From Authorial Kinship to Imaginative Sovereignty

Analysing the Influence of Samuel Beckett on Paul Auster’s Texts

Abstract

During his early years, Paul Auster wrote three plays: Blackouts (1976), Hide and Seek (1976), and Laurel and Hardy Go to Heaven (1976/77). Those works, however, are still little known to the general public or to literary criticism. The play Laurel and Hardy Go to Heaven exhibits close similarities to the dramatic works of Samuel Beckett, who strongly influenced Auster’s development as a writer. This paper aims to reflect on the peculiar position of the play in Auster’s oeuvre and to highlight its significance by tracing the arc of his creative maturation, in order to substantiate how Auster adopted Beckett’s texts into his own writings, overcoming the anxiety of influence and discovering his authorial voice.