Samuel Barclay Beckett was an Irish avant garde novelist, playwright, theatre director, and poet, who lived in France for most of his adult life He wrote in both English and French His work offers a bleak, tragicomic outlook on human nature, often coupled with black comedy and gallows humour.Beckett is widely regarded as among the most influential writers of the 20th century Strongly influenced by James Joyce, he is considered one of the last modernists As an inspiration to many later writers, he is also sometimes considered one of the first postmodernists He is one of the key writers in what Martin Esslin called the Theatre of the Absurd His work became increasingly minimalist in his later career.Beckett was awarded the 1969 Nobel Prize in Literature for his writing, which in new forms for the novel and drama in the destitution of modern man acquires its elevation He was elected Saoi of Aosd na in 1984.