Routledge Library Editions: Beckett, 5-Volume Set 9780367746582, 9781003159148, 9780367746674, 9781003158981, 0413585107, 0413545601

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ROUTLEDGE LIBRARY EDITIONS: BECKETT

Volume 1

BECKETT ON FILE

BECKETT ON FILE

Edited by VIRGINIA COOKE

First published in 1985 in simultaneous hardback and paperback editions by Methuen London Ltd and Methuen Inc This edition first published in 2021 by Routledge 2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN and by Routledge 52 Vanderbilt Avenue, New York, NY 10017 Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business Copyright in the compilation © 1985 Virginia Cooke Copyright in the series format © 1985 Methuen London Ltd Copyright in the editorial presentation © 1985 Simon Trussler All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers. Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and explanation without intent to infringe. British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library ISBN: ISBN: ISBN: ISBN:

978-0-367-74658-2 978-1-00-315914-8 978-0-367-74667-4 978-1-00-315898-1

(Set) (Set) (ebk) (Volume 1) (hbk) (Volume 1) (ebk)

Publisher’s Note The publisher has gone to great lengths to ensure the quality of this reprint but points out that some imperfections in the original copies may be apparent. Disclaimer The publisher has made every effort to trace copyright holders and would welcome correspondence from those they have been unable to trace.

DOI: 10.4324/9781003158981

WRITERS ON FILE General Editor: Simon Trussler

Associate Editor: Malcolm Page

BECKETI

on File

Compiled by Virginia Cooke

Methuen. London and New York

First published in 1985 in simultaneous hardback and paperback editions by Methuen London Ltd, 11 New Fetter Lane, London EC4P 4EE and Methuen Inc, 733 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017 Copyright in the compilation © 1985 by Virginia Cooke Copyright in the series fomat © 1985 by Methuen London Ltd Copyright in the editorial presentation © 1985 by Simon Trussler Typeset in IBM 9pt Press Roman by ~ Tek-Art, Croydon, Surrey Printed in Great Britain by Hazell Watson & Viney Ltd Member of the BPCC Group, Aylesbury, Bucks. British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data Cooke, Virginia Beckett on file. - (Playwrights on file) I. Beckett, Samuel - Criticism and interpretation II. Series I. Title PR6003.E282Z/ 822'.912 ISBN 0-413-58510-7 ISBN 0-413-54560-1 Pbk

Cover image based on a photo by John Haynes

This book is published in both hardback and paperback editions. The paperback edition is sold subject to the condition that it shall not, by way of trade or otherwise, be lent, resold, hired out, or otherwise circulated without the publisher's prior consent in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published and without a similar condition including this condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser.

General Editor's Introduction

5

1: A Brief Chronology

7

2: The Plays Waiting for Godot All That Fall Endgame Act without Words I Krapp 's Last Tape Rough for Theatre I and II Embers Act without Words II Rough for Radio I and II Happy Days Words and Music Play Cascando Film Come and Go Eh Joe Not! That Time Footfalls Ghost Trio '... but the clouds ... ' A Piece ofMonologue Rockaby Ohio Impromptu Quad Catastrophe Nacht and Triiume What Where

61 62 63 64

3: Non-Dramatic Writing a: Prose in Performance b: Fiction c: Other Works

66 78 84

4: The Writer on His work

85

S: A Select Bibliography Full-Length Studies Articles and Chapters in Books

87 91

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Th Thee theatre theatre is, is, b byy its its nature, nature, an an ephemera ephemerall art art:: yet yet iitt iiss a daunting daunting task task ttoo track track dow downn the the newspape newspaperr reviews reviews,, oorr contemporar contemporaryy statements statements fro from m the the write writerr oorr his his director,, director are ofte oftenn all all that that remai remainn ttoo hel helpp uuss recreat recreatee som somee whichh are whic Thiss series sensee of was like. like. Thi of wha particular productio productionn was series sens whatt a particular is therefor thereforee intende intendedd to to mak makee readil readilyy availabl availablee a selection selection of the the comment commentss tha thatt th thee critic criticss mad madee abou aboutt the the play playss ooff leadin the tim production leadingg moder modernn dramatist dramatistss aatt the timee ooff thei theirr production - an and d tto o trace trace,, too too,, the the course course o off each each writer's writer's own own view viewss hi swor workkan anddhihi s sworld world .. about about his In addition addition to to combining combining a uniquel uniquelyy convenient convenient sourc sourcee of suc suchh elusive elusive documentation, documentation, th thee 'Writer 'Writerss on on File File'' series series the information necessar necessaryy for for reader readerss ttoo also also assembles assembles the pursuee further pursu further thei theirr interes interestt in in a particula particularr write writerr or or writer'ss outwork n quantity quantity betwee betweenn on onee writer' work.. Variation Variationss iin putt and pu and another another,, difference differencess in in temperament temperament whic whichh mak makee som somee readier readier than than others others to to talk talk about about their their work, work, an andd th variety ooff critical critical response thee variety alll mea thee presentresponse,, al meann tha thatt th ation ation an andd balance balance of o f materia materiall shifts shifts between between one one volum volumee andd another an another:: bu butt w wee have have trie triedd to to arriv arrivee aatt a format format for for th thee serie seriess which which will will nevertheles neverthelesss enable enable user userss of of one on e volum volumee readily readily to to find find thei theirr way way around around any any other other.. Section 1, 19 4A Brie Brieff Chronology' Chronology',, provide providess a quic quickk conspectiv conspectivee overvie overview w ooff eac eachh playwright' playwright'ss life life an andd career career.. Section 2 deal dealss with with the the plays plays themselves themselves,, arrange arrangedd chronin th thee orde orderr o off thei theirr composition: composition: information information ologically ologically in on firs firstt performances, performances, major major revivals, revivals, an andd publication publication is followe followedd bbyy a brie brieff synopsi synopsiss (for (for quick quick referenc referencee se sett in slightly slightly larger larger,, itali italicc type) type),, then then b by y a representativ representativee of the the critical critical response, response, and and ooff the the dramatist's dramatist's selectio selectionn of own own comments comments oonn th thee pla playy and and its its theme. theme. Section 3 offer offerss concise concise guidanc guidancee tto o each each writer's writer's wor workk in in non-dramati non-dramaticc forms forms,, while while Section 4, 'The 'The Writerr oonn Hi Write Hiss Work', Work', bring bringss together together comments comments from from th thee playwright playwright himself himself on on more more general general matters matters of of construction, tion, opinion, opinion, and and artistic artistic development development.. Finally, Finally, Section 5 provides provides a bibliographica bibliographicall guid guidee to to other other primary primary and and secondary secondary sources sources of of furthe furtherr reading reading,, among among which which ful fulll details details will will be be found found of of works works cite citedd elsewhere elsewhere unde underr short short titles titles,, and and of of collected collected edition editionss of of th thee plays plays — bu butt no nott of of individual individual titles, titles, particulars particulars of of which which wil willl be be foun foundd wit withh th thee other other factual factual dat dataa in in Sectio Sectionn 2. 2.

