With the exception of three essays, an earlier form of this book appeared in French as Configuration critique de Samuel Beckett.

Introduction, by M. J. Friedman.--The elusive ego: Beckett's M's, by F. J. Hoffman.--Robbe-Grillet as a critic of Samuel Beckett, by B. Morrissette.--The strange world of Beckett's "grands articulés," by G. Brée.--Black humor: the pockets of Lemuel Gulliver and Samuel Beckett, by E. Kern.--Beckettian paradox: who is telling the truth? By R. Federman.--Adventures of the first person, by R. Champigny.--Molloy or the quest for meaninglessness: a global interpretation, by D. Hayman.--Interpreting Molloy, by J. Fletcher.--A poet's initiation, by L. E. Harvey.--The laughter of sad Samuel Beckett, by R. Cohn.--Beckett's metaphysics of choiceless awareness, by R. Lamont.--Samuel Beckett: a checklist of criticism, by J. R. Bryer (p. 219-259).