Samuel Beckett: about him and about

The year 1972 is the twentieth anniversary of the publication of Samuel Beckett's En attendant Godot, i.e., its appearance in print; the play was not to see the stage until a year later. I do not know whether the French literary hierarchy will have seized the occasion to mark the event. It is possible for they feel that they have at least half a share in this Prix Nobel. The French, curiously enough, use the same term to describe both the prize and the prizewinner. A Swedish critic,1 who should have known better for he was writing under the aegis of the Nobel Foundation, goes further, giving Beckett a French mother. Be that as it may, it is gratifying that Trinity College in its tribute to its distinguished son has hit on a date that fits the occasion neatly. There is a danger that the excessive gloss and over-rarefied commentary which has driven James Joyce's works into the cheer less atmosphere of pedantic analysis may also lie in store for Beckett. Already a volume2 of some 400 pages has been issued by the Uni versity of California entitled Samuel Beckett: his works and his critics, the coverage of which ends in 1968. Hence arises the question, are we to have a repetition of what we might call in this industrial age the academic take-over? It has happened to Yeats. It has happened to Joyce. And before our very eyes it seems to be happening to Beckett. There is however more than a chance that the latter will be saved from the ultimate