Malone Dies: Introduced by Claire-Louise Bennett

Synopsis

The second of Samuel Beckett’s three great novels, Malone Dies follows a decrepit old man lying naked in bed, passing the time by writing bitter observations in an exercise book. Fed from a bed-table and tending to his needs with the help of a stick, Malone looks out his window and begins telling the story of a man cared for by nurses and taken on an ill-fated picnic to an island in the sea.

As Malone’s mind begins to disintegrate, so does the novel itself. Written during Beckett’s extraordinary period of creative intensity in the late 1940s, Malone Dies is a bleakly comic, radically inventive exploration of storytelling, consciousness, isolation, and mortality. 

About the Author

Samuel Beckett (1906–1989) was an Irish playwright, novelist, poet, and theatre director whose work redefined the possibilities of prose fiction and drama. A modernist associated with the Theatre of the Absurd, he explored the human condition through increasingly experimental and minimalist forms. He was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1969.

Claire-Louise Bennett is a British writer whose fiction and essays have appeared in The White Review, The Stinging Fly, The New York Times Magazine, and The New Yorker. Her debut book, Pond, was shortlisted for the Dylan Thomas Prize. (hachetteindia.com)

Publisher

Faber & Faber

Publication Date

March 13, 2025

Format

Paperback

Pages

208

Subjects

Weird & Experimental · Modernist Fiction · Absurdist Fiction · Irish Literature

ISBN

9780571386758