Beckett, Samuel

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Beckett, Samuel (1906–89) Irish playwright and novelist. One of the most influential writers of the 20th-century, Beckett wrote in both French and English. He emigrated to Paris in the 1920s and became an assistant to James Joyce. His first published work was a volume of verse Whoroscope (1930). His first novel was Murphy (1938). Beckett's reputation is based largely on three full-length plays – Waiting for Godot (1952), Endgame (1957), and Happy Days (1961) – which explore notions of suffering, paralysis and endurance. His work is often linked to the Theatre of the Absurd with its repetitive, inventive language and obsession with futility and meaninglessness. His short plays include Krapp's Last Tape (1958), Not I (1973), and Footfalls (1975). Other novels include the French trilogy Molloy (1951), Malone Dies (1951), and The Unnameable (1953). He was awarded the 1969 Nobel Prize in literature.

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