Historical Figure
Samuel Beckett
1906–1989
Irish playwright and poet (1906–1989)
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Key Dates
Birth
1906 April 13, 1906 →Biography
Samuel Barclay Beckett was an Irish playwright, poet, novelist, and literary critic. Writing in both English and French, his literary and theatrical works feature bleak, impersonal, and tragicomic episodes of life, coupled with black comedy and literary nonsense. Beckett is widely regarded as one of the most influential and important writers of the 20th century, credited with transforming modern theatre. As a major figure of Irish literature, he is best known for his tragicomedy play Waiting for Godot (1953). For his foundational contribution to both literature and theatre, Beckett received the 1969 Nobel Prize in Literature, "for his writing, which—in new forms for the novel and drama—in the destitution of modern man acquires its elevation."
Timeline
Samuel Becketts Theaterstück Fin de partie (Endspiel) wird in seiner französischen Originalfassung am Royal Court Theatre in London uraufgeführt.
April 3 →Die Uraufführung des Schauspiels Glückliche Tage von Samuel Beckett findet in New York statt.
September 17 →Der Kurzfilm Film nach einem Drehbuch von Samuel Beckett mit dem Hauptdarsteller Buster Keaton hat bei den Filmfestspielen in Venedig Premiere. Der Schwarzweißfilm ohne Dialoge und Begleitmusik erhält gemischte Kritiken.
September 4 →Das nur etwa 35 Sekunden lange Stück Atem von Samuel Beckett wird in Oxford uraufgeführt.
March 8 →Die Uraufführung der einaktigen Oper Neither für Sopran und Orchester von Morton Feldman findet in Rom statt. Das Libretto stammt von Samuel Beckett.
May 13 →More from the Early 20th Century
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