Vivian Mercier
Author
1919 – 1989
Who was Vivian Mercier?
Vivian Mercier was an Irish literary critic. He was born in Clara, County Offaly, Ireland and educated first at Portora Royal School, Enniskillen, Co. Fermanagh, and then at Trinity College, Dublin. He became a Scholar of the College and edited the student magazine T.C.D. Miscellany.
After taking his doctorate at Trinity, he taught in American universities from the 1940s to the 1980s; his last post was Professor of English at the University of California, Santa Barbara. He is perhaps best known for his famous summation of the plot of Samuel Beckett's Waiting for Godot: "... has achieved a theoretical impossibility—a play in which nothing happens, that yet keeps audiences glued to their seats. What's more, since the second act is a subtly different reprise of the first, he has written a play in which nothing happens, twice.". Despite what may sound like a somewhat disparaging criticism, Mercier was one of the foremost Beckett scholars of his day, and wrote extensively about Godot. He also wrote a critically acclaimed study of Beckett's work as a whole, Beckett/Beckett.
Mercier died in 1989, the same year as Beckett. His last marriage was to the Irish novelist and children's writer Eilís Dillon, who edited his posthumous book, Modern Irish Literature: Sources and Founders. He is buried beside his wife in his hometown of Clara.
We need you!
Help us build the largest biographies collection on the web!
- Born
- 1919
Clara - Also known as
- Vivian H. Mercier
- Spouses
- Nationality
- Republic of Ireland
- Education
- Portora Royal School
- Doctorate, Trinity College, Dublin
- Lived in
- Clara
(1919 - )
- Clara
- Died
- Nov 4, 1989
London
Submitted
on July 23, 2013
Citation
Use the citation below to add to a bibliography:
Style:MLAChicagoAPA
"Vivian Mercier." Biographies.net. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 2 Jun 2024. <https://www.biographies.net/people/en/vivian_mercier>.
Discuss this Vivian Mercier biography with the community:
Report Comment
We're doing our best to make sure our content is useful, accurate and safe.
If by any chance you spot an inappropriate comment while navigating through our website please use this form to let us know, and we'll take care of it shortly.
Attachment
You need to be logged in to favorite.
Log In