The Letters of Samuel Beckett: Volume 4, 1966–1989

This final volume in the acclaimed edition of The Letters of Samuel Beckett covers the last twenty-four years of Beckett's life and work.

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

9780521867962, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 29 September 2016

942 pages, 19 b/w illus.
22.3 x 14.7 x 4.5 cm, 1.4 kg

'The editors deserve all possible praise. They have been gathering letters for many years and have done their utmost to decipher the author's difficult handwriting. They have provided each letter with explanatory notes that attach it to its biographical context. Their care has resulted in turning this extensive correspondence into an important part of the oeuvre.' Carl Rudbeck, translated from Svenska Dagbladet

This fourth and final volume, which completes the Cambridge edition of The Letters of Samuel Beckett, covers the final twenty-four years of what was, as Beckett saw it, a surprisingly long life. During these years he produced many of his finest and most concentrated works for theatre, plays that included Not I, Ohio Impromptu, and Catastrophe; for television he wrote Eh Joe and Ghost Trio; while in prose, he produced the late 'trilogy' that comprises Company, Ill Seen Ill Said, and Worstward Ho. In 1969, Beckett was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature, and the letters from this period show him struggling to cope with the pressures created by his ever-growing international fame. The letters reveal how, later, he turned his mind to his legacy, as seen through his interactions with biographers and archivists. This volume also provides chronologies, explanatory notes, translations, and profiles of Beckett's chief correspondents.

List of illustrations
General introduction
French translator's preface George Craig
Editorial procedures
Acknowledgments
Permissions
Collections and abbreviations
Introduction to Volume 4 Dan Gunn
Letters, 1966–1989
Appendix: selection of letters from Samuel Beckett found after the appropriate volume of correspondence was published
Profiles
Bibliography of works cited
Index of recipients
Index of first names, abbreviations, and nicknames
Summary listing of Samuel Beckett's works, Volume 4
General index.

Subject Areas: Literary studies: from c 1900 - [DSBH], Literary studies: general [DSB]