| Beckett’s writing can be roughly divided into | | | | began his most prolific period as a writer, this was |
| three periods - his early works up until 1945; his | | | | when he entered the second period of his writing. |
| middle period from 1945 until the early 1960s, | | | | He turned definitively to the French language |
| during which he wrote his best known works and | | | | during his middle period and his work began to |
| his late period from the early 1960s until his death | | | | develop it’s unique style moving some critics |
| in 1989 during which his style became more | | | | to claim Beckett as one of the forefathers of |
| minimalist. His early works were greatly influenced | | | | post-modernism. During his late period, Beckett |
| by James Joyce, critics comment on their erudite | | | | whittled down the content of his work to the |
| nature appearing to overly display the writer’s | | | | essential elements, works written during this |
| knowledge resulting in some obscurity. Beckett | | | | period include Not I, Eh Joe, Play and Breath. |
| began writing in French during this period, he | | | | Beckett’s work more than any other broke |
| stated that writing in a language that was not his | | | | form the realist tradition, dispensing with |
| first tongue taught him discipline in economy of | | | | conventional plot, space and time and focussed on |
| language and contributed to a sparsemess of | | | | the essential elements of the human condition. |
| style. In 1945, Beckett returned to Dublin for a | | | | |
| brief visit, during his visit he had a revelation in | | | | Russell Shortt is a travel consultant with Exploring |
| which his entire future literary direction appeared | | | | Ireland, the leading specialists in customised, |
| to him, he documented this in his 1958 play | | | | private escorted tours, escorted coach tours and |
| Krapp’s Last Tape. He returned to Paris and | | | | independent self drive tours of Ireland. |