Endgame by Samuel Beckett (Book Analysis) E-Book

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• Sprache: Englisch

Seitenzahl: 21

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2016

Beschreibung

Unlock the more straightforward side of Endgame with this concise and insightful summary and analysis!

This engaging summary presents an analysis of Endgame by Samuel Beckett, an avant-garde play in which four characters are alone in a shelter, in the middle of a post-apocalyptical world, and impatiently await the end. Their bodies undergo a slow degradation and their boredom can only end with their deaths. Beckett wrote the play in French and then translated it into English himself, a rare feat for any playwright. His tragicomic perspective on life and black humour made him a popular writer during his lifetime, and audiences continue to enjoy his plays to this day.

Find out everything you need to know about Endgame in a fraction of the time!

This in-depth and informative reading guide brings you:
• A complete plot summary
• Character studies
• Key themes and symbols
• Questions for further reflection

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Leseprobe

Samuel Beckett

Irish novelist, poet and playwright

Born in Dublin in 1906Died in Paris in 1989Notable works:Molloy (1951), novelWaiting for Godot (1952), playEndgame (1957), play

Samuel Beckett was an Irish writer born in Dublin in 1906. He became a lecteur d’anglais at the Ecole Normale Supérieure in Paris in 1928-1929, before settling definitively in the French capital in 1938. In 1954, he began writing works in French, such as his novel Molloy (1951) and his play Waiting for Godot (1952).

The winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1969, Samuel Beckett was a major writer of what has been called the “Theatre of the Absurd”, depicting with very dark humor the demise and idleness of the modern man. He died in 1989.

Endgame

The absurdity of a life destined to end

Genre: theatre of the AbsurdReference edition: Beckett, S. (1947) Endgame. [Online]. [Accessed 19 January 2016]. Available from: <http://www.unc.edu/courses/2006spring/engl/026/002/PDFs/Endgame.pdf>First edition: 1957Themes: bodies, end of the world, boredom, death, hatred, human relationships, absurdity

Written in French in 1957, Endgame was the second work of Samuel Beckett to be performed. The play is said to belong to the Theater of the Absurd, which the author denied. In one act, it tells the story of four characters who are physically diminished, and who live together in a shelter in a post-apocalyptical world. Nothing happens in the play, and the protagonists claim they want to end it all. The play is intended to be a parody of classical theater conventions.

Summary

This play is made up of only one act. It depicts four characters who try to survive the apocalypse in a shelter. Almost nothing happens, as the protagonists are mainly waiting.

The initial stage direction introduces a very bare scenic space: “Bare interior. Grey light.” There is no furniture in the room. There are only two small windows with closed curtains and a door next to an upside down painting. An apocalyptical atmosphere is installed from the first replica onwards: “Finished, it's finished, nearly finished, it must be nearly finished”.

In fact, the place represented is an end-of-the-world shelter in which four characters survive:

Hamm, who is blind and paraplegic;Clov, his visually-impaired servant, who walks with difficulty and cannot sit down anymore;