James Knowlson

A Thorough, Passionate, and Scholarly Work: If the scale permitted, I would give Knowlson's biography of Samuel Beckett 4 1/2 stars. It is an impressively thorough, passionate, and scholarly work by an ardent admirer. Knowlson's ardor for Beckett, the man no less than the work, is everywhere evident as a predominant strength and an odd occasional weakness. I could not help feeling, every now and then, that it pained Knowlson greatly to have to write anything negative about Beckett. As a show more biography, it is less emotionally detached than I usually like, but only slightly. It was a compelling read, all 618 pages, which is saying alot. show less

I just really loved some of the reminiscences in this book; though my initial feeling was that it was all tacky and just a collection of things that didn't fit anywhere else.

Despite the inclusion of pieces by JM Coetzee and Edward Albee, this book is trivial and tedious beyond belief. Beckett was a womaniser who liked whiskey and once applied unsuccessfully for the post of lecturer in Italian at UCT. And he may have had an Oedipus complex. There you have them — the only interesting nuggets in over 300, dreary, unindexed pages