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"If a playwright is uninfluenced by Samuel Beckett, then he is a damn
fool or irresponsible." –Edward Albee
BECKETT,
SAMUEL.
En attendant Godot
Vladimir:
That passed the time.
Estragon: It would have passed in any case.
FIRST
EDITION of Beckett’s masterpiece, one of the most influential works of
modern drama.
“Voted the
most significant English language play of the 20th century in a British
Royal National Theatre poll of 800 playwrights, actors, directors and
journalists… Beckett's naked play about two tramps waiting for Godot has
tapped into our 20th-century public consciousness. It seems to express
our deepest fears and our deepest knowledge of ourselves and our
predicament” (Norman Berlin). Notably, the first edition of the text
provided the public with their first experience of the complete play—Les
Editions de Minuit published it three months before the play’s debut (in
French) in January 1953. “The first production of Beckett's own English
translation, directed by Peter Hall, was staged at the Arts Theatre Club
in London in August 1955. Kenneth Tynan's and Harold Hobson's reviews
made it into an intellectual hit which has since been regarded as having
transformed the British stage” (DNB).
Paris: Les
Editions de Minuit, 1952. Octavo, original wrappers; glassine; custom
cloth box. Text in French. Binding a little cocked; spine browned with
some rubbing. A superior copy. $3400.
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