Beckett's Books: A Cultural History of the Interwar Notes

By assessing notebooks and transcriptions taken by Samuel Beckett and recently released by the Beckett International Foundation archive, this book subjects Samuel Beckett's unpublished notes and sources to an analysis of their utility to his life and writings, during the interwar period - particularly the 1930's - and thereafter. Insofar as Beckett meticulously compiled his erudite sources on philosophy and psychology just prior to the postwar acclaim the The Trilogy, and especially, Waiting for Godot, the significance of these documents in anticipating Beckett's literary fortunes, if not approach, is clear. Guided by a methodological adherence to the principal of theorizing from a position of empirical strength, correspondence of this materialwith Beckett's experiences during the interwar years are also considered in terms of the insight these 'Interwar Notes' offer in charting Beckett's literary development, as well as out critical understanding of Beckett and his writing.