Beckett's Children
A Literary Memoir
Will be published approx. on 5. November 2026
Book
Paperback/Softback
192 pages
978-1-68219-523-9 (ISBN)
Description
Where literary criticism meets memoir, Beckett's Children explores how absence, lineage, and loss echo across art and life.
Beckett's Children is a lyrical blend of personal memoir, father-son dialogue, and literary investigation that probes the works of Irish writer Samuel Beckett and American poet Susan Howe in search of traces of their long-rumored status as father and daughter. Although Howe has denied the rumor, the possibility that it might be true leads Coffey to a highly original appreciation of her work and a fascinating focus on the dozens of unattended children who wander through Beckett's oeuvre.
The saga of Coffey's adult son, at various moments on the run in the Indiana woods, is here tragically updated in a visceral and moving Afterword, shining a harsh light on life without parental connection in a cold America. As an adoptee himself, Coffey looks to literature for traces of his own origin story and lineage, as he mourns the loss of his son.
Provocative and beautifully expressed, Beckett's Children suggests a new approach to the textual worlds of two highly respected artists, providing a revelatory perspective on both American poetics and the vibrant world of Beckett studies.
Beckett's Children is a lyrical blend of personal memoir, father-son dialogue, and literary investigation that probes the works of Irish writer Samuel Beckett and American poet Susan Howe in search of traces of their long-rumored status as father and daughter. Although Howe has denied the rumor, the possibility that it might be true leads Coffey to a highly original appreciation of her work and a fascinating focus on the dozens of unattended children who wander through Beckett's oeuvre.
The saga of Coffey's adult son, at various moments on the run in the Indiana woods, is here tragically updated in a visceral and moving Afterword, shining a harsh light on life without parental connection in a cold America. As an adoptee himself, Coffey looks to literature for traces of his own origin story and lineage, as he mourns the loss of his son.
Provocative and beautifully expressed, Beckett's Children suggests a new approach to the textual worlds of two highly respected artists, providing a revelatory perspective on both American poetics and the vibrant world of Beckett studies.
Reviews / Votes
PRAISE FOR THE HARDBACK:"[A]n important addition to the world of adoption stories-very few by men and none as deep and thoughtful as this." -A.M. Homes
"Dark, brooding, precise, difficult, daring . . . an incomparable piece of writing." -Barry Schwabsky
"I read this beautiful book all in one sitting. It is stunning-poetic and profound." -Lois Oppenheim
"The force of Coffey's personal abyss asserts the form the book itself takes. Susan Howe emerges here as someone soldering her own abyss.... As for the Beckett side of this story, I think it is right to contest the taboo." -Sean Kennedy
"A potent and personal reflection on paternity." -Publishers Weekly
"This profound meditation by an exquisite writer at the top of his craft centers around the author's twin abiding obsessions: the ramifications of him being adopted and his literary hero Samuel Beckett." -Irish Boston
"Lyrical...intimate and revealing. Quite different from traditional scholarship." -Times Literary Supplement
"Assembling his fragments - what he calls his 'leaves', his 'stacks', his 'woods' - Coffey constructs a book that defies taboo and evades expectation that it fit neatly into any pre-established genre: poetry, memoir, academic research, speculation, dream, fantasy, genealogy, all are mobilised into a fragile urgent venturing that can leave the reader reeling." -Beckett Review
More details
Language
English
Place of publication
New York
United States
Product notice
Paperback (trade)
Illustrations
Illustrations
Dimensions
Height: 203 mm
Width: 127 mm
Thickness: 11 mm
Weight
199 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-68219-523-9 (9781682195239)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Person
Michael Coffey was, until 2014, the co-editorial director of Publishers Weekly. His hybrid fiction Samuel Beckett Is Closed (Evergreen Review/OR Books) was described by The New York Times Book Review as "a ghostly collaboration" and "a rewarding challenge" to the reader.