In Beckett before Godot, John Pilling (editor of the Cambridge Companion to Beckett) re-evaluates the formative years of Beckett between the publication of his first work in 1929 and the composition late in 1946 of The Calmative, his last work before the 'trilogy'. Using a wealth of unpublished manuscripts and correspondence from around the world, Pilling offers a detailed account of Beckett's early psychological and aesthetic development, and shows how his artistic growth was paradoxically linked to the likelihood of failure, to which he was always temperamentally attracted. Pilling's treatment of the first two decades of Beckett's career as a writer offers for the first time a coherent critical narrative of his development during this long period of apprenticeship. Beckett before Godot links biographical fact with a series of powerful close readings to modify and enhance our understanding of one of this century's most influential authors.

A leading Beckett scholar and editor of the Cambridge Companion to Beckett, offers a coherent critical account of Beckett's earliest years.
Reviews
'Anyone wishing to study Beckett before Godot will be indebted to Pilling for the wealth of material he has sifted and presented here.' The Times Literary Supplement
' ... a fascinating ... study of the development of Beckett the literary writer.' Theatre Research International
'Beckett before Godot is a marvelous book. Pilling's reader comes away with a new appreciation for not only the text under discussion but also the struggles of the artist behind the text ... an insightful and demanding book.' The Beckett Circle
'Beckett Before Godot offers a much needed study of Beckett's 'formative years' from 1929 to 1946 ... Beckett Before Godot demonstrates meticulous scholarship, referring to the MacGreevy correspondence and to Knowlson's biography to provide contexts for the creation of specific works.' Theatre Research International



Book Information
ISBN 9780521464963
Author John Pilling
Format Hardback
Page Count 292
Imprint Cambridge University Press
Publisher Cambridge University Press
Weight(grams) 560g
Dimensions(mm) 235mm * 159mm * 26mm