Complete Short Prose of Samuel Beckett 1(ISBN=9780802134905)

NobelprizewinnerSamuelBeckettisoneofthemostprofoundlyoriginalwritersofourcentury.Hegivesexpressiontotheanguishandisolationoftheindividualconsciousnesswithapurityandminimalismthathavealteredtheshapeofworldliterature.Atremendouslyinfluentialpoetanddramatist,Beckettspokeofhisprosefictionasthe"importantwriting,"themediuminwhichhisideasaremostpowerfullydistilled.Here,forthefirsttime,hisshortproseisgatheredinadefinitive,completevolumebyleadingBeckettscholarS.E.Gontarski.Intheintroduction,GontarskidiscussesBeckett'screativerootsinthetraditionofIrishstorytellingandtheperpetualevolutionofhiswritingashe"pushedbeyondrecognizableexternalrealityanddiscrete,recognizableliterarycharacters,replacingthemwithsomethinglikenakedconsciousnessorpurebeing."Fromthe1929"Assumption,"publishedintransitionmagazinewhenBeckettwastwenty-three,totheaptlynamed"StirringsStill,"writtenwhenhewaseighty-two,andincludinganewtranslationof"TheImage"aswellasthenewlytranslatedandpreviouslyunpublished"TheCliff,"GontarskihasarrangedBeckett'sworkintoasmoothchronologythatsuggests,asheputsit,"Beckett'sownviewofhisart,thatitisallpartofacontinuousprocess,aseries."NobelPrizewinnerSamuelBeckettisoneofthemostprofoundlyoriginalwritersofourcentury.Atremendouslyinfluentialpoetanddramatist,Beckettspokeofhisprosefictionasthe"importantwriting,"themediuminwhichhisideasweremostpowerfullydistilled.Here,forthefirsttime,hisshortproseisgatheredinadefinitive,completevolumebyleadingBeckettscholarS.E.Gontarski.336pp.