Couple of recent regular-news references to Samuel Beckett in (where else?) The Irish Times. Both come from the Dec. 10 edition.
[Irish history professor Roy] Foster cites Samuel Beckett as an example of how some literary figures can contribute to their own myth-making. “I’m reading the wonderful second volume of Beckett’s letters, and Beckett gave permission that only letters to do with his work could be published, which is crazy. You can’t make a distinction between what you do with work and your life. Making that kind of distinction almost reinforces myth-making. A holistic approach to life and work, and the way they interpenetrate each other, to me that is how you write a proper biography.”
—from the literary section feature “What the Dickens? Why biographers don’t always tell the whole story” by Brian O’Connell:
EVER FAILED. No matter. Try again. Fail again. Fail worse.
Paraphrasing Beckett, that great purveyor of despairing angst, is an irresistible response to yet another failed meeting of EU leaders in Brussels.
—from the article “Is the post-1945 European order coming to an end?” by Dan O’Brien:
Go, Irish Times! You’ve just gotta love the concept of quoting Beckett as an irresistible response to anything.