Die drei "Erzählungen" sind 1945 entstanden, die dreizehn "Texte um Nichts" 1930. Gemeinsam führen sie ein in die typische Gestaltenwelt und die stetig sich wiederholende Problematik Samuel Becketts. Sie machen keine Zugeständnisse, aber sie sind leichter zugänglich als die großen epischen Dichtungen, zu denen sie sich verhalten wie ein Bruchstück zum Ganzen, ein Bruchstück, aus dem man das Ganze rekonstruieren könnte.
The aged and bedridden protagonist (Molloy / Moran / Malone) awaits death, telling stories about other personifiations of himself to pass the time.
From an inauspicious beginning at the tiny Left Bank Theatre de Babylone in 1953, followed by bewilderment among American and British audiences, "Waiting for Godot" has become one of the most important and enigmatic plays of the past fifty years and a cornerstone of twentieth-century drama. As Clive Barnes wrote, "Time catches up with genius. . . . "Waiting for Godot" is one of the masterpieces of the century." The story revolves around two seemingly homeless men waiting for someone--or something--named Godot. Vladimir and Estragon wait near a tree, inhabiting a drama spun of their own consciousness. The result is a comical wordplay of poetry, dreamscapes, and nonsense, which has been interpreted as mankind's inexhaustible search for meaning. Beckett's language pioneered an expressionistic minimalism that captured the existential post- World War II Europe. His play remains one of the most magical and beautiful allegories of our time.
"During the German advance through Belgium into France in 1940, Captain de Reixach is shot dead by a sniper. Three witnesses, involved with him during his lifetime in different capacities - a distant relative, an orderly and a jockey who had an affair with his wife - remember him and help the reader piece together the realities behind the man and his death"-- Provided by publisher
Samuel Becketts Verse wurden von Elmar Tophoven und Karl Krolow ins Deutsche übersetzt. Beide Autoren ergänzen ihre "Flötentöne" mit Werkstattberichten, in denen sie die Herausforderungen der Übersetzung erläutern und kommentieren.