll Seen I’ll Said. Worstward Ho. New York: Grove Press, 1996. The Complete Short Prose. 1929-1989. New York: Grove Press. Ed. S.E. Gontarski. 1995.
