Samuel Beckett was one of the truly seminal and influential writers of the 20th century. The Nobel Prize for Literature awarded to him in 1969 symbolized his acceptance by the international community. He is undoubtedly a 'difficult' writer, and one of the virtues of Enoch Brater's concise literary biography is to give the general reader easier access to Beckett's work, particularly his later and more elliptical theatre and prose pieces. Professor Brater follows Beckett's career from the early days in Ireland, to the efflorexcence in France just after the Second World War, and beyond that to the unfolding of his success in the rest of the world following the universal appeal of his cryptic, moving play Waiting for Godot. In his analysis of the way Beckett approaches his work, Brater emphasises the Irish rhythms in his writing, and examines, at all stages, the intriguing relationships between his fiction and his compositions for theatre, film and television. Supported by a large selection of photographs, personal and public, this is a brilliant and informed study of Beckett's life and works.