Exploring the enigmas of Beckett's work

In this fascinating new exploration of Samuel Beckett's work, Pascale Casanova argues that Beckett's reputation rests on a pervasive misreading of his oeuvre, which neglects entirely the literary revolution he instigated. Reintroducing the historical into the heart of this body of work, Casanova provides an arresting portrait of Beckett as radically subversive-doing for writing what Kandinsky did for art-and in the process presents the key to some of the most profound enigmas of Beckett's writing.

"Enlightening in its investigations into writers and philosophers who contributed to Beckett's intellectual progress. Casanova does add something significant to the enormous existing canon of Beckett information." - Islington Tribune

"Fascinating, contentious." - New York Review of Books

"Praise for The World Republic of Letters:

Nothing like this has been attempted before. The World Republic of Letters is likely to have the same sort of liberating impact at large as Said's Orientalism." - London Review of Books

"Praise for The World Republic of Letters:


A brilliant, groundbreaking book.Casanova's work amounts to a radical remapping of global literary space The breadth of her scholarship here is staggering: from South America to North Africa, Eastern Europe to East Asia; from the emergent Modernism of Ibsen andYeats to the most recent postcolonial hybridities; from 'assimilationists' like Naipul and Cioran to 'rebels' like Neruda and Achebe. She has created a map of global literary power relations where none had existed, and she has raised a host of further questions." - Nation

"Praise for The World Republic of Letters:


An excellent book. Today's international space, as Casanova sees it, is created through a rivalry between the growing number of nations eager to establish a literary prestige, promoting their poets and novelists internationally with the help of government institutions." - Times Literary Supplement

"Praise for The World Republic of Letters:

This book, which unlike many other works of literary theory is written with exemplary lucidity, represents a milestone in the history of modern literary thought." - New Statesman