Beckett’s English translation was published posthumously in the Irish Times (25–27 December 1989) and a few days later in the Sunday Correspondent (31 December). A version with the dedication ‘for Joe Chaikin’ was published in Grand Street vol. 9, no. 2 (Winter 1990). The text reproduced here is the final, word-processed version, a photocopy of which is preserved at the University of Reading (UoR MS 3506).
The English version was included both in As the Story Was Told: Late and Uncollected Prose (Calder, and Riverrun Press, 1990) and in Poems 1930–1989 (Calder, 2002).14 Within the present Faber readers’ edition, what is the word will be published in the volume dedicated to Beckett’s poetry. It also finds its place in the present volume, because Beckett’s late texts defy traditional generic labelling, and because this last text was consciously written as an end-piece. With its subtle allusion to the last line of the final work by his mentor James Joyce (‘afaint afar away’), and its failure to find the word for what is ‘over there’, Beckett concluded his whole oeuvre in mid-sentence, as an unfinished work in progress. On the first page of the manuscript of what is the word, he added in the top margin ‘Keep ! for end’, indicating that, no matter how much longer he might live and whatever he might still write, the final word had to be this acknowledgement that he could not find the word.
Notes
1 For an account of the origins of Nohow On, and a critique of its rationale as a collection or ‘trilogy’, see John Banville, ‘The Last Word’, New York Review of Books, 39:14, 13 August 1992. According to Calder, Beckett suggested adding Stirrings Still, as a fourth text, but Nohow On was already in press.
2 For the dating of crucial moments in the composition of Beckett’s late texts, I owe a debt of gratitude to the following: John Pilling, A Samuel Beckett Chronology (New York: Palgrave MacMillan, 2006), Ruby Cohn, A Beckett Canon (Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 2001) and The Faber Companion to Samuel Beckett (London: Faber and Faber, 2006) by C. J. Ackerley and S. E. Gontarski.
3 A transcription appears in Charles Krance’s bilingual variorum edition of Company/Compagnie and A Piece of Monologue/Solo (New York: Garland, 1993).
4 John Banville, ‘The LastWord’, op. cit.
5 In a letter to Ruby Cohn, Beckett mentioned on 10 April 1980 that he had corrected the proofs for the UK (Calder) edition of Company. The Calder text differs slightly from the American (Grove) edition, as follows: ‘complement’ (Calder) instead of ‘adjunct’ (Grove) in para. 6; ‘how far more likely’ (Calder) instead of ‘how more likely’ (Grove) in para. 38; ‘adjunction’ (Calder) instead of ‘addition’ (Grove) in para. 54; ‘rise again’ (Calder) instead of ‘rise to your arse again’ (Grove) in the penultimate paragraph – ‘to your arse’ deleted on the Calder proofs). The present edition follows the Calder proofs, corrected by Beckett in March–April 1980.
6 The corrected typescript (version ‘e’ in Charles Krance’s variorum edition) differs from the first publication in the New Yorker in a few instances, such as ‘Rid of ’ [typescript]/‘Shut of ’ [New Yorker] in para. 3; ‘no less solitude’ [typescript]/‘no lesser solitude’ [New Yorker] in para. 31; ‘two black blanks’ [typescript]/‘too black blanks’ [New Yorker] in para. 59 (‘two’ is an autograph correction on the typescript). The text of the New Yorker differs in places from the first edition in book form (Grove): the variant ‘from down on her knees’ [New Yorker]/ ‘from off her knees’ [Grove] in para. 8 is one of the few instances where the text of the New Yorker deviates from the base text of the present edition. For the consultation of the corrected typescript I owe a debt of gratitude to James Knowlson.
7 Charles Krance’s bilingual edition of Ill Seen Ill Said (Garland, 1996) contains a synoptic account of its textual genesis.
8 Ruby Cohn, A Beckett Canon (Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 2001), 369.
9 Samuel Beckett, Dream of Fair to Middling Women (Dublin: The Black Cat Press, 1992), 226.
10 Samuel Beckett, Murphy (New York: Grove Press, 1957), 191.
11 Anne Atik, How it Was: A Memoir of Samuel Beckett (London: Faber and Faber, 2001), 108.
12 Ruud Hisgen and Adriaan van de Weel, The Silencing of the Sphinx (Leiden: privately printed, 1998), 66–7.
13 James Knowlson, Damned to Fame: The Life of Samuel Beckett (London: Bloomsbury, 1996), 699.
14 Shane Weller has argued against treating the text as a piece of prose: ‘The Word Folly: Samuel Beckett’s Comment dire (what is the word)’, Angelaki 5:1 (April 2000), 165–80; 175 note 2.
