John Fletcher RIP

It is with the deepest sadness that the Samuel Beckett Society has learned of the death of one of its Honorary Trustees, John Fletcher aged 87.

Born in 1937, John attended King Alfred School, Plõn, Germany and later Yeovil School, Somerset. He then studied at Trinity Hall, Cambridge (MA) and Toulouse University (DÉS, Dr 3e Cycle), after which he taught at Durham University (1964-66) and the University of East Anglia Norwich (1966-98), first as Lecturer, then as Reader, and finally as Professor of Comparative Literature. He was visiting professor at several foreign universities, chiefly in France, but also in Denmark, Austria, Germany, Australia and Cameroon. He had begun translating from French before his retirement, an activity that continued to very recently.

He was a formidable and pioneering scholar in the field of Modern French Literature, opening up the work of Samuel Beckett, who he first met in 1961, to a range of students and non-specialists alike. Probably best known for his works Beckett: A study of his plays (1978; written with John Spurling) and About Beckett: The Playwright and the Work (Faber, 2003), his criticism has stood the test of time and is still regarded as an exemplary introduction to the laureate.

The board of the Samuel Beckett Society send their deepest symapthies to his surviving family.