There he met Joyce and wrote a book about Marcel Proust
Abbandoned University and started to travel through Europe
Durinh WW2 was forced to flee with his French wife
Became french citizen
After the end of the WW2 went back to Ireland to see her
mother but then returned to France
1953: "Waiting fot Godot" is performed in Paris = extraordinary success
1969: Nobel Prize for Literature awarded
1989: Died
DRAMATIST OF THE ABSURD
however differed from other representatives of the genre
while Ionesco's plays are
dfined as laughable and
irrational, ridiculation od
the middle class and
absurd = surreal
Bcekett's plays are more
philosophical, tragic at times.
Nothing incredible happens.
He focuses on the human
being (detaching any political
circumstances)
new kind of drama
human condition
after post-war
years
THEMES
man's attempt to give life a meaning
monotony of
life given by the
repetition of the
same word
purpose to existence
isolation of the individual
gulf between our inner self and
language (express our desires...)
NO PLOT, CHARACTERISATION AND FINAL DENOUEMENT
CHARACTERS = SYMBOLS OF THE HUMAN CONDITION
marked by loneliness and lack
of communication
NO HOPE
even if they attempt to change their
condition
LANGUAGE AND STYLE
major works in French
deliberately simple
short sentences
everyday speech
basic and concrete
hidden meanings, allusions and symbols
illogical and absurd world
PRCISE STAGE DIRECTION
guide to every small gesture, expressions and body languag
fills much of the script to his works
HUMOUR AND COMIC
Waiting for Godot
protagonists:
Vladimir and
Estragon
trapped: don't know how
to make time pass
Godot
enigmatic figure they
have never met before,
don't know if he will
come, don't know he
looks like but they are
waiting for him/it
promising message from Godot
"Can't come tonight, but definitly will come tomorrow"
Who is? Nobody knows
different interpretations
God
Charlie
Chaplin =
Charlot
answer
to all our
questions
symbol of death
V. and
E.(desperate)
try to hang
themselves, but
don't have
enough energy
childish games =
contribute to sense of
light-heartedness
past and memories =
confused / future = doesn't
exist