The Project

The Letters of Samuel Beckett is the first comprehensive edition of the letters of Irish-born writer Samuel Beckett (1906-1989), providing access to primary sources now scattered in archives and private collections world-wide. Through The Letters, students, scholars, critics and theatre artists can trace the evolution of Beckett’s work with increased insight into his choices as a writer. The Letters of Samuel Beckett will enrich our perspective on the arts and life of the twentieth century.

Volume 1, covering the years 1929 through 1940, is available from Cambridge University Press.

Beckett’s letters reveal a writer whose life and art offer paradigms for the cross currents of the twentieth century. Beckett's writings extended the limits of fiction, drama, poetry and criticism.  He wrote drama for stage, radio, television and film. The letters show how the visual arts and music compelled Beckett’s attention and reveal the influence of paintings on his stage images and musical forms on the patterns of his prose. Close associations with theatre artists, painters and musicians resulted in much collaboration during his lifetime, just as his texts have continued to inspire artists, composers, and other writers to create new work.

In 1985, Samuel Beckett authorized Martha Dow Fehsenfeld and Lois More Overbeck to edit his letters; they have gathered and consulted Beckett’s voluminous correspondence (over 15,000 letters) in public and private collections. The four-volume edition will publish letters selected for their bearing on Beckett’s work -- from preliminary versions to publication and production history. Beckett wrote in both English and French and translated much of his work from one language into the other; he also assisted in and directed productions of his plays. While he claimed to be “in the dark” about his creative process, Beckett’s letters demonstrate his multi-layered involvement in the realization of his work; hence their publication will open new avenues of inquiry for scholars, students, and appreciative readers.

The project to edit Beckett’s letters became affiliated with the Emory University Graduate School in 1990 and, with its support, received funding from the National Endowment for the Humanities (1991-1997, 2008-2010). Awards from the Florence Gould Foundation to the project (1992-2003) enabled The American University of Paris to become a center for the edition in France. By involving students in the research, the edition has served as a “laboratory for humanities research.”

The edition is poised now for its final phase: publication. Volume I (1929-1940) will be published by Cambridge University Press in 2009. Volumes II (1945-1956), III (1957-1969), and IV (1970-1989) will follow as well as a one-volume edition and translations. A Beckett Web Portal is planned to provide an updatable electronic finding aid that describes and gives current ownership of all extant Beckett letters, a compilation of biographical profiles for major figures, a comprehensive index to the letters, as well as links to relevant finding aids in archival collections world-wide.