The World of Samuel Beckett, 1906-1946

Samuel Beckett has long been identified with the debilitated and impotent characters he created. In this provocative book, Lois Gordon offers a new perspective on Beckett, challenging the prevalent image of him as reclusive, self-absorbed, and disturbed. Gordon investigates the first forty. years of Beckett's life and finds that he was, on the contrary, a kind and generous man who responded sensitively and even heroically to the world around him.Through a rich biographical and historical reconstruction, Lois Gordon illuminates Beckett's formative years, the years before the great work, that we may see him as fully responsive to the harsh realities of his time. This is a work generously conceived to undo the myth of a dour and distant Beckett and replace it with the full dimension of the man. -- Maureen HowardGordon places Beckett's life firmly in its historical context, both artistic and political. What she unearths about Beckett's involvement in the French Resistance and with the Red Cross at Saint-Lo in 1945 is particularly persuasive and illuminating -- and finally very moving. -- Harold PinterAn illuminating, and immensely warm study. -- New York Review of BooksGordon significantly extends the scholarship about her subject.... An exemplary glimpse of a literary enigma. -- KirkusFor any evaluation of Beckett's temperament and achievement, The World of Samuel Beckett provides invaluable information and balance.... Gordon has provided a 'missing link' in the saga of one of the West's greatest writers. -- Kimball King, Modern Drama