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87

Select Bibliography Ruby Cohn, Back to Beckett. Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton University Press, 1974. ---, ed., Casebook on Waiting for Godot. New York: Grove Press, 196 7. ---,Just Play: Beckett's Theater. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 1980. ___, ed.,Samuel Beckett: a Collection of Criticism. New York: McGraw-Hill, 197 5. ___ ,Samuel Beckett: the Comic Gamut. New Brunswick, New Jersey: Rutgers University Press, 1962. Hannah C. Copeland,Art and the Artist in the Works of Samuel Beckett. The Hague: Mouton, 1975. Ramona Cormier and Janis L. Pallister, Waiting for Death: the

Philosophical Significance of En Attendant Godot.

Montgomery: University of Alabama Press, 1977. Robin J. Davis,Samuel Beckett: Checklist and Index of his Published Works 1967-1976. University of Stirling, 1979. Francis M. Doherty,Samuel Beckett. London: Hutchinson, 1971. Colin Duckworth, Angels of Darkness: Dramatic Effect in Samuel Beckett with Special Reference to Eugene Ionesco. London: Allen and Unwin, 1972. James Eliopulos,Samuel Beckett's Dramatic Language. The Hague: Mouton, 1975. Martin Esslin, ed.,Samuel Beckett: a Collection of Critical Essays. Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey: Prentice-Hall, 1965. Raymond Federman and John Fletcher,Samuel Beckett: His Works and his Critics: an Essay in Bibliography. Berkeley, Los Angeles, London: University of California Press, 1970. Martha Fehsenfeld, The Samuel Beckett Collection: a Catalogue. Univ. of Reading: The Library, 1979. Beryl S.Fletcher,JohnFletcher,Barry Smith, and WalterBachen, A Student's Guide to the Plays of Samuel Beckett. London and Boston: Faber and Faber, 1978. John Fletcher and John Spurling, Beckett: a Study of His Plays. London: Methuen; New York: Hill and Wang, 1972. John Fletcher,Samuel Beckett's Art. London: Chatto and Windus, 1967. John Fletcher, The Novels of Samuel Beckett. London: Chatto and Windus, 1964. Melvin J. Friedman,Samuel Beckett Now: Critical Approaches to His Novels, Poetry and Plays. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1970. Barbara Gluck, Beckett and Joyce: Friendship and Fiction. Lewisburg: Bucknell University Press, 1979. 88

Select Bibliography S. Gontarski, Beckett's Happy Days: an Analysis of the Manuscript. Athens: Ohio State University Press, 1977. Alice and Kenneth Hamilton, Condemned to Life: the World of Samuel Beckett. Grand Rapids, Mich.: Eardmans, 1976. Per Olof Hagberg, The Dramatic Works ofSamuel Beckett and Harold Pinter: a Comparative Analysis ofMain Themes and Dramatic Technique. Gotenborg: University of Gothenburg, 1972. Lawrence E. Harvey, Samuel Beckett: Poet and Critic. Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton University Press, 1970. Ihab Hassan, The Literature ofSilence: Henry Miller and Samuel Beckett. New York: Knopf, 1967. Ronald Hayman, Samuel Beckett. London: Heinemann, 1970. Georg Hensel, Beckett. Hannover: Freidrich Verlag, 1968. [lliustrations of German productions.] David H. Hesla, The Shape of Chaos: an Interpretation of the Art ofSamuel Beckett. St. Paul: University of Minnesota Press, 1971. Frederick J. Hoffman, Samuel Beckett: the Language ofSelf. Carbondale: Southern Illinois University Press, 1962. [Also published under the title Samuel Beckett: the Man and His Works (Toronto: Forum House, 1969).) Josephine Jacobson and William R. Mueller, The Testament of Samuel Beckett. New York: Hill and Wang, 1964; London: Faber and Faber, 1966. Hugh Kenner, A Reader's Guide to Samuel Beckett. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1973. _ _ _ , Samuel Beckett: a Critical Study. New York: Grove Press, 1961; London: John Calder, 1962. Rev. ed., Los Angeles: University of California Press, 1968. James Knowlson, Light and Darkness in the Theatre of Samuel Beckett. London: Turret Books, 1972. ---•Samuel Beckett: an Exhibition held at Reading University Library, May to July, 1971. London: Turret Books, 1971. _ _ _ and John Pilling, Frescoes of the Skull. London: Calder, 1977. - - - , ed., Krapp 's Last Tape. (Theatre Workbook I.) London: Brutus Books, 1980. [Includes reviews and interviews with directors and actors.] Eric P. Levy, Beckett and the Voice ofSpecies. London: Gill and Macmillan, 1980. J.P. Little, Beckett: En Attendant Godot and Fin de Partie. London: Grant and Cutler, 1981 [Critical guide to French texts]. 89

