Beckett remains one of the most important writers of the twentieth century whose radical experimentations in form and content won him the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1969. This Critical Companion encompasses his plays for the stage, radio and television, and will be indispensable to students of his work.
Challenging and at times perplexing, Beckett's work is represented on almost every literature, theatre and Irish studies curriculum in universities in North America, Europe and Australia. Katherine Weiss' admirably clear study of his work provides the perfect companion, illuminating each play and Beckett's vision, and investigating his experiments with the body, voice and technology. It includes in-depth studies of the major works
Waiting for Godot,
Endgame and Krapp's Last Tape, and as with other volumes in Methuen Drama's Critical Companions series it features too a series of essays by other scholars and practitioners offering different critical perspectives on Beckett in performance that will inform students' own critical thinking. Together with a series of resources including a chronology and a list of further reading, this is ideal for all students and readers of Beckett's work.
Anderson, Dustin: - Dustin Anderson is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Literature & Philosophy at Georgia Southern University.
Herren, Graley: - Graley Herren is Professor and Chair of English at Xavier University, USA. He is the author of Samuel Beckett's Plays on Film and Television (Palgrave Macmillan, 2007). He serves on the executive board for the Samuel Beckett Society and edits the Society's newsletter, The Beckett Circle.
Johnson, Nicholas E.: -
Nicholas E. Johnson is Associate Professor and Head of Drama at Trinity College Dublin, Ireland, where he co-directs the Trinity Centre for Beckett Studies. He has published two co-authored monographs, Experimental Beckett: Contemporary Performance Practices (with Jonathan Heron, 2020) and Bertolt Brecht's David Fragments (1919-1921): An Interdisciplinary Study (Bloomsbury/T & T Clark, with David Shepherd, 2020). He has also co-edited two volumes on Beckett: Beckett's Voices / Voicing Beckett (2021) and Influencing Beckett / Beckett Influencing (2020).
Nicholas E. Johnson is Assistant Professor of Drama at Trinity College Dublin, Ireland.
Jr.: - Kevin J. Wetmore, Jr. is professor of theatre arts at Loyola Marymount University, Los Angeles, USA, the author and editor of ten books including The Empire Triumphant: Race, Religion and Rebellion in the Star Wars Films, and a contributor to numerous volumes on sci-fi, pop culture and religion, including essays on Godzilla, Star Wars, and Battlestar Galactica. His areas of expertise include Japanese theatre, African theatre, Shakespeare, Greek tragedy, stage combat and comedy. He is co-editor with Patrick Lonergan of Bloomsbury Methuen Drama's Critical Companions series.
Lonergan, Patrick: - Patrick Lonergan is Professor of Drama and Theatre Studies at University of Galway, Ireland.
Mehta, Xerxes: - Xerxes Mehta is Professor Emeritus in the Department of Theatre at University of Maryland, Baltimore County, USA.
Weiss, Katherine: - Katherine Weiss is Associate Dean at California State University Los Angeles, USA. She was formerly Professor of English and Assistant Chair for Undergraduate Studies in the Department of Literature and Language, East Tennessee State University, USA. Educated at Trinity College, Dublin; Califronia State University and the University of Reading, UK (where she earned her PhD), she is chiefly interested in Modern and Contemporary Drama, and Irish Literature. She is the author of The Plays of Samuel Beckett (Methuen Drama, 2012) a stimulating analysis of Beckett's work, encompassing his stage, radio and television plays, and editor of the Student Edition of Tennessee Williams' Sweet Bird of Youth.
