S. E. Gontarski is known the world over as one of the leading authorities on Samuel Beckett. The Robert O. Lawton Distinguished Professor of English at Florida State University, Dr. Gontarski is the author and editor of some of the most important studies of Beckett’s artistic process. He also knew and worked with Beckett and had an impact on the Beckett canon itself, getting Beckett to write a play (Ohio Impromptu) for a celebration at Ohio State University in 1981.
As a Beckett scholar, Dr. Gontarski’s interest extends beyond Beckett’s final published texts and into the background of their development. His book The Intent of Undoing in Samuel Beckett’s Dramatic Texts (Indiana UP) examines the drafts and manuscripts of many of Beckett’s plays. His editorial work on the Theatrical Notebooks of Samuel Beckett (Faber and Faber) provides an insightful look at the evolution of Endgame and some of the shorter plays. His book Beckett’s “Happy Days”: A Manuscript Study (Ohio State University Libraries) likewise investigates Beckett’s drafts, as well as allusions at work in the play.
Dr. Gontarski is the editor of two recent collections of essays, The Edinburgh Companion to Samuel Beckett and the Arts (Edinburgh UP) and A Companion to Samuel Beckett (Wiley-Blackwell). In 2006, he co-edited with Anthony Uhlmann a collection entitled Beckett after Beckett (U of Florida P), and in 2004, he co-authored with C. J. Ackerley The Grove Companion to Samuel Beckett: A Reader’s Guide to His Works, Life, and Thought (Grove P), an encyclopedic journey through Beckett’s universe.
Dr. Gontarski has also edited and written introductions to Beckett’s texts, including the Grove Press editions of Nohow On: Company, Ill Seen, Ill Said, Worstward Ho and The Complete Short Prose of Samuel Beckett: 1929-1989. He attended early discussions of the possible publication of Eleuthéria—discussions which included Beckett himself—and eventually wrote the introduction to the play for Foxrock Books.
Aside from his books and edited volumes on Beckett, Dr. Gontarski is the co-editor with Paul Ardoin and Laci Mattison of two works on modernist thought, Understanding Bergson, Understanding Modernism and Understanding Deleuze, Understanding Modernism (Bloomsbury Books). He is also the general editor of four book series.
As a lecturer and teacher, Dr. Gontarski travels to venues all over the globe, recently England and Poland, and he was a speaker at the inaugural session of the Samuel Beckett Summer School in Dublin in 2011.
In March 2014, Dr. Gontarski made news when Trinity College Dublin acquired many of his books, letters, and other materials dealing with Beckett.
As a Beckett scholar, Dr. Gontarski’s interest extends beyond Beckett’s final published texts and into the background of their development. His book The Intent of Undoing in Samuel Beckett’s Dramatic Texts (Indiana UP) examines the drafts and manuscripts of many of Beckett’s plays. His editorial work on the Theatrical Notebooks of Samuel Beckett (Faber and Faber) provides an insightful look at the evolution of Endgame and some of the shorter plays. His book Beckett’s “Happy Days”: A Manuscript Study (Ohio State University Libraries) likewise investigates Beckett’s drafts, as well as allusions at work in the play.
Dr. Gontarski is the editor of two recent collections of essays, The Edinburgh Companion to Samuel Beckett and the Arts (Edinburgh UP) and A Companion to Samuel Beckett (Wiley-Blackwell). In 2006, he co-edited with Anthony Uhlmann a collection entitled Beckett after Beckett (U of Florida P), and in 2004, he co-authored with C. J. Ackerley The Grove Companion to Samuel Beckett: A Reader’s Guide to His Works, Life, and Thought (Grove P), an encyclopedic journey through Beckett’s universe.
Dr. Gontarski has also edited and written introductions to Beckett’s texts, including the Grove Press editions of Nohow On: Company, Ill Seen, Ill Said, Worstward Ho and The Complete Short Prose of Samuel Beckett: 1929-1989. He attended early discussions of the possible publication of Eleuthéria—discussions which included Beckett himself—and eventually wrote the introduction to the play for Foxrock Books.
Aside from his books and edited volumes on Beckett, Dr. Gontarski is the co-editor with Paul Ardoin and Laci Mattison of two works on modernist thought, Understanding Bergson, Understanding Modernism and Understanding Deleuze, Understanding Modernism (Bloomsbury Books). He is also the general editor of four book series.
As a lecturer and teacher, Dr. Gontarski travels to venues all over the globe, recently England and Poland, and he was a speaker at the inaugural session of the Samuel Beckett Summer School in Dublin in 2011.
In March 2014, Dr. Gontarski made news when Trinity College Dublin acquired many of his books, letters, and other materials dealing with Beckett.