Philippine E-Journals

Beckett's Nobel Prize Win Revives Irish Controversy

Nollaig O. Gadhra

 

Abstract:

When the announcement was made last year by the Swedish Academy that the Nobel Prize for Literature was being awarded to Samuel Beckett, it is said to have been received with mixed reactions in Paris, where Beckett has lived for almost 40 years. But reo action in Dublin, Ireland, where Beckett was born can best be described as a mixture of surprise adds mild resentment. For in awarding the prize to Beckett, the Swedish Academy had again raised many of the old questions about Irish national identity which surround so many of the great writers born in this country.