Select Bibliography Charles R. Lyons, Samuel Beckett. New York: Macmillan, 1983. Jean I. Mayoux, Samuel Beckett. Harlow: Longman, for the British Council, 1974. Vivian Mercier, Beckett-Beckett: the Truth of Contradictions. New York: Oxford University Press, 1977. Kristin C. Morrison, Centers and Chronicles: the Use ofNa"ative in the P'/ays ofSamuel Beckett and Harold Pinter. London and Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1983. Patrick Murray, The Tragic Comedian: a Study ofSamuel Beckett. Cork: Mercier Press, 1970. John Pilling, Samuel Beckett. London: Routledge, 1976. Alex Reid, All I Can Manage, More Than I Could: an Approach to the P'/ays ofSamuel Beckett. Dublin: Dolmen Press, 1968. Micheal Robinson, The Long Sonata of the Dead: a Study of Samuel Beckett. London: Hart-Davis, 1969. Steven J. Rosen, Samuel Beckett and the Pessimistic Tradition. New Brunswick, New Jersey: Rutgers University Press, 1976. Nathan A. Scott, Samuel Beckett. London: Bowes and Bowes, 1965. Yasunari Takahashi, Samuel Beckett. Tokyo: Kenkyusha, 1971. James T. Tanner and J. Don Vann, Samuel Beckett: A Checklist of Criticism. Ohio: Kent State University Press, 1969. William York Tindall, Beckett's Bums. London: Shenval Press, 1960. _ _ _,Samuel Beckett. New York and London: Columbia University Press, 1964. Eugene Webb, Samuel Beckett. Seattle: University of.Washington Press, 1970. Katherine Worth, ed., Beckett the Shape Changer: a Symposium. London: Routledge, 1975. Clas Zilliacus, Beckett and Broadcasting: a Study of the Works of Samuel Beckett for .and in Radio and Television (Acts Academiae Aboensis, Ser. A, Vol. LI, No. 2). Abo: Abo Akademi, 1976.

Articles and Chapters in Books J. Acheson, 'Chess with the Audience: Samuel Beckett's Endgame', Critical Quarterly, XXIl (Summer 1980), p. 33-45. Robert Martin Adams, Afterjoyce (New York: Oxford University Press, 1977), p. 90-113. Richard L. Admussen, 'Samuel Beckett's Unpublished Writings', Journal ofBeckett Studies, No. 1 (Winter 1976), p. 66-74. 90

Select Bibliography David Alpaugh, 'Embers and the Sea: Beckettian Intimations of Mortality', Modem Drama, XVI (March 1973), p. 317-28. _ _ _ , 'The Symbolic Structure of Samuel Beckett's All That Fall', Modern Drama, IX (December 1966), p. 324-32. Walter D. Asmus, 'Practical Aspects of Theatre, Radio and Television: Rehearsal Notes for the German Premiere of Beckett's That Time and Footfalls at the Schiller-Theatre Werkstatt, Berlin', Journal ofBeckett Studies, No. 2 (Summer 1977), p. 82-95. Pierre Astier, 'Beckett's Ohio Impromptu: a View from the Isle of Swans', Modem Drama, XXV (1982), p. 331-41. Michael Beausang, 'Myth and Tragi-Comedy in Beckett's Happy Days', Mosaic, V (1971), p. 59-78. 'Beckett and the Literature of Ruin', Chicago Review, XXXIII, 2 (1982), p. 79-106 [Symposium.] Mary Benson, 'Blin on Beckett', Theatre, X, 1 (Fall 1978), p. 90-3. [Interview on directing and acting] . Linda Ben-Zvi, 'The Schizmatic Self in A Piece ofMonologue', Journal ofBeckett Studies, No. 7 (Spring 1982), p. 7-18. Albert Bermel, Contradictory Characters: an Interpretation of the Modern Theatre (New York: Dutton, 1973), p. 159-84. Herbert Blau, The Impossible Theater: a Manifesto (New York: Macmillan; London: Collier Macmillan, 1964), p. 221-51. Enoch Brater, 'The "Absurd" Actor in the Theatre of Samuel Beckett', Educational Theatre Journal, XXVII (May 1975), p. 197-207. _ _ _ , 'Brecht's Alienated Actor in Beckett's Theatre', Comparative Drama, IX, iii (Fall 1975), p. 195-205. _ _ _, 'Dada, Surrealism, and the Genesis of Not I', Modem Drama, XVIII (1975), p. 49-59. _ _ _, 'Fragment and Beckett's Form in That Time and Footfalls', Journal ofBeckett Studies, No. 2 (Summer 1977), p. 70-81. _ _ _, 'The "I" in Beckett's Not I', Twentieth Century Literature, XX (July 1974), p. 189-200. _ _ _, 'Light, Sound, Movement, and Action in Beckett's Rockaby', Modem Drama, XXV (1982), p. 342-8. _ _ _ ,'Thinking Eye in Beckett's Film', Modem Language Quarterly, XXXVI (June 1975), p. 166-76. Rolf Breur, 'The Solution as Problem: Beckett's Waiting for Godot', Modem Drama, XIX (1976), p. 225-36. A.W. Brink, 'Universality in Samuel Beckett's Endgame', Queen's Quarterly, LXXVIII (Summer 1971), p. 191-207. 91

