Samuel Beckett: References & Edit History

Raymond Federman and John Fletcher, Samuel Beckett: His Works and His Critics (1970), is a bibliography of the author’s writings and of writings about him and is exhaustive for the period it covers. Richard N. Coe, Beckett (1964), is a useful introduction, as is Harold Bloom (ed.), Samuel Beckett (1985, reissued 2011). Biographical studies include Vivian Mercier, Beckett/Beckett (1977); Deirdre Bair, Samuel Beckett: A Biography (1978, reissued 1993); Anthony Cronin, Samuel Beckett (1996); Lois Gordon, The World of Samuel Beckett, 1906–1946 (1996); and James Knowlson, Damned to Fame (1996).

Many critical studies have been devoted to Beckett. Among those that are not about a specific work by Beckett are Hugh Kenner, Samuel Beckett: A Critical Study, new ed. (1968), and A Reader’s Guide to Samuel Beckett (1973, reissued 1996); Ruby Cohn, Samuel Beckett: The Comic Gamut (1962), and A Beckett Canon (2001, reissued 2005); John Fletcher, The Novels of Samuel Beckett, 2nd ed. (1972); Rubin Rabinovitz, The Development of Samuel Beckett’s Fiction (1984); Andrew K. Kennedy, Samuel Beckett (1989); Alan Astro, Understanding Samuel Beckett (1990); and Lois Oppenheim (ed.), Palgrave Advances in Samuel Beckett Studies (2004). Works that examine Beckett’s plays include Martin Esslin, The Theatre of the Absurd, 3rd ed., rev. and enlarged (1980, reissued 1991); John Fletcher and John Spurling, Beckett the Playwright, 3rd expanded ed. (1985); and John Fletcher, About Beckett: The Playwright and His Work (2003). Beckett’s early writings are the subject of Raymond Federman, Journey to Chaos: Samuel Beckett’s Early Fiction (1965); and Lawrence E. Harvey, Samuel Beckett: Poet & Critic (1970). Steven Connor, Samuel Beckett: Repetition, Theory, and Text (1988), provides a postmodern approach. Leo Bersani, The Culture of Redemption (1990), explores the author’s defiance of redemptive narratives. Anthologies of important Beckett criticism are Martin Esslin (ed.), Samuel Beckett: A Collection of Critical Essays (1965); Melvin J. Friedman (ed.), Samuel Beckett Now, 2nd ed. (1975); Lawrence Graver and Raymond Federman (eds.), Samuel Beckett: The Critical Heritage (1979, reprinted 1997); and John Pilling (ed.), The Cambridge Companion to Beckett (1994).