Initial reception

In this chapter, I examine the critical successes and failures of Beckett's writing career, using the Second World War as a marker for a transformation in the critical approach to Beckett's work. This chapter cannot provide complete coverage of the critical reception of Beckett's work, as the international reach of Beckett's oeuvre makes a complete documentation in the space provided impossible. Considering this, I point the reader to the recent publication of a volume that deals with the subject of this chapter in great detail, the thoroughly researched collection of essays edited by Mark Nixon and Matthew Feldman, The International Reception of Samuel Beckett. The volume does more justice both to specific detail and theoretical considerations than is possible in this chapter. Readers should also examine the chronology at the beginning of this volume that sets out in skeletal form aspects of the publishing history of Beckett's works.