Select Bibliography Peter Brook, 'Endgame as King Lear, or How to Stop Worrying and Love Beckett', Encore, XII (January-February 1965), p. 8-12. John Russell Brown, 'Dialogue in Pinter and Others', Critical Quarterly, VII (Autumn 1965), p. 225-43. _ _ _ ,'Mr. Beckett's Shakespeare', Critical Quarterly, V (Winter 1963), p. 310-26. Robert Brustein, Seasons ofDiscontent: Dramatic Opinions 1959-1965 (New York: Simon and Schuster, 1965; London: Jonathan Cape, 1966), p. 24-8; 53-6; 182-4; 202-3. Peter Bull, I Know the Face, But ..• (London: Peter Davies, 1959), p. 166-91. [On playing Pozzo.] S. Campbell, 'Krapp's Last Tape and Critical Theory', Comparative Drama, XII (Fall 1978), p. 187-99. Pierre Chabert, 'Beckett as Director,' Gambit, No. 28 (1976) p. 41-63. _ _ _ , 'The Body in Beckett's Theatre', Journal of Beckett Studies, No. 8 (Autumn 1982), p. 23-9. Louise Cleveland, 'Trials in Soundscape: the Radio Plays of Beckett', Modern Drama, XI (1968), p. 267-82. Rick Cluchey, 'My Years with Beckett',New Edinburgh Review, No. SI (Aug. 1980), p. 18-21. Ruby Cohn, 'Beckett Books of the 1970s', Educational Theatre .Journal, XXV (May 1973), p. 243-51. _ _ _ , 'Outward Bound Soliloquies', Journal ofModern Literature, VI (February 1977), p. 17-38. _ _ _ , 'Shakespearian Embers in Beckett' ,Modern Shakespeare Offshoots (Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton University Press, 1976), p. 375-88. P.H. Collins, 'Proust, Time, and Beckett's Happy Days', French Review, Special Issue VI (1974), p. 105-19. Ethel F. Cornwall, 'Samuel Beckett: the Flight from Self', PMLA, LXXXVIII (1973), p. 41-51. Richard S. Dietrich, 'Beckett's Goad: From Stage to Film', Literature/Film Quarterly, IV (Winter 1976), p. 83-9. [On film of Act Without Words/I.] Livio Dobrez, 'Beckett, Sartre and Camus: the Darkness and the Light', Southern Review VII (July 1974), p. 51-63. Tom F. Driver, 'Beckett by the Madeleine', Columbia University Forum, IV (Summer 1961 ). [Interview] . Bernard Dukore and Daniel Gerould, Avant-Garde Drama: a Casebook (London: Crowell, 1975). Martin Esslin, 'Samuel Beckett and the Art of Broadcasting', Encounter, XLV (September 1975), p. 38-46. 92

Select Biblio11aphy _ _ _,'Voices, Patterns, Voices: Samuel Beckett's Later Plays', Gambit, No. 28 (1976), p. 93-9. ---·The Theatre of the Absurd, revised ed. (Garden City, New York: Doubleday, 1969), p. 11-65. Raymond Federman, 'Samuel Beckett's Film on the Agony of Perceivedness', James Joyce Quarterly, VIII (1971), p. 363-71. Martha Fehsenfeld, 'Beckett's Late Works: an Appraisal', Modern Drama, XXV ( 1982), p. 331-41. Ernst Fischer, 'Samuel Beckett: Play and Film', Mosaic, II, ii (1969), p. 96-116. John Fletcher, 'Roger Blin at Work', Modern Drama, VIII (1966), p. 403-8. W.J. Free, 'Beckett's Plays and the Photographic Vision', Georgia Review, XXXIV (Winter 1980), p. 801-12. Melvin Friedman, 'Review-Essay: Samuel Beckett and His Critics Enter the 1970s', Studies in the Novel, V (1973), p. 383-99. Ronald Gaskell, Drama and Reality: the European Theatre since Ibsen (London: Routledge, 1972), p. 147-56. Richard Gilman, 'Beckett',PartisanReview, XLI (1974),p. 56-76. _ _ _ , The Making ofModern Drama: a Study of Buchner, Ibsen, Strindberg, Chekhov, Pirandello, Brecht, Handke (New York: Farrar, Straus, Giroux, 1974), p. 234-66. S. Golden, 'Familiars in a Ruinstrewn Land: Endgame as Political Allegory', Contemporary Literature, XXII (Fall 1981), p. 425-55 Stanley E. Gontarski, 'Krapp's First Tape: Beckett's Manuscript', Journal ofModern Literature, VI (February 1977), p. 61-8. _ _ _ ,'The Anatomy of Beckett's Eh Joe', Modern Drama, XXVI (1982), p. 425-34. _ _ _ , 'Making Yourself All Up Again; the Composition of Samuel Beckett's That Time', Modern Drama, XXIII (1980), p. 112-20. Randolph Goodman, ed., 'The Old Tune', From Script to Stage (San Francisco: Rinehart, 1971), p. 540-74. [Documentation and interviews.] I ohn Goodwin, ed.,Peter Hall's Diaries (London: Hamilton, 1983). David I. Grossvogel, Four Playwrights and a Postcript: Brecht, Ionesco, Genet (Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1962), p. 85-131. . Stephen M. Halloran, 'The Anti-Aesthetics of Waiting for Godot', Centennial Review, XVI (Winter 1972), p. 69-81. lhab Hassan, The Dismemberment of Orpheus: Toward a Post­ modern Literature (New York: Oxford University Press, 1971), p. 210-50. 93

