Beckett's Eighteenth Century - by F Smith (Hardcover)

About the Book

"Beckett's Eighteenth Century" adds substantially to our knowledge of Beckett's studies at Trinity College Dublin while at the same time it demonstrates how he reinterprets the earlier century for us.

Book Synopsis

Beckett's Eighteenth Century is the first book-length study of Samuel Beckett's affinity with the British eighteenth century and of the influence of its writers on his work. Reading Swift, Pope, Defoe, Fielding, Sterne, Johnson, Gray, and other writers of this period, this study demonstrates how he was not only influenced by them but interprets them for us in a quite modern way. Beckett's uniqueness is not questioned here, but this uniqueness is shown, paradoxically, to have its roots at least in part in his native literature of two centuries ago.

Review Quotes

'...a convincing and detailed study...Stimulating, meticulously researched, Beckett's Eighteenth Century is the first book-length study of Beckett's involvement with eighteenth-century literature and argues convincingly that part of his originality is derived precisely from his study of these writers.' - Times Literary Supplement

About the Author

FREDERIK SMITH is Professor of English at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte.