The Life of Eugene Beckett Essays

The Life of Eugene Beckett Essays The Life of Eugene Beckett Essay The Life of Eugene Beckett Essay Essay Topic: Waiting for Godot Eugenes mother had sent him and his sister to live with a different family in the Countryside, where he stayed from 1917 through 1919. In his later writings, he describes this time of his life as the most peaceful and quietest. Ionesco and his sister eventually moved back to Paris and once again, lived with his mother and grandparents. He began to write while he attended a school in Rue Dupleix. Eugene) Becketts dramatic works are not those of traditional drama, he had certain styles of work and he usually had all of his characters involved in some sort of conflict. Beckett was the first of the absurdists to claim international fame, with his works being translated into over twenty different languages. Samuel Beckett is another father figure of the Theater of the Absurd style. Beckett, who was an Irish-born playwright and novelist, was born on April 13, 1906 in the Dublin suburb of Foxrock, Ireland. Beckett was raised in a middle class, protestant home. He is best known for and won international fame with his play En Attendant Godot (Waiting for Godot), which was first performed in Paris on January 5, 1953, and the play received worldwide commendation; however, possibly the most famous production of this play took place at the San Quentin penitentiary for an audience of over fourteen hundred convicts. As much to people surprise, the performance was that of great success. It led the prisoners to understand that life is all about waiting and killing time for the hope that change may be right around the corner and if it doesnt come today, then possibly tomorrow. (Samuel) From 1960 to 1964, Ionesco lived in Paris, and continued working on more performances. In 1969, he received the medal of Monaco, and in December, the Great National Theatre Prize. The following year in 1970, Ionesco was elected a member of the French Academy and that same year he received the Great Australian Prize. Throughout the 1970s and into the 1980s, Ionesco received many awards and recognition, and in his later years, he spent most of his time painting. (Eugene) In 1969, at the age of 57, Beckett was awarded the Nobel Prize for literature. He continued writing up until his death in 1989. At the time of his death, he was said to be the most innovative and influential dramatist of the 20th Century. The Theater of the Absurd artists and performers had much of the same lifestyle growing up and each had difficult stages in their lives when they had felt no self confidence and felt like they were not going anywhere in life. For the most part, while they were dealing with these times, they resorted to writing in order to vent from it all. Writing actually helped them to overcome many doubts that they all had. In Jarrys case, unfortunately his problems with alcohol actually got to him before he could get to that recovery stage. Although his life was ended short, he obviously had a major impact in literature and many followed his style of writing. (Samuel) Ionesco disliked false interpretations of his work. He states, I always want to be understood, that is to say, I want people to fully understand what I tried to say, since I tried to say it. This statement came about when American audiences misinterpreted his play, Rhinoceros, and thought it was a comedy even though it was written as a tragi-comedy. The play contained three types of humor: dark humor, verbal humor, and physical humor. Even though Rhinoceros contains these three types of humor, it is also said that is has a slight element of classical tragedy.