Waiting for Godot

samuel beckett

In Waiting for Godot , two wandering tramps, Vladimir and Estragon, wait by a lonely tree, to meet up with Mr. Godot, an enigmatic figure in a world where time, place and memory are blurred and meaning is where you find it. The tramps hope that Godot will change their lives for the better. Instead, two eccentric travelers arrive, one man on the end of the other's rope. The results are both funny and dangerous in this existential masterpiece.

Genres playsclassicsfictiondramatheatreliteraturephilosophyschoolirish literaturefrance

83 pages, Paperback

First published April 1,1952

This edition

Format: 83 pages, Paperback
Published: December 31, 1957 by Samuel French Ltd
ISBN: 9780573040085
ASIN: 0573040087
Language: English

Characters More characters

Estragon

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Vladimir (samuel Beckett)

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Lucky

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Pozzo

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Boy

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About the author

samuel beckett

Samuel Barclay Beckett was an Irish avant-garde novelist, playwright, theatre director, and poet, who lived in France for most of his adult life. He wrote in both English and French. His work offers a bleak, tragicomic outlook on human nature, often coupled with black comedy and gallows humour.

Beckett is widely regarded as among the most influential writers of the 20th century. Strongly influenced by James Joyce, he is considered one of the last modernists. As an inspiration to many later writers, he is also sometimes considered one of the first postmodernists. He is one of the key writers in what Martin Esslin called the "Theatre of the Absurd". His work became increasingly minimalist in his later career.

Beckett was awarded the 1969 Nobel Prize in Literature "for his writing, which—in new forms for the novel and drama—in the destitution of modern man acquires its elevation". In 1984 he was elected Saoi of Aosdána.