From Waiting for Godot to Andrzej Stasiuk

Abstract

Beckett’s importance for Polish culture was established by the first production of Waiting for Godot in 1957. Since then, his significance has evolved in aesthetic, social and political terms. This may be illustrated by a model that focuses on: 1) the post-war sense of frustrated expectations (Waiting for Godot); 2) the approaching fall of the Iron Curtain (Catastrophe); and 3) a contemporary search for a new geo-political identity (“neither”). Direct and indirect parallels between Beckett and Polish artists are discussed (Jerzy Kreczmar, Antoni Libera, and Andrzej Stasiuk).