Mary Junker: Beckett Scholar

Dr Mary Junker, an eminent Irish-born scholar on the work of Samuel Beckett (1906-1989), Nobel laureate for literature in 1969, passed away in December 2012. Mary Junker, née Brennan, was born in Dromada Duke, Killasser, County Mayo. After Killasser National School and St Mary’s Convent in Swinford, Mary went to Exeter College in Devon, England, where she qualified as a teacher. She also studied Irish in Spiddal, County Galway. After teaching for one year in Swinford, Mary secured a teaching position at St Francis College, Letchworth, near London. Three years later in 1951, she went to Germany, initially on a three year contract to teach children of British troops stationed there.

In Münster, North Rhine-Westphalia, where the Treaty of Westphalia was signed in 1648 to bring the Thirty Years’ War to an end, she met Dr Rochus Junker, then a teacher of Latin, English and French. They were married in 1953. She continued to teach the English language and literature on adult education programmes and later at the Teacher Training College (Pädagogische Hochschule) in Münster University.

After her husband's death only three years after his retirement from the headship of the examination office (Wissenschaftliches Prüfungsamt) at Münster University in 1990, she completed a PhD on Samuel Beckett, which was published as a book by Wolfhound Press, Dublin, in 1995, under the title Beckett - The Irish Dimension. It is an excellent study of the Irish cultural background to Beckett’s work as reflected in five of his plays, Waiting for Godot (1952), his best known drama, All That Fall (1956), Krapp’s Last Tape (1958), Eh Joe (1966) and That Time (1976). Amongst other topics, the book explores how the Irish language and Hiberno-English influenced the writing of Beckett. It also demonstrates the author’s deep knowledge of and love for the Irish language.

At the start of her conclusion to the book, Dr Junker stated:

"Samuel Beckett did not find that elusive quarry—identity--- or resolve ‘the question of being’ in any of his five plays.

But he made his point—identity, like time is never static."

In 2009, Mary moved to Tübingen to live near her daughter, Roseleen. It was there, she died in 2012. Dr Mary Junker deserves to be remembered for her contribution to understanding the work of Samuel Beckett.

Bernard O'Hara's latest book entitled Killasser: Heritage of a Mayo Parish is now on sale in the USA and UK as a paperback book at amazon.com, amazon.co.uk or Barnes and Noble

It is also available as an eBook from the Apple iBookstore (for reading on iPad and iPhone), from Amazon.com and Amazon.co.uk (Kindle & Kindle Fire) and from Barnesandnoble.com (Nook tablet and eReader).

An earlier publication, a concise biography of Michael Davitt, entitled Davitt by Bernard O’Hara published in 2006 by Mayo County Council , is now available as Davitt: Irish Patriot and Father of the Land League by Bernard O’Hara, which was published in the USA by Tudor Gate Press (www.tudorgatepress.com) and is available from amazon.com and amazon.co.uk. It can be obtained as an eBook from the Apple iBookstore (for reading on iPad and iPhone), from Amazon.com and Amazon.co.uk (Kindle & Kindle Fire) and from Barnesandnoble.com (Nook tablet and eReader).