Beckett's connection with France, French and Paris

Did you know, that Beckett's family name was Becquet?

The Beckett family was originally Becquet, and had Huguenot roots. They moved from France to Ireland when Edict of Nantes has been revoked in 1685.

Samuel Beckett in Paris, France

Beckett in Paris was a lecteur d'anglais (english lector) in the École Normale Supérieure, by rue d'Ulm in Paris. There Thomas MacGreevy introduced him to James Joyce. In 1940 Samuel was French reader at Trinity College, Dublin. In 1938 he finally moved to France, and 1945 begins his writing in French.

Beckett's literature works in French

The most famous Beckett's play, Waiting for Godot, was first written in French with title En attendant Godot. It was written in French between October 1948 and January 1949, and first published in 1952, and first shown on scene in 1953. The play had a big success in Paris. It was published in English in 1954, two years after french version. Beckett translated it himself. All French works consist of:

1951	Molloy (novel)
1951	Malone Meurt (novel)
1952	En attendant Godot/Waiting for Godot (play in two acts)
1953	L'innommable/The Unnamable (novel)
1955	Nouvelles et Textes Pour Rien/Stories and Texts for Nothing
1957	Fin de Partie/Endgame (one-act play) followed by: Acte sans Paroles I/Act without Words I
1961	Comment C'est/How It Is (novel)
1967	Têtes Mortes (D'un ouvrage abandonné/From an Abandoned Work, Imagination Morte Imaginez/Imagination Dead Imagine, Bing/Ping)
1970	Premier amour/First Love (novel)
1978	Pas, suivi de Quatre Esquisses/Steps, followed by Four Sketches (plays)
1979	Poèmes/Poems

Beckett's French wife

He married Suzanne Dechevaux-Dumesnil in 1961. She was a piano student. After Samuel won the Nobel Prize, Suzanne said about it: "This is a catastrophe." And Beckett refused to attend the Nobel ceremony.

Grave in Paris

Beckett died on December 22, 1989, in Paris, and was buried in the Cimetière du Montparnasse in Paris, France. On his grave has bben carved: Samuel Beckett 1906-1989> nad his wife Suzanne name and dates of life. There is a tree nearby, resembling his play, Waiting for Godot, where a tree was an important part of scene decorations.

Beckett and James Joyce | Beckett as Aosdana Samoi | Beckett's connection with France, French and Paris | En attendant Godot | Links | Nobel Prize in 1969 | Other people with this name | Samuel Beckett | Samule Beckett | Waiting for Godot |