The Making of Samuel Beckett's 'L'Innommable'/'The Unnamable'

Abstract

This book 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 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 described as a 'literature of the unword' ('Literatur des Unworts'). This volume is part of the Beckett Digital Manuscript Project (BDMP), a collaboration between the Centre for Manuscript Genetics (University of Antwerp, Belgium), the Beckett International Foundation (University of Reading, UK) and the Harry Ransom Humanities Research Centre (University of Texas at Austin, USA), with the support of the Estate of Samuel Beckett.

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