A radical new reading of Samuel Beckett, by the author of
The World Republic of Letters

Introduction by Terry Eagleton
Translated by Gregory Elliott

In this fascinating new exploration of Samuel Beckett’s work, Pascale Casanova argues that Beckett’s reputation currently rests on a pervasive misreading of his oeuvre, which neglects entirely the literary revolution he instigated. Reintroducing the historical into the heart of this body of work, Casanova provides an arresting portrait of Beckett as radically subversive, doing for writing what Duchamp did for art, and in the process providing the key to some of the most profound enigmas of Beckett’s work

Letters—empire more than a republic, as Casanova shows—is likely to have the same sort of liberating impact at large as Said’s Orientalism, with which it stands comparison.” Perry Anderson, London Review of Books

“A rather brilliant book.” — Louis Menand, New Yorker

“Powerfully researched, beautifully learned, and elegantly argued—as disconcerting, and productively counterintuitive, as it is smart.”— Eric Banks, Artforum

Pascale Casanova is a researcher at the Center for Research in Arts and Language and a literary critic in Paris. She is the author of The World Republic of Letters.

160 pages

Cloth
ISBN-13: 978 1 84467 112 0
US$27.95 / £17.99 / CAN$36.50