Waiting for Godot, first produced in 1953, is Beckett's masterwork. The play depicts two tramps who wait, through the course of the play, for a "Godot" who never arrives. Why they are waiting, or who Godot is, is never explained. The play is perhaps the ultimate statement of theatrical nihilism and modernist absurdity.

After writing stories, Beckett moved on to write a very successful trilogy of novels. They are not easy reads, but Molloy (1951), Malone Dies (1951), and The Unnamable (1953) tell the stories of decrepit men who are on the edge of death, who demonstrate Beckett's certainty that the only irreducible characteristic of humans is their endless desire to go on, no matter what.

James Joyce's short story collection Dubliners (1914) was initially reviled for its depressing tone and cynical portraits of Dublin and its citizens. Today, however, it is regarded as one...