This revealing collection offers fresh insights into one of the 20th century's greatest, most enigmatic writers. In life, Samuel Beckett was one of the most private of men, preferring to let his writing speak for itself. In this commemorative volume, through interviews with his official biographer, he speaks of his youth, his home and family, his schools in Dublin, his life in Paris as an exchange student from Trinity College Dublin, his early writings, and his war years in the south of France. The second part of the work includes dozens of pieces written about him by those who knew him best, worked with him most closely, or admired him for his enduring influence, among them Edward Albee, Paul Auster, J. M. Coetzee, Hume Cronyn, Eugène Ionesco, Anthony Minghella, Tom Stoppard, and Jessica Tandy. Of special interest are remembrances of Beckett as a young man from fellow students at Trinity College Dublin and from L'Ecole Normale Supérieure in Paris. For those familiar with Beckett's work, this will enhance their knowledge; for those who are not, it is a revealing introduction to the Nobel Prize-winning author's life and work.