Reaching out to the World in Samuel Beckett's Late Short Stories

José Francisco Fernández Sánchez

doi:10.18172/jes.6471

Authors

José Francisco Fernández Sánchez University of Almería https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6869-7156

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.18172/jes.6471

Keywords:

Samuel Beckett, the short story, experimental fiction, stylistic austerity, literature and society

Abstract

Although the short story lacks the novel’s capacity to construct a broad picture of society and does not offer the possibility of interconnecting different perspectives to act as a chronicle or to draw a wide canvas of the social arena, it remains an apt form for evoking the unsaid and, in doing so, encapsulating the spirit of an age in a few words. By examining Samuel Beckett’s late prose pieces, this article aims to assess the potential of the experimental short story as a marker of contemporary times. In this analysis, Beckett is revealed as an unconventional writer who could, nevertheless, capture the mindset of an anxious age. Additionally, Beckett’s contribution to the genre of short fiction will be explored.

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