This Web site is an appreciation of the life and work of Samuel Beckett ‐ Nobel prize‐winner, playwright, novelist, poet and recluse. Many words have been written about this enigma of modern literature and this Web site contributes to that body of knowledge. It also goes some way towards organising some of the main Beckett resources that are available on the World Wide Web. The site is a tapestry of resources arranged in a half‐intuitive, half‐eccentric way. It is not set out in the well‐ordered style of a Barnes and Noble or Waterstone’s bookstore, rather, it is more akin to a second‐hand back‐alley bookshop ‐ one that Beckett himself might visit on a Sunday afternoon walk in St Germain.
Perhaps in sympathy with its subject the web site has some vaudeville aspects. It is richly populated with quotes from the writer’s canon and also contains line drawings and photographs; sadly, many of these have no captions or references. Some of the more useful inclusions in this Web site ‐ from a reference work point of view ‐ are listings of Beckett biographies, bibliographies of his material and listings of performances of his work. The timeline section provides a useful overview of Beckett’s interesting and eventful life. Apart from his literary work his escapades with the French resistance during the Second World War ‐ when he was hunted by the Gestapo ‐ may explain his idiosyncratic mixture of farce and fatalism.
There is a section that lists current, recent and upcoming productions of Beckett’s plays, giving details of venue and production company. Perhaps the most useful part of this section is the huge listing of Beckett on Tape ‐ compiled by Kees Hessing ‐ which lists many productions of Beckett’s work in film, video and audio and is a key source for scholars and researchers.
The links page contains a careful selection of links and aims for quality rather than quantity. A fully comprehensive listing would of course run into hundreds. The links page does include a most appropriate quote from The Unnameable: “that’s right, link, link, you never know …”
Responsibility for this Web site lies with Porter Abbott and Benjamin Strong of the English Department at the University of California, Santa Barbara. Although it is not specifically designed as a reference work and as such there is not the familiar pathway that we librarians might expect, this site is a fine example of a considered and intelligent approach to a great writer.
