Lecture

A Bio/Memoir, or: Seven years (for each) of Working with Samuel Beckett and Simone de Beauvoir

Mon, Oct 16, 2017

4:00 PM–5:30 PM

Rooms 9204/9205

The Center for the Study of Women and Society and Women Writing Women’s Lives present the Dorothy O. Helly Works-in-Progress Lecture “A Bio/Memoir, or: Seven years (for each) of Working with Samuel Beckett and Simone de Beauvoir” by Deirdre Bair.

Deirdre Bair was a newly minted PhD who thought she was going to write a critical study of Samuel Beckett. One thing led to another, and she —who had never read biography— suddenly found herself writing one. Her talk will describe the privilege (and the trials and tribulations) of working with two living subjects. It will include her coming of age as a scholar and feminist, and why now is the proper time to tell these stories.

Deirdre Bair is the critically acclaimed author of award winning biographies: Samuel Beckett, Simone de Beauvoir, Anais Nin, C. G. Jung, Saul Steinberg and Al Capone. She is also the author of the cultural study, Calling it Quits: Late-Life Divorce and Starting Over. Her innumerable, prestigious prizes include the National Book Award for Samuel Beckett.

Cosponsored The Center for the Study of Women and Society, The Leon Levy Center for Biography, CUNY Graduate Center’s PhD Programs in History and English, MA Program in Liberal Studies, MA Program in Women’s and Gender Studies, and The Feminist Press.