A Taste for the Negative: Beckett and Nihilism

Since the mid-1950s, when the works of Samuel Beckett began to attract sustained critical attention, commentators have tended either to dismiss his oeuvre as nihilist or defend it as anti-nihilist. Taking as its point of departure Nietzsche's description of nihilism as the 'uncanniest of all guests', this book calls this critical tradition into question, arguing that the relationship between Beckett's texts and nihilism is one that will always be missed by those who are simply for or against Beckett.