The Complete Short Prose of Samuel Beckett, 1929-1989
by Samuel Beckett

List Price: $16.00
Our Price: $9.65
You Save: $6.35 (40%)
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Buy Used: from $2.25 (click here)
Category: Book
See more book details and other editions

Book Summary Information

Book Reviews of The Complete Short Prose of Samuel Beckett, 1929-1989

Book Review: Beckett: Still Relevant
Summary: 5 Stars

Beckett had a big influence on European writing, but his influence is almost invisible on American letters. Sometimes you hear about writers being influenced by Kundera, Borges, or Kafka, but Beckett has eluded the art of writing here, with the exception of play writing. That's unfortunate, because his trilogy of novels and much of his short texts are some of the most intense, beautiful writing in the past half-century. Edward Dahlberg often talked about this sort of great writing: "It was to take me many years to realize that one has to be very lucky to write one intelligence sentence."

After reading the definitive introduction by the writer S. E. Gontarski, I am convinced that Beckett is the creator of "Spoken Word." Take that to the bank! In works such as "Fizzles" and "The Lost Ones" Beckett modulates a disembodied voice that is stripped away of all mimesis, yet it is the same interior voice that permeates all his fiction. Haunting, profound, chilling. I can think of no equal to Beckett's prose writing, except maybe Dahlberg himself. Only if today's hack writing was half as good as Beckett and Dahlberg....

People should read The Complete Short Prose and Three Novels like they read the Bible. Do it now! I know why these books are worth reading! As Dahlberg once said, "What need had I of the sour pedants of humid syntax, or of courses in pedagogy, canonized illiteracy. I saw that anybody who had read twelve good books knew more than a doctor of philosophy." Nevermind these fads, these 20 under 40, and so on. Nevermind.

Summary of The Complete Short Prose of Samuel Beckett, 1929-1989

Short Stories Books

• Books > Subjects > Literature & Fiction
• British
• Literary