family in Kassel.
1 November
Arrives in Paris as an exchange lecteur at the Ãcole Normale Supérieure. Quickly becomes friends with his predecessor, Thomas McGreevy [after 1943, MacGreevy], who introduces Beckett to James Joyce and other influential anglophone writers and publishers.
December
Spends Christmas in Kassel (as also in 1929, 1930 and 1931).
1929
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June
Publishes first critical essay (âDante ⦠Bruno . Vico . . Joyceâ) and first story (âAssumptionâ) in transition magazine.
1930
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July
Whoroscope (Paris: Hours Press).
October
Returns to TCD to begin a two-year appointment as lecturer in French.
November
Introduced by MacGreevy to the painter and writer Jack B.Yeats in Dublin.
1931
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March
Proust (London: Chatto and Windus).
September
First Irish publication, the poem âAlbaâ in Dublin Magazine.
1932
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January
Resigns his lectureship via telegram from Kassel and moves to Paris.
Feb.âJune
First serious attempt at a novel, the posthumously published Dream of Fair to Middling Women.
December
Story âDante and the Lobsterâ appears in This Quarter (Paris).
1933
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3 May
Death of Peggy Sinclair from tuberculosis.
26 June
Death of William Beckett from a heart attack.
1934
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January
Moves to London and begins psychoanalysis with Wilfred Bion at the Tavistock Clinic.
February
Negro Anthology , edited by Nancy Cunard and with numerous translations by Beckett from the French (London: Wishart and Company).
May
More Pricks Than Kicks (London: Chatto and Windus).
Aug.âSept.
Contributes several stories and reviews to literary magazines in London and Dublin.
1935
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November
Echoâs Bones and Other Precipitates , a cycle of thirteen poems (Paris: Europa Press).
1936
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Returns to Dublin.
29 September
Leaves Ireland for a seven-month stay in Germany.
1937
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Apr.âAug.
First serious attempt at a play, Human Wishes , about Samuel Johnson and his household.
October
Settles in Paris.
1938
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6/7 January
Stabbed by a street pimp in Montparnasse. Among his visitors at Hôpital Broussais is Suzanne Deschevaux-Dumesnil, an acquaintance who is to become Beckettâs companion for life.
March
Murphy (London: Routledge).
April
Begins writing poetry directly in French.
1939
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3 September
Great Britain and France declare war on Germany. Beckett abruptly ends a visit to Ireland and returns to Paris the next day.
1940
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June
Travels south with Suzanne following the Fall of France, as part of the exodus from the capital.
September
Returns to Paris.
1941
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13 January
Death of James Joyce in Zurich.
1 September
Joins the Resistance cell Gloria SMH.
1942
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16 August
Goes into hiding with Suzanne after the arrest of close friend Alfred Péron.
6 October
Arrival at Roussillon, a small village in unoccupied southern France.
1944
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24 August
Liberation of Paris.
1945
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30 March
Awarded the Croix de Guerre.
Aug.âDec.
Volunteers as a storekeeper and interpreter with the Irish Red Cross in Saint-Lô, Normandy.
1946
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July
Publishes first fiction in French â a truncated version of the short story âSuiteâ (later to become âLa Finâ) in Les Temps modernes , owing to a misunderstanding by editors â as well as a critical essay on Dutch painters Geer and Bram van Velde in Cahiers dâart .
1947
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Jan.âFeb.
Writes first play, in French, Eleutheria (published posthumously).
April
Murphy , French translation (Paris: Bordas).
1948
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Undertakes a number of translations commissioned by UNESCO and by Georges Duthuit.
1950
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25 August
Death of May Beckett.
1951
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March
Molloy , in French (Paris: Les Ãditions de Minuit).
November
Malone meurt (Paris: Minuit).
1952
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Purchases land at Ussy-sur-Marne, subsequently Beckettâs preferred location for writing.
September
En attendant Godot (Paris: Minuit).
1953
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5 January
Premiere of Godot at the Théâtre de Babylone in