Proust by Samuel Beckett

Proust by Samuel Beckett

An electrifying analysis of one legendary giant of twentieth-century literature by another: Beckett on Proust.

The whole of Proust's world comes out of a teacup . . .

When he was only 25, Samuel Beckett published his first ever book: an electrifying dissection of Marcel Proust's masterpiece À la recherche du temps perdu.

Habit, memory and time: Beckett argues that these are the defining characteristics of the human condition. Involuntary memories - like those prompted by Proust's famous madeleine - are radical moments that pierce the veil of habit, and offer inspiration that soothes the existential anguish of time passing.

Through analysing Proust's technique, the young Beckett puts forth a blazing artistic manifesto for his own future works, such as Waiting for Godot, Molloy, Malone Dies and The Unnamable. The result is a totemic meeting of literary minds that illuminates the philosophies of two creative geniuses.

*Read in a new audiobook edition by Eimear McBride*

Samuel Beckett was born in Dublin in 1906 and moved to Paris as a young man. He wrote prose works, plays and poetry that express a distinctively bleak, tragicomic view of humankind, unable or unwilling to comprehend our paralyzed condition. The success in 1953 of his play En attendant Godot (Waiting for Godot) secured his international literary reputation and in 1961 he shared the Prix Formentor with Jorge Luis Borges. In 1969 he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature. He died in Paris in 1989.

SKU	Unavailable
ISBN 13	9780571399994
ISBN 10	0571399991
Title	Proust
Author	Samuel Beckett
Condition	Unavailable
Binding Type	Paperback
Publisher	Faber & Faber
Year published	2026-07-30
Number of pages	96
Cover note	Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary.