Samuel Beckett: As the Story Was Told

Films for the Humanities & Sciences provides the following commentary: The life of Irish novelist, poet, and playwright Samuel Beckett is profiled in this two-part documentary: from his Dublin childhood, to his days in Paris, associating with Picasso and Chagall, to old age. Excerpts from a performance of the semiautobiographical Krapp’s Last Tape and previously unpublished letters tell the story, along with the remembrances of Beckett’s lifelong friend and publisher, Jerome Lindon, relatives, and others who knew him. This is a rare glimpse into the reclusive world of this literary giant, whose most famous work, Waiting for Godot, evokes with unnerving precision the cosmic despair and isolation of modern humankind. A BBC Production.