Where is Samuel Beckett now? Ethnicity, Nationality, Salary



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Samuel Beckett was born on April 13, 1906, in Foxrock, a suburb of Dublin, Ireland, to William Frank Beckett, a quantity surveyor and descendant of the Huguenots, and Maria Jones Roe, a nurse who was of English descent. His father was a member of the Protestant Ascendancy class and his mother a Roman Catholic. The couple had married in 1901. Beckett had one older brother, Frank Edward Beckett.

As a child, Beckett was educated at home by his mother until the age of 11. He then attended Portora Royal School in Enniskillen, County Fermanagh, from 1917 to 1923. A bright student, he excelled in the classics and won a scholarship to Trinity College, Dublin, where he studied modern languages, graduating with a first-class degree in 1927.

While at Trinity College, Beckett became involved in the Dublin literary scene, contributing to the student magazine Kottabos and meeting such future luminaries as James Joyce and Sean O’Casey. He also became an accomplished cricketer, playing for the college team.

After graduation, Beckett spent a year in London studying at the British Museum before returning to Dublin, where he worked as a lecturer at Trinity College from 1930 to 1932. In 1932, he published his first work of fiction, More Pricks Than Kicks, a collection of 10 short stories about Dubliners struggling to find meaning in their lives.

The following year, Beckett moved to Paris on a grant from the Irish Arts Council. There he met the American writer James Joyce, who became a major influence on his work. Joyce encouraged Beckett to experiment with language and form in his writing.

In Paris, Beckett also met the painter and writer Suzanne Deschevaux-Dumesnil, with whom he began a lifelong relationship. The couple never married but had a son, Samuel Beckett Jr., born in 1936.

During World War II, Beckett served in the French Resistance movement and was awarded the Croix de Guerre and the Médaille de la Résistance for his bravery. After the war, he returned to Paris and continued to write. In 1953, he published the novel Molloy, followed by Malone Dies (1951) and The Unnamable (1953), which are collectively known as the “Trilogy.”

In 1955, Beckett’s play Waiting for Godot premiered in Paris. The absurdist work about two tramps waiting for the arrival of someone who never comes was an instant success and cemented Beckett’s reputation as one of the leading writers of his generation.

Over the next few years, Beckett wrote a number of other successful plays, including Endgame (1957), Krapp’s Last Tape (1958), Happy Days (1961), and Not I (1972). He also wrote several novels, including The Lost Ones (1972) and Mercier and Camier (1974).

In 1969, Beckett was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature “for his writing, which—in new forms for the novel and drama—in the destitution of modern man acquires its elevation.” He is the only Irish writer to have won the Nobel Prize.

Beckett continued to write until his death on December 22, 1989. His work is characterized by its minimalist style and bleak outlook on life.

Source: IMDb, Wikipedia