Q 01/05

In which country was Samuel Beckett born?

A) Ireland

B) France

C) England

D) Scotland

Answer · why

A) Ireland

He was born in the Dublin suburb of Foxrock in 1906 but lived most of his adult life in Paris.

Q 02/05

In which year did Beckett win the Nobel Prize in Literature?

A) 1959

B) 1969

C) 1975

D) 1965

Answer · why

B) 1969

He heard the news on holiday in Tunis; his wife Suzanne called it a catastrophe.

Q 03/05

Which Irish novelist did Beckett assist with research for Finnegans Wake?

A) Oscar Wilde

B) James Joyce

C) W. B. Yeats

D) Flann O'Brien

Answer · why

B) James Joyce

They were introduced in Paris by the poet Thomas MacGreevy; the friendship cooled when Beckett rejected the novelist's daughter Lucia.

Q 04/05

In which language did Beckett write most of his works after 1947, including his most famous play?

A) French

B) English

C) Italian

D) German

Answer · why

A) French

He said it was easier for him to write 'without style' in his adopted language, then translated almost everything into English himself.

Q 05/05

Under what title was Beckett's most famous play first published, in 1952?

A) Godot n'arrive pas

B) Où est Godot

C) En attendant Godot

D) L'attente de Godot

Answer · why

C) En attendant Godot

He composed it between October 1948 and January 1949 and never sold or gave away its manuscript.