Russell Shortt

The writing style of Samuel Beckett



Posted: Monday, October 06, 2008

by
Exploring Ireland

Beckett's writing can be roughly divided into three periods - his early works up until 1945; his middle period from 1945 until the early 1960s, during which he wrote his best known works and his late period from the early 1960s until his death in 1989 during which his style became more minimalist. His early works were greatly influenced by James Joyce, critics comment on their erudite nature appearing to overly display the writer's knowledge resulting in some obscurity. Beckett began writing in French during this period, he stated that writing in a language that was not his first tongue taught him discipline in economy of language and contributed to a sparsemess of style. In 1945, Beckett returned to Dublin for a brief visit, during his visit he had a revelation in which his entire future literary direction appeared to him, he documented this in his 1958 play Krapp's Last Tape. He returned to Paris and began his most prolific period as a writer, this was when he entered the second period of his writing. He turned definitively to the French language during his middle period and his work began to develop it's unique style moving some critics to claim Beckett as one of the forefathers of post-modernism. During his late period, Beckett whittled down the content of his work to the essential elements, works written during this period include Not I, Eh Joe, Play and Breath. Beckett's work more than any other broke form the realist tradition, dispensing with conventional plot, space and time and focussed on the essential elements of the human condition.

 

Russell Shortt is a travel consultant with Exploring Ireland, the leading specialists in customised, private escorted tours, escorted coach tours and independent self drive tours of Ireland. Article source: http://www.exploringireland.net

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