Samuel Beckett

Samuel Beckett (1906–1989) was an Irish novelist, playwright, and poet whose spare, darkly comic work helped shape postwar avant-garde literature. Born in Dublin, he studied at Trinity College and later lived mainly in Paris. Beckett wrote in both English and French, often translating his own work. He gained international fame with the play *Waiting for Godot* (first performed in 1953), a landmark of the Theatre of the Absurd. His other major works include the novels *Molloy*, *Malone Dies*, and *The Unnamable*, and the play *Endgame*. In 1969 he received the Nobel Prize in Literature.