Samuel Barclay Beckett, who would become known for his non-conformist dramas and poetry, entered the world in normal way, an inauspicious beginning for what would be an influential figure in the world of drama.  Reports differ, although most agree that Beckett was born in Dublin, Ireland on the 13th of April, 1906, the second son of a middle-class Protestant couple.  Though this setting helped shape him, his father, a surveyor, kept his family away from the mayhem which gripped Ireland during this period, at the same time offering a superior education to his son.

    Beckett was a loner as a child, but excelled as an athlete, ironically in team sports.  He was also an academic marvel.  After starting at Dublin's Earlsfort House, he went to Portora Royal School in Enniskillen, notable for fellow writer Oscar Wilde's attendance.  It was here that his physical prowess began to show as he had success in sports such as boxing, tennis and cricket.   It was here, too, where the future writer began the study of his craft, starting study in the languages which would become his forte.  It would be a war of two loves - athletics and language, with the latter taking precedence by the time he entered Trinity College (1923).  Language again focused in on his attentions - he studied classical languages - French and Italian - from the start, adding to his already advanced knowledge of English.  There would be a dramatic blossoming in Beckett as he discovered Dublin's theatre scene and American movies. The works of such vaudeville stars as Charlie Chaplin would influence his scenery and characters - their style turning up in the hallmark of his work, Godot.

    Graduation presented Beckett with a world of opportunities.  His first was a teaching position at Campbell College in Belfast, but he soon became bored with the role.  He chose to leave the UK, taking up an offer to be lecteur d'anglais at the Cole Normale Supeiure in Paris (1928).  During this time, Beckett found friendship with James Joyce and was introduced to the Parisian literary circuit.  He became a favored assistant, helping Joyce with what would become "Finnegan's Wake".  Beckett began his own career when he wrote "Dante...Bruno.  Vico...Joyce", an essay for his friends symposium, but his formal beginning wer ein 1930, with the publication of "Whoroscope" - a story which won him £10 in the process.  He would then go on to publish Proust, a book which started showing the signs of Beckett's style as it efficiently detailed the work of one of his cherished authors.  Proust was released in 1931, the same year he would receive his M.A. in French.

    Beckett's hyperactivity would take him back to Dublin to lecture at Trinity College in 1932, when he wrote and published the semi-autobiographical story Dream of Fair to Middling Women.  He also started writing his first short stories - later these would be combined into More Kicks Than Pricks.  This time period also began the first inklings of Murphy, a work which would float around until 1938 before finally being published.  But again he was too anxious to stay at his position and moved back to Paris in late 1932.   His constant movement and lack of a steady job worried his parents and led to an uneasy relationship with both - particularly his mother.

    Beckett's life was divided into two separate periods - his youth of disturbance and ego vs. the wisdom of age.  The younger Beckett was a pursuer of vices - drink, women, language and sport, all the while holding himself in contempt within the troubles he created for himself.  His was the lion's share.  His early work showed his self-indulgence in words, his ideas being a shadow of the brevity he would become known for.  He was 'a young man with nothing to say and an itch to make', as he said of himself.   Later, his artistry becomes separate from his life, as he seeks answers of the life he saw rather than the one he lived - a perfect dichotomy which followed his own views that he showed in the early works such as Mallory and Malone Dies.

    In 1932, Beckett started moving all around Europe, winding through Germany, France, Enland, Ireland and Italy.  However,  when his father died in 1933, he reluctantly moved back to England.  The move would haunt him for two years - as money woes and the death of his father hit him.  It was only so long before the wanderlust hit him again.  In 1937, after fighting with his mother, Samuel moved permanently - or as much so as Beckett could - to Paris.  It was here that one of the most traumatic events of his life would occur and that it would forever change him.   Walking down a deserted alley he was stabbed and almost killed by a pimp.   Short of funds, Beckett's patron, Joyce, helped him with his bills and assisted in bringing him back to health.  It was during this period when he met Suzanne Deschevaux-Dusmesnil, the woman who would wait until 1961 to become his wife, although she would be the only close companion he would have after that point.

    Beckett and Suzanne were still in Paris when the Germans began invading France in 1940.  They fled to Alcachon until November, when they returned.  Shortly after, Alfred Peron recruited them into the Gloria SMH cell of the French resistance.  In 1942, when the group was betrayed, Samuel and Suzanne narrowly escaped being captured by the Gestapo.  Fleeing to Rousillion, they became farmers in exchange for shelter and food.

    After the end of World War II, they returned to Paris, but when Beckett heard of his mother's illness, he went immediately to Dublin to be with her.  This would be the site and time where his new style would come to him - and the Beckett the world would discover was born.  He would later reveal that it was here that he began to write what he felt, and also where he switched almost exclusively to French for his writing.  He returned to Paris and would begin his heaviest period of writing - all in French.  This was also the time when his signature work, En Attendant Godot (Waiting for Godot) was written.   It would not be published for 4 years but would start the beginning of the success - such as it was for Beckett.  He would become a well-known and highly regarded author - the translated version of Godot, which became a hit on Broadway, solidified his name on both sides of the Atlantic.

     As the 1970's gave way to the 1980's, Beckett's choice of medium moved to prose, producing the well-received Ill Seen Ill Said and Worstword Ho.   His style, like his visible persona, became even starker and minimal.   He retreated inot a private sanctum where he could avoid the influences of the outer world.  But eventually, the outer world would claim Samual Beckett. In 1986, he would produce Stirrings Still, a work of fictional prose, his last large work before the downward spiral of emphysema would begin to take this literary genius from his life's work.  In fact, his final poem "What is the Word", would be created while in bed in the hospital.  He would move to a nursing home, Le Tiers Temps, and shortly after the saga of Samuel Beckett came to a close in two parts.  On 7/17/89, his wife Suzanne passed on.  Then, on December 22, 1989, Samuel Beckett, King of the Absurdist Movement, died at the age of 83.  He was buried in Montparnasse Cemetary, Paris.