Select Bibliosraphy _ _ _, 'Joyce, Beckett and the Postmodern Imagination', Triquarterly, No. 34 (Fall 1975), p. 179-200. David Hayman, 'A Coming of Age: Beckett Biblioglorified', James Joyce Quarterly, vrn (1971), p. 413-20. Sylvie Debevec Henning, 'Film: a Dialogue between Beckett and Berkeley', Journal ofBeckett Studies, No. 7 (Spring 1982), p. 89-100. - - - · 'Samuel Beckett's Film and La Demiere Bande: Intra­ textual and Intertextual Daubles', Symposium, XXXV (Summer 1981), p. 131-53. William Hutt and R. O'Driscoll, 'Waiting for Godot', in Peter Raby, ed., The Stratford Scene, Toronto (1968), p. 230-41. H. Kayssar, 'Theatre Games, Language Games and Endgame', Theatre Journal, XXXI (May 1979), p. 221-38. Katherine Kelly, 'The Orphic Mouth in Not I', Journal ofBeckett Studies, No. 6 (Autumn 1980), p. 73-80. Andrew K. Kennedy, Six Dramatists in Search ofa Language: Studies in Dramatic Language (Cambridge: Cambridge Univer­ sity Press, 1975), p. 130-64. Edith Kem, 'Beckett and the Spirit of the Commedia Dell' Arte,' Modern Drama, IX (1966), p. 260-7. James Knowlson, 'Beckett and John Millington Synge', Gambit, No. 28 (1976), p. 65-81. _ _ _ , 'Krapp's Last Tape: the Evolution of a Play', Journal of Beckett Studies, I (Winter 197 6), p. 50-65. Paul Lawley, 'Counterpoint, Absence, and the Medium in Beckett's Not I', Modem Drama, XXVI (1983), p. 407-14. - - - · 'Embers: an Interpretation' ,Journal of Beckett Studies, No. 6 (Autumn 1980), p. 9-36. _ _ _ , 'Symbolic Structure and Creative Obligation in Endgame', Journal ofBeckett Studies, No. 5 (Autumn 1979), p. 45-66. Antoni Libera, 'Structure and Pattern in That Time', Journal of Beckett Studies, No. 6 (Autumn 1980), p. 81-90. Jane Lyman, ed., 'Beckett: Waiting for Godot', Perspectives on Plays (London: Routledge, 1976), p. 257-73. [Excerpts from Jack MacGowran, Sean O'Casey, Martin Esslin, Alain Robbe­ Grillet.] Charles R. Lyons, 'Beckett's Major Plays and the Trilogy', Comparative Drama, V (Winter 1971-72), p. 254-68. _ _ _, 'Perceiving Rockaby - as a Text, as a Text by Samuel Beckett, as a Text for Performance', Comparative Drama, Winter 1982-83, p. 297-311. 94

Select Bibliography Frederick J. Marker, 'Beckett Criticism in Modern Drama: a Checklist', Modern Drama, XIX (1976), p. 261-3. Jean-Jacques Mayoux, 'Samuel Beckett and the Mass Media', in Bernard Harris, ed., Essays and Studies 1971 (Humanities Press, 1971), p. 83-100. James Mays, 'Samuel Beckett Bibliography: Comments and Corrections', Irish University Review, II, ii (Autumn 1972), p. 189-208. Donald McWhinnie, The Art ofRadio (London: Faber and Faber, 1959). B. Mitchell, 'Beckett Bibliography: New Works, 1976-1982', Modern Fiction Studies, XXIX (Spring 1983), p. 131-52. Kristin Morrison, 'Defeated Sexuality in the Plays and Novels of Samuel Beckett', Comparative Drama, XIV (Spring 1980), p. 18-34. _ _ _ ,'The Rip Word in A Piece ofMonologue', Modern Drama, XXV(1982), p. 331-41. Benedict Nightingale, An Introduction ofFifty Modern Plays (London: Pan, 1982), p. 258-84. [Godot; Endgame, Not I.) Joseph O'Neill, 'The Absurd in Samuel Beckett', Personalist, XLVII (1967), p. 56-76. Ruth Perlmutter, 'Beckett's Film and Beckett and Film', Journal ofModern Literature, VI (February 1977), p. 83-94. T. Postlewait, 'Self Performing Voices: Mind, Memory, and Time in Beckett's Drama', Twentieth Century Literature, XXIV (Winter 1978), p. 473-91. Rosemary Pountney, 'On Acting Mouth in Not I', Journal of Beckett Studies, No. 1(Winter1970), p. 81-5. Leonard C. Pronko, Avant-Garde: the Experimental Theatre in France (Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press; London: Cambridge University Press, 1962), p. 22-58. David Read, 'Artistic Theory in the Work of Samuel Beckett', Journal ofBeckett Studies, No. 9 (Autumn 1982), p. 7-22. CJ.B. Robinson, 'A Way with Words: Paradox, Silence, and Samuel Beckett', Cambridge Quarterly, V (1971), p. 249-64. Carol Rosen, Plays ofImpasse: Contemporary Drama Set in Confining Institutions (Princeton University Press, 1983). Alan Schneider, "'Any Way You Like, Alan"; Working with Beckett', Theatre Quarterly, No. 19 (1975), p. 27-38. R.K. Simon, 'Dialectical Laughter: a Study of Endgame', Modern Drama, XXV (1982), p. 505-13. Thomas R. Simone, ' "Faint, though by no means invisible": a Commentary on Beckett's Footfalls', Modern Drama, XXVI (1983), p. 435-46. 95

