Samuel Barclay Beckett

Beckett, Samuel Barclay (1906–89), Irish dramatist and novelist, resident in France from 1937. His work, much of it written in French, deals with habit, boredom, and suffering, and is deeply pessimistic. His novels include Murphy (1938) and the trilogy, Molloy, Malone Dies, and The Vnnameable (1951–53). Among his plays are Waiting for Godot (1952) and Happy Days (1961). Beckett won the 1969 Nobel Prize for literature.