The Letters of Samuel Beckett: Volume 1, 1929–1940

This authorised edition with full scholarly apparatus will be welcomed by all scholars of modern literature and drama.

Samuel Beckett (Author), Martha Dow Fehsenfeld (Edited by), Lois More Overbeck (Edited by), Dan Gunn (Associate editor), George Craig (Associate editor)

9780521867931, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 5 February 2009

866 pages, 18 b/w illus.
22.2 x 14.7 x 4.6 cm, 1.32 kg

'It would be an understatement to say we look forward to the sequel.' Bert Keizer, The Threepenny Review

The letters written by Samuel Beckett between 1929 and 1940 provide a vivid and personal view of Western Europe in the 1930s, and mark the gradual emergence of Beckett's unique voice and sensibility. The Cambridge University Press edition of The Letters of Samuel Beckett offers for the first time a comprehensive range of letters of one of the greatest literary figures of the twentieth century. Selected for their bearing on his work from over 15,000 extant letters, the letters published in this four-volume edition encompass sixty years of Beckett's writing life (1929–1989), and include letters to friends, painters and musicians, as well as to students, publishers, translators, and colleagues in the world of literature and theatre. For anyone interested in twentieth-century literature and theatre this edition is essential reading, offering not only a record of Beckett's achievements but a powerful literary experience in itself.

General introduction
French translator's preface George Craig
German translator's preface Viola Westbrook
Editorial procedures
Acknowledgments
Permissions
Abbreviations
Introduction to Volume 1
Letters, 1929–1940
Appendix
Profiles
Bibliography
Index.

Subject Areas: Literary studies: general [DSB], Diaries, letters & journals [BJ]