Select Bibliography Alan Simpson, Beckett and Behan, and a Theatre in Dublin

(London: Routledge·, 1962), p. 62-138. Patrick Starnes, 'Samuel Beckett: an Interview', Antigonish Review, X (Summer 1972), p. 49-53. Darko Suvin, 'Beckett's Purgatory of the Individual, or the Three Laws of Thermodynamics', Drama Review, II, iv (Summer 1967), p. 23-36. George H. Szanto, 'Samuel Beckett: Dramatic Possibilities', Massachusetts Review, XV (Autumn 1974), p. 735-61. R. Torrance, 'Modes of Being and Time in the World of Godot', Modern Language Quarterly, XXVIII (1967), p. 77-95. Richard Toscan, 'MacGowran on Beckett', Theatre Quarterly, No. 11 (1973), p. 217-28. Simon Trussler, 'Happy Days: Two Productions and a Text', Prompt, No. 4 (1964), p. 23-5. Kenneth Tynan, Curtains (London: Longmans; New York: Atheneum, 1961), p. 101-3; 225-8; 272;401-3. Aspasia Velissarian, 'Language in Waiting for Godot', Journal of Beckett Studies, No. 8 (Autumn 1982), p. 45-58. George Wellwarth, The Theater ofProtest and Paradox (New York: New York University Press, revised ed. 1971), p. 41-56. Keith Whitlock, The Varied Scene (London: Oxford University Press, 1977), p. 9-28. Thomas R. Whittaker, 'Notes on Playing the Player', Centennial Review, XVI (Winter 1972), p. 1-22. Robert Wilcher, 'What's It Mean to Mean? An Approach to Beckett's Theatre', Critical Quarterly, XVIII (Summer 1976), p. 9-37. Daniel Wolf and Edwin Fancer, eds., The Village Voice Reader: a Mixed Bag from the Greenwich Village Newspaper (Garden City: Doubleday, 1962). [Separate reviews.] Katherine J. Worth, 'Audio-Visual Beckett', Journal ofBeckett Studies, No. 1(Winter1976), p. 85-8. _ _ _, 'Beckett and the Radio Medium', in British Radio Drama, ed. John Drakakis (London: Cambridge University Press, 1981), p. 191-217. William B. Worthen, 'Beckett's Actor', Modern Drama, XXVI (1983), p. 415-24. Hersh Zeifman, 'Being and Non-Being: Samuel Beckett's Not I', Modern Drama, XIX (1976), p. 35-46.

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ROUTLEDGE LIBRARY EDITIONS: BECKETT

Volume 2

BECKETT THE PLAYWRIGHT

BECKETT THE PLAYWRIGHT

JOHN FLETCHER AND JOHN SPURLING

First published in Great Britain in 1972 by Eyre Methuen Ltd under the title Beckett: A Study of His Plays Second, revised and expanded edition 1978 This third, revised and expanded edition published under the present title in 1985 by Methuen London Ltd This edition first published in 2021 by Routledge 2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN and by Routledge 52 Vanderbilt Avenue, New York, NY 10017 Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business Chronology, Chapters 3, 5, 7, 8, 12, 13 © 1972, 1978, 1985 John Fletcher Chapters 1, 2, 4, 6, 9, 10, 11 © 1972, 1978, 1985 John Spurling All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers. Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and explanation without intent to infringe. British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library ISBN: ISBN: ISBN: ISBN:

978-0-367-74658-2 978-1-00-315914-8 978-0-367-74711-4 978-1-00-315920-9

(Set) (Set) (ebk) (Volume 2) (hbk) (Volume 2) (ebk)

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DOI: 10.4324/9781003159209

Beckett THE PLAYWRIGHT (Third, expanded edition)

JOHN FLETCHER and JOHN SPURLING Previously published under the title Beckett: A Study of His Plays

METHUEN LONDON

First published in Great Britain in 1972 by Eyre Methuen Ltd 11 New Fetter Lane, London EC4P 4EE under the title Beckett: A Study of His Plays Second, revised and expanded edition 1978 Third, revised and expanded edition published under the present title in 1985 by Methuen London Ltd Chronology, Chapters 3, 5, 7. 8, 12, 13: Copyright © 1972, 1978, 1985 by John Fletcher Chapters i, 2, 4, 6, 9, 10, n: Copyright © 1972, 1978, 1985 by John Spurling Printed in Great Britain by Richard Clay (The Chaucer Press) Ltd Bungay, Suffolk British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data Fletcher, John, 19)7Beckett the playwright. - 3rd expanded ed. i. Beckett, Samuel - Criticism and interpretation I. Title II. Spurling, John III. Fletcher, John, 19)7- Beckett 822^.912 PR6oo3.E282Z/ ISBN 0-413-56810-5

This paperback edition is sold subject to the condition that it shall not, by way of trade or otherwise, be lent, resold, hired out, or otherwise circulated without the publisher's prior consent in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published and without a similar condition including this condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser.

