THE MAKING OF SAMUEL BECKETT'S L'INNOMMABLE/THE UNNAMABLE

Synopsis

This volume of the BDMP analyses the genesis of one of Beckett’s most important works, the novel L’Innommable / The Unnamable, written in French in 1949-50 and translated into English by Beckett in 1956-8. Through an examination of the surviving manuscripts and typescripts, as well as the French and English pre-book-publication extracts, this study locates the novel within Beckett’s developing aesthetic, especially his interest in Fritz Mauthner’s ‘critique of language’ (Sprachkritik). It aims to show that the compositional processes of both the original French version and the English translation of L’Innommable reflect, in their different ways, Beckett’s attempt to achieve what he famously describes as a ‘literature of the unword’. This volume is part of the Beckett Digital Manuscript Project (BDMP), a collaboration between the Centre for Manuscript Genetics (University of Antwerp), the Beckett International Foundation (University of Reading) and the Harry Ransom Humanities Research Center (University of Texas at Austin), with the support of the Estate of Samuel Beckett. The BDMP (www.beckettarchive.org) digitally reunites the dispersed manuscripts of Samuel Beckett’s works and facilitates their examination. The project consists of two parts: a) a digital archive of Beckett’s manuscripts, with facsimiles and transcriptions, organized in modules; b) a series of print volumes, analysing the genesis of Beckett’s works.

Table of contents

  Table of contents

Specifications

Dirk Van Hulle

Shane Weller