A landmark collection showcasing the diversity of Samuel Beckett's creative output
The 35 new and original chapters in this Companion capture the continued vitality of Beckett studies in drama, music and the visual arts and establish rich and varied cultural contexts for Beckett's work world-wide.
As well as considering topics such as Beckett and science, historiography, geocriticism and philosophy, the volume focuses on the post-centenary impetus within Beckett studies, emphasising a return to primary sources amid letters, drafts, and other documents. Major Beckett critics such as Steven Connor, David Lloyd, Andrew Gibson, John Pilling, Jean-Michel Rabaté, and Mark Nixon, as well as emerging researchers, present the latest critical thinking in 9 key areas: Art & Aesthetics; Fictions; European Context; Irish Context; Film, Radio & Television; Language/Writing; Philosophies; Theatre & Performance; Global Beckett.
Edited by eminent Beckett scholar S. E. Gontarski, the Companion draws on the most vital, ground-breaking research to outline the nature of Beckett studies for the next generation.
About the Author: S. E. Gontarski is Robert O. Lawton Distinguished Professor of English at Florida State University, Ph.D., Ohio State (1974) and specializes in twentieth-century Irish Studies, in British, U.S., and European Modernism, and in performance theory. He has been awarded four National Endowment for the Humanities research grants, has twice been awarded Fulbright Professorships, has been Guest Editor of the following: American Book Review, The Review of Contemporary Fiction, and Modern Fiction Studies and most recently Drammaturgia. He is also General Editor of three book series: 1) Crosscurrents: Comparative Studies in European Literature and Philosophy with the University Press of Florida and 2) Anthem Studies in Theatre and Performance with Anthem Press, London; and 3) (with Paul Ardoin and Laci Mattison) Understanding Philosophy / Understanding Modernism with Bloomsbury. He edited the Journal of Beckett Studies from 1989-2008, and currently serves as Co-Editor with its publication by Edinburgh University Press.