Illustrations plates between pages 128 and 129 la EN ATTENDANT GODOT: revival at the Od£on-Th£atre de France, Paris, May 1961; Etienne Berry (Estragon); Lucien Raimbourg (Vladimir); Jean-Jacques Bourgeois (Pwg>p)\ Jean Martin (Lucky). Direction by Jean-Marie Serreau assisted by Samuel Beckett and Roger Blin. (Photo: Roger Pic) b WAITING FOR GODOT: production by Anthony Page at the Royal Court Theatre, London, December 1964; Alfred Lynch (Estragon); Nicol Williamson (Vladimir); Paul Curran (Posgp); Jack MacGowran (Lucky) (Photo: Zoe Dominic) 2 FIN DE PARTIE: original production by Roger Blin at the Royal Court Theatre, London, April 1957; Jean Martin (Clov); Roger Blin (Hamm) (Photo: David Sim)

3 ENDGAME: Royal Shakespeare Company production by Donald McWhJnnie at the Aldwych Theatre, London, July 1964; Jack MacGowran (C/ov); Patrick Magee (Hamm); Bryan Pringle (Nagg); Patsy Byrne (Nell) (Photo: Reg Wilson) 4 ACT WITHOUT WORDS i: production formed part of an anthology programme entitled 'End of Day' at the Arts Theatre, London, October 1962; Jack MacGowran (Photo: Mark Gudgeon) 5

DAS LETZTE BAND (KRAPP's LAST TAPE): production

by Samuel Beckett at the Schiller Theater, Berlin, October 1969; Martin Held (Krapp) (Photo: Use Subs)

8

ILLUSTRATIONS

6 HAPPY DAYS: original production by Alan Schneider at the Cherry Lane Theatre, New York, September 1961; Ruth White (Winnie); John C Becher (Willie) (Photo: Miss Alix Jeffry) 7 PLAY: National Theatre production by George Devine at the Old Vic Theatre, London, April 1964; Rosemary Harris, Billie Whitelaw, Robert Stephens (Photo: Zoe Dominic) 8a COME AND GO: original production by Deryk Mendel at the Schiller Theater, Berlin, September 1965; Lieselotte Rau (F/o); Charlotte Joeres (Ki); Sibylle Gilles (R*) (Photo: Use Bubs) b SAMUEL BECKETT with the tramps from Waiting for Godot (Photo: 'Roger Pic) The cartoon ofEndgaweby Vicky on p. 46 is reproduced from the New Statesman (31 July 1964) by permission; the cartoon by Vicky of Waiting for Godot is reproduced on p. 154 by arrangement with the trustees and the Evening Standard © London Express; the photomontage of Play reproduced on p. 115 is by courtesy of the Industrial Development Authority of Ireland. The photograph of Samuel Beckett on the front cover is by John Haynes.

Foreword We have composed this essay (which stresses throughout Beckett's success as an innovator in the theatre) in close collaboration. John Fletcher wrote the Chronology, Chapters 3> 5> 7> 8, 12 and 13, and John Spurling the rest. Norwich and London, September 1984

J.F.

J. S.

AUTHORS' ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS We are grateful to Samuel Beckett, Roger Blin, James Knowlson and Alan Schneider for kindly providing us with useful information. For permission to make quotations from his published works, thanks are due to Mr Beckett, Messrs Faber and Faber Ltd and Calder and Boyars Ltd, London, and Grove Press Inc., New York. A xerox copy of Eleutheria was kindly made available by the University of California (Santa Barbara) Library, and quotations (translated by John Spurling, amended by Samuel Beckett) were taken from it by courtesy of the author and Editions de Minuit, Paris. Illustrations are reproduced by permission. Acknowledgement is also made to A Student's Guide to the Plays of Samuel Beckett by John Fletcher and others (in which some of our material appears in a different form), published by Faber and Faber Ltd.

Samuel Barclay Beckett 1906 Born at Foxrock near Dublin on 13 April (Good Friday), second son of William Frank Beckett, a quantity surveyor, and his wife Mary, nee Roe. Middleclass Protestant family, comfortably off. Kindergarten: Miss Ida Eisner's Academy, Stillorgan. Prep, school: Earlsfort House School, Dublin. Public school: Portora Royal, Enniskillen; excellent academic and sporting record. 1923-7 Trinity College, Dublin, first as pensioner, then as foundation scholar. In BA examinations placed first in first class in Modern Literature (French and Italian); awarded large gold medal and Moderatorship prize. Active in Modern Languages Society, Cricket Club, Golf Club; keen chess player. Summer 1926: first contact with France (bicycle tour of the chateaux of the Loire). 1928 Spends first two terms teaching at Campbell College, Belfast. 1928-30 Exchange ~Lecteur at Ecole Normale Sup£rieure in Paris, almost contemporaneously with Jean-Paul Sartre. Meets James Joyce. Summer 1930: Beckett's first separately published work, the poem WHOROSCOPE, issued by Nancy Cunard's Hours Press in Paris. 1930-2 Assistant Lecturer in French, Trinity College, Dublin. Resigns after four terms. 19-21 February

