The Yale Anthology of Twentieth-Century French Poetry

Samuel Beckett 1906–1989

dublin, ireland

B

eckett was one of the greatest poets, dramatists, and novelists of the

twentieth century. A protégé of James Joyce, he took dictation for what

would become Finnegans Wake. One of the first absurdists to gain

international recognition, Beckett used only the most minimal of gestures and

words to portray the reality of human drama. His work consistently examined

failed communication between individuals—and the meaninglessness and su√er-

ing that result. In 1937 he moved to Paris, which remained his center after several

years of traveling throughout Europe. During the Resistance, he was in Rous-

sillon. He wrote most of his works in French, his adopted language; he possessed a

perfect ear for both English and French and was a well-known translator. In 1961

he won the Prix International des Éditeurs and in 1969 the Nobel Prize. Principal

works: Whoroscope, 1930; More Pricks Than Kicks, 1934; Murphy, 1938; Malone

meurt, 1951; Molloy, 1951; En attendant Godot, 1952; L’Innonmable, 1953; Watt, 1953;

Textes pour rien, 1958; All that Fall, 1959; Embers, 1959; Krapp’s Last Tape, 1959;

Comme c’est, 1961; Collected Poems in English and French, 1977.

Music of Indi√erence

music of indi√erence
heart time air fire sand
from the silence loves’ collapse
covers their voices and
let me no longer hear
myself keeping still
—mary ann caws

Dieppe

again the last ebb
the dead shingle
the turning then the steps
towards the lights of old
—samuel beckett