Damned to Fame : The Life of Samuel Beckett

“'A landmark in scholarly criticism... Knowlson is the world's largest Beckett scholar. His life is right up there with George Painter's Proust and Richard Ellmann's Joyce in sensitivity and fascination'” – Daily Telegraph “'Essential, not only for the fact and details it offers, but for emphasising less well-known aspects of Beckett's life... the result is a clear, authoritative and exhaustively annotated biography'” – Independent on Sunday “'A triumph of scholarship and sympathy... James Knowlson presents us here with a tremendous act of elucidation and synthesis, ballasted with hitherto unseen diaries and underpinned by the bonus of Beckett's own plain reminiscences... Its amplitude, its oceanic research and tireless intelligence, its pacing and verve and critical acuity mark it as one of the great post-war biographies. Whatever celestial or infernal zone he currently occupies, Beckett must be permitting himself a brief wintry smile at last'” – Independent “'It is hard to imagine a fuller portrait of the man who gave our age some of the myths by which it lives'” – Evening Standard Damned to Fame follows the reclusive literary giant's life from his birth in Foxrock, a rural suburb of Dublin, in 1906 to his death in Paris in 1989. Knowlson brilliantly re-creates Beckett's early years as a struggling author in Paris, his travels through Germany in 1936-37 as the Nazis were consolidating their power, his service in the French Resistance during World War II, and the years of literary fame and financial success that followed the first performance of his controversial Waiting for Godot (1953). Paris between the wars was a city vibrant with experimentation, both in the arts and in personal lifestyle, and Knowlson introduces us to the writers and painters who, along with the young Beckett, populated this bohemian community. Most notable was James Joyce, a fellow Irishman who became Beckett's friend and mentor and influenced him to devote his life to writing. We also meet the women in Beckett's life - his domineering mother, May; his cousin Peggy Sinclair, who died at a tragically young age; Ethna MacCarthy, his first love, whom he immortalized in his poetry and prose; Peggy Guggenheim, the American heiress and patron of the arts; and the strong and independent Suzanne Deschevaux-Dumesnil, whom he met in the late 1930s and married in 1961. Beyond recounting many previously unknown aspects of the writer's life, including his strong support for human rights and other political causes, Knowlson explores in fascinating detail the roots of Beckett's works. He shows not only how the relationship between Beckett's own experiences and his work became more oblique over time, but also how his startling postmodern images were inspired by the paintings of the Old Masters, such as Antonello da Messina, Durer, Rembrandt, and Caravaggio. "In February 1989 Samuel Beckett gave James Knowlson, a friend for more than twenty years, full authorization to write his biography. He stipulated that the book was not to appear in his lifetime, writing to Knowlson: 'it will give you more freedom'." "Knowlson recreates Beckett's life in Ireland until his entry into Trinity College Dublin in 1923 and from there to the continent, where Beckett plunged into the multicultural literary society of Paris in the late 1920s. He throws new light on Beckett's stormy relationship with his mother, the psychotherapy he received after the death of his father and his crucial relationship with James Joyce. There is exciting new material on Beckett's six-month visit to Germany as the Nazis tightened their grip." "A wealth of previously unpublished material on Beckett's personal life after he chose to live in France includes his own account of his work for a Resistance cell during the war, his escape from the Gestapo and his retreat into hiding." "In this remarkable, scrupulously researched and engagingly written account, Beckett comes over as complex and intellectual, but also as witty and extraordinary resilient: a compassionate man, who was much loved and devoted to friendship and whose common response to the pricks of adversity was often a humorous kick." "Obsessively private, Beckett was wholly committed to the work which eventually brought him public fame, beginning with the controversial success of Waiting for Godot in 1953, and culminating in the award of the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1969"--Jacket _______________'A triumph of scholarship and sympathy... one of the great post-war biographies'- Independent'A landmark in scholarly criticism... Knowlson is the world's largest Beckett scholar. His life is right up there with George Painter's Proust and Richard Ellmann's Joyce in sensitivity and fascination'- Daily Telegraph'It is hard to imagine a fuller portrait of the man who gave our age some of the myths by which it lives'- Evening Standard_______________SHORTLISTED FOR THE WHITBREAD PRIZE_______________Samuel Beckett's long-standing friend, James Knowlson, recreates Beckett's youth in Ireland, his studies at Trinity College, Dublin in the early 1920s and from there to the Continent, where he plunged into the multicultural literary society of late-1920s Paris. The biography throws new light on Beckett's stormy relationship with his mother, the psychotherapy he received after the death of his father and his crucial relationship with James Joyce. There is also material on Beckett's six-month visit to Germany as the Nazi's tightened their grip. The book includes unpublished material on Beckett's personal life after he chose to live in France, including his own account of his work for a Resistance cell during the war, his escape from the Gestapo and his retreat into hiding. Obsessively private, Beckett was wholly committed to the work which eventually brought his public fame, beginning with the controversial success of'Waiting for Godot'in 1953, and culminating in the award of the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1969. This biography recreates Beckett's youth in Ireland, his studies at Trinity College, Dublin in the early 1920s and from there to France, where he plunged into the multicultural literary society of late-1920s Paris SAMUEL BARCLAY BECKETT, who was to become one of the major writers of the twentieth century, was born at Cooldrinagh in Foxrock, County Dublin, on Good Friday, 13 April, 1906.