Every artist is tortured by the experience of creating art, but it is also his escape from the outside world, and from worry, pain, and both company and solitude.
—John Calder
In 2001, John Calder, a prominent British publisher, wrote a wonderful book on the philosophy of one of the greatest writers of the 20th century, Samuel Beckett. Their connection was mostly professional, but they also developed a personal friendship rooted in mutual respect and shared literary passions.
Calder was one of Beckett’s key publishers in the English-speaking world through his publishing house, Calder & Boyars, which he founded in 1949. He played a crucial role in promoting Beckett’s work, particularly in the UK, at a time when Beckett’s avant-garde style was not yet widely accepted.
Calder began publishing Beckett’s works in the 1950s, including novels such as Molloy, Malone Dies, and The Unnamable, as well as his most prominent play, Waiting for Godot.
His commitment to Beckett’s experimental and often challenging literature helped establish Beckett’s reputation as a literary giant.
Calder was not just a publisher but also an advocate for Beckett’s vision. He defended the integrity of Beckett’s works against censorship and commercial pressures, ensuring that the texts remained true to the author’s intent. He fought legal battles in the UK to publish works like Malone Dies, which faced obscenity charges due to its unconventional content.
His dedication was instrumental in making Beckett’s works accessible to a broader audience.
Below, I wanted to share a few profound passages from Calder’s remarkable book, The Philosophy of Samuel Beckett. The book is well worth the read in its entiretly. I hope you enjoy it.
It seems self-evident to me that Beckett is the most significant writer of the twentieth century: he represents the culmination of the achievements of his three most important predecessors, Proust, Kafka and Joyce.
The key elements in their work, Proust’s demonstration of the elasticity of time, Kafka’s brooding sense of menace, prescient of the horrors to come in his own Germanic and Jewish world, and Joyce’s ability to blend myth with daily life through language – all find their synthesis in the literature of Beckett…
Artists can see the horrors that are taking place in the world perfectly well and some of them are doing what little they can to create more awareness in society at large, but many more are giving way to apathy, treating art as an escape from reality, a comfortable, insulated world…