On 13 April 1986 Samuel Barclay Beckett will mark his eightieth year, an event that will be commemorated by international festivals, performances and publications unprecedented in an author's lifetime. Such attention was neither sought nor particularly welcomed by Beckett, but […] is fully the measure of his impact on the literature and culture of the latter half of the twentieth century …. Publication …, however, usually lagged behind composition, and in 1951, at age forty?five, having been publishing for over two decades, Beckett was little known outside a small circle of avant-garde artists. It is a memory he doubtless tapped for one of Krapp's birthday memoirs: “Seventeen copies sold, of which eleven at trade price to free circulating libraries beyond the seas. Getting known.”

This year marks the centennial of Samuel Beckett's birth, and the celebrations around the world have been a wonder to behold.[…]