12

CHRONOLOGY

1931: performance of Beckett's first dramatic work, LE KID, a parody sketch after Corneille written in collaboration with Georges Pelorson, French Ltcteur at Trinity. 1931 PROUST, his first and last major piece of literary criticism, published by Chatto and Windus. 1932-7 Wanderjabre culminating in the decision to settle permanently in Paris. 1933 Death of his father, who leaves him an annuity which forms the bulk of his slender income until the royalties from GODOT twenty years later. 1934 Chatto and Windus publish MORE PRICKS THAN KICKS (short stories). 1935

ECHO'S BONES AND OTHER PRECIPITATES (first

collection of verse) published in Paris. 1938 MURPHY, his first novel, published by Routledge. An Oxford undergraduate, Iris Murdoch, deeply influenced by the book. 1942 Resistance group in which Beckett is active is betrayed to the Gestapo; he escapes to the unoccupied southern zone with only minutes to spare* 1942-5 Ekes out a living as an agricultural labourer not far from Avignon ('... we were there together, I could swear to it! Picking grapes...', WAITING FOR GODOT, p. 62). Writes WATT, his last English novel. 1945 Returns to Ireland at Easter to see his family, then in order to get back to France, accepts in Augusta post as interpreter and storekeeper at the Irish Red Cross hospital in Saint-L6 (Normandy). 1946-50 Back in Paris, burst of creative activity. Writes in French the essential works of the canon, the trilogy of novels (MOLLOY, MALONE DIES, THE UNNAMABLE) and the play WAITING FOR GODOT, which was preceded by ELEUTH&RIA.

CHRONOLOGY

13

1950 Mother dies. 1951 MOLLOY and MALONE DIES published in Paris ('getting known . . .', Krapp's Last Tape, p. 17). 1952 WAITING FOR GODOT published in Paris. 1953 World premiere of WAITING FOR GODOT in Paris, 5 January, director Roger Blin. 1954 Beckett's English translation of GODOT published in New York. 1955 World premiere of the English GODOT in London, 3 August. 1957 First broadcast of ALL THAT FALL by BBC (13 January), director Donald McWhinnie. Creation of ENDGAME (French text, with ACT WITHOUT WORDS i) in London, 3 April, director Roger Blin. 1958 World premiere of KRAPP'S LAST TAPE in London, 28 October, director Donald McWhinnie. 1959 Hon. D.Litt., Dublin University. EMBERS wins Italia Prize. 1961 World premiere of HAPPY DAYS in New York, 17 September, director Alan Schneider. International Publishers' Prize, shared with Borges. 1962 First broadcast of WORDS AND MUSIC by BBC (13 November). 1963 Creation of PLAY (in German translation) at Ulm, 14 June, director Deryk Mendel. First broadcast of CASCANDoby RTF, 13 October, director Roger Blin. 1964 FILM made in New York, director Alan Schneider. 196 5 Creation of c o M E A N D G o (in German translation) in Berlin, September, director Deryk Mendel. 1966 EH JOE televised by BBC (4 July), production by Michael Bakewell. 1969 Nobel Prize for Literature. First independent production of BREATH (originally incorporated by Kenneth Tynan as the opening sketch in OH! CALCUTTA), Glasgow, October, director Geoffrey Gilham.

14

CHRONOLOGY

1972 World premiere of NOT i at the Lincoln Center in the Forum (Vivian Beaumont Theater Building), New York, 22 November, with Jessica Tandy as Mouth and Henderson Forsythe as Auditor, directed by Alan Schneider. 1976 In celebration of Beckett's seventieth birthday, first broadcast by B.B.C Radio 3 of ROUGH FOR RADIO, and world premi&re of THAT TIME and FOOTFALLS at the Royal Court Theatre, London; FOOTFALLS was directed by Beckett himself. 1977

1979 1981

1982 1983

GHOST TRIO and . . . BUT THE CLOUDS . . . televised

by the B.B.C, 17 April, with Billie Whitelaw and Ronald Pickup, directed by Donald McWhinnie. A PIECE OF MONOLOGUE performed by David Warrilow at the La Mama Theatre, New York, 14-31 December. ROCKABY performed by Billie Whitelaw, directed by Alan Schneider, at the Centre for Theatre Research, State University of New York at Buffalo, 8 April; OHIO IMPROMPTU performed by David Warrilow and Rand Mitchell, directed by Alan Schneider, at Ohio State University, Columbus, 9 May. Both premi&res were in honour of Beckett's seventy-fifth birthday. QUAD televised by B.B.C. 2, 16 December; CATASTROPHE performed at the Avignon Festival. NACHT UND TRAUME televised by Suddeutscher Rundfunk, 19 May; WHAT WHERE premiered at the Harold Clurman Theatre, New York, 15 June.

Introduction In the popular imagination Samuel Beckett conjures up tramps, dustbins and prolonged inactivity. To the commentators - and seldom can a writer within twenty years of his first success have given rise to such a formidable heap of interpretation - he is the occasion, like the forest of Arden to the banished Duke in As You Like //, for 'tongues in trees, books in the running brooks, sermons in stones*. The irony inherent in this double view of him must have given Beckett - more of a lover of the joke for its own sake than perhaps either the popular or the academic party will allow much quiet pleasure. All the same, the two views, that there is nothing to Beckett beyond dustbins and that there is everything conceivable beyond dustbins, quite clearly suggest, taken together, the nature of his dramatic method. What I hope to show here is that the Beckettian demonstration is a thoroughly dramatic one; that, in other words, though he set out as poet and novelist and was quoted quite recently as seeing himself as a novelist who also writes plays, the point at which his public found him and he found his public was the right one. Samuel Beckett was waiting for the theatre as the theatre was waiting for Samuel Beckett. Camill