Lot 128
  • 128

Beckett, Samuel.

bidding is closed

Description

  • Beckett, Samuel.
two fine typed letters signed ("Samuel Beckett" and "Sam. Beckett"), to the editor of The Listener Mr Walker, revealing an uncharacteristic lack of reserve about his works and their interpretation, especially of "fin de partie"

Catalogue Note

At the time Beckett wrote these letters, he was dreading the prospect of translating Fin de Partie into English for its production at the Royal Court Theatre. "Beckett fretted impatiently over his early efforts, feeling most of the time how much he was losing of the original: 'I find it dreadful in English, all the sharpness gone, and the rhythms. If I were not bound by contract to the Royal Court Theatre I wouldn't allow it in English at all'" (James Knowlson, Damned to Fame: The Life of Samuel Beckett, 1996, p.438).

Beckett was famously reticent when it came to discussing his work with journalists and critics. these letters are a fine example to the contrary.

See also lot 130 for the autograph working manuscript of All Strange Away and Imagination Morte Imaginez; both of these prose works, composed eight years after the date of the present letters, take place inside a skull-like enclosure.