Conversations with and About Beckett - Softcover

Gussow, Mel

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0802137652 ISBN 13: 9780802137654

Publisher: Grove Press, 2001

Synopsis

Mel Gussow, the longtime drama critic for The New York Times, has put together a revelatory book of conversations with the famously reticent author and his chief collaborators. In this revealing and poignant collection, Gussow paints a portrait of Samuel Beckett, the novelist and playwright whose body of work is unmatched for its intensity and cohesiveness. Although Beckett never allowed an interview, he did talk informally with Gussow over a ten-year period. Conversations with and about Beckett includes those encounters, with talk of actors, directors, the general state of the theater, art, life -- and tennis. The conversations, previously unpublished, show the reputedly austere author as modest, humorous, and open-minded but always precise and revealing about his own work, which he discusses with great acuity.

About this title

Review:

Veteran New York Times drama critic Mel Gussow enjoyed direct access to the great Irish dramatist, meeting with him a number of times over the course of a decade. The heart of this collection of essays are revealing remembrances of Gussow's conversations with Beckett. Also included are interviews with Jack McGowran and Billie Whitelaw, great performers of Beckett's work, and a collection of Gussow's critical writing on Beckett. Conversations with and about Beckett is a small book with remarkable depth.

About this edition

• Publisher: Grove Press
• Publication date: 2001
• ISBN 10: 0802137652
• ISBN 13: 9780802137654
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 192