Translating Metaphor in the Dramatic Discourse of Samuel Beckett

Our need to understand is so great that we find it impossible to regard Beckett's plays other than in terms of metaphor and black humour. The great wonder is how Beckett's plays, with their absolute linguistic precision, could be translated at all. Miraculously it seems the translations are not merely satisfactory; it is as if this were the only possible language for the plays. The simplicity has obviously something to do with it: short sentences, simple ideas. But such simplicity has been very dearly bought and painfully wrought. We are reminded of the adage: to know that one does not know is the beginning of wisdom. This book focuses on Beckett's use and translation of metaphor and it is meant to prove that Beckett's bilingualism helped him in almost perfectly rendering his own plays both in English and French.