Table of Dates
[Note: where unspecified, translations from French to English or vice versa are by Beckett]
1906
13 April Samuel Beckett [Samuel Barclay Beckett] born at ‘Cooldrinagh’, a house in Foxrock, a village south of Dublin, on Good Friday, the second child of William Beckett and May Beckett, née Roe; he is preceded by a brother, Frank Edward, born 26 July 1902.
1911
Enters kindergarten at Ida and Pauline Elsner’s private academy in Leopardstown.
1915
Attends larger Earlsfort House School in Dublin.
1920
Follows Frank to Portora Royal, a distinguished Protestant boarding school in Enniskillen, County Fermanagh (soon to become part of Northern Ireland).
1923
October Enrolls at Trinity College, Dublin (TCD) to study for an Arts degree.
1926
August First visit to France, a month-long cycling tour of the Loire Valley.
1927
April–August Travels through Florence and Venice, visiting museums, galleries, and churches.
December Receives B.A. in Modern Languages (French and Italian) and graduates first in the First Class.
1928
Jan.–June Teaches French and English at Campbell College, Belfast.
September First trip to Germany to visit seventeen-year-old Peggy Sinclair, a cousin on his father’s side, and her family in Kassel.
1 November Arrives in Paris as an exchange lecteur at the École Normale Supérieure. Quickly becomes friends with his predecessor, Thomas MacGreevy, who introduces Beckett to James Joyce and other influential Anglophone writers and publishers.
December Spends Christmas in Kassel (as also in 1929, 1930, and 1931).
1929
June Publishes first critical essay (‘Dante … Bruno. Vico . . Joyce’) and first story (‘Assumption’) in transition magazine.
1930
July Whoroscope (Paris: Hours Press).
October Returns to TCD to begin a two-year appointment as lecturer in French.
November Introduced by MacGreevy to the painter and writer Jack B. Yeats in Dublin.
1931
March Proust (London: Chatto and Windus).
September First Irish publication, the poem ‘Alba’ in Dublin Magazine.
1932
January Resigns his lectureship via telegram from Kassel and moves to Paris.
Feb.–June First serious attempt at a novel, the posthumously published Dream of Fair to Middling Women.
December Story ‘Dante and the Lobster’ appears in This Quarter (Paris).
1933
3 May Death of Peggy Sinclair from tuberculosis.
26 June Death of William Beckett from a heart attack.
1934
January Moves to London and begins psychoanalysis with Wilfred Bion at the Tavistock Clinic.
February Negro Anthology, edited by Nancy Cunard and with numerous translations by Beckett (London: Wishart and Company).
May More Pricks Than Kicks (London: Chatto and Windus).
Aug.–Sept. Contributes several stories and reviews to literary magazines in London and Dublin.
1935
November Echo’s Bones and Other Precipitates, a cycle of thirteen poems (Paris: Europa Press).
1936
Returns to Dublin.
29 September Leaves Ireland for a seven-month stay in Germany.
1937
r /> Apr.–Aug. First serious attempt at a play, Human Wishes, about Samuel Johnson and his circle.
October Settles in Paris.
1938
6/7 January Stabbed by a street pimp in Montparnasse. Among his visitors at L’Hôpital Broussais is Suzanne Deschevaux-Dumesnil, an acquaintance who is to become Beckett’s companion for life.
March Murphy (London: Routledge).
April Begins writing poetry directly in French.
1939
3 September Great Britain and France declare war on Germany. Beckett abruptly ends a visit to Ireland and returns to Paris the next day.
1940
June Travels south with Suzanne following the Fall of France, as part of the exodus from the capital.
September Returns to Paris.
1941
13 January Death of James Joyce in Zurich.
1 September Joins the Resistance cell Gloria SMH.
1942
16 August Goes into hiding with Suzanne after the arrest of close friend Alfred Péron.
6 October Arrival at Roussillon, a small unoccupied village in Vichy France.
1944
24 August Liberation of Paris.
1945
30 March Awarded the Croix de Guerre.
Aug.–Dec. Volunteers as a storekeeper and interpreter with the Irish Red Cross in St-Lô, Normandy.
1946
July Publishes first fiction in French – a truncated version of the short story ‘Suite’ (later to become ‘La Fin’) in Les Temps modernes, owing to a misunderstanding with editors – as well as a critical essay on Dutch painters Geer and Bram van Velde in Cahiers d’art.
1947
Jan.–Feb. Writes first play, in French, Eleutheria (published posthumously).
April Murphy translated into French (Paris: Bordas).
1948
Undertakes a number of translations commissioned by UNESCO and by Georges Duthuit.
1950
25 August Death of May Beckett.
1951
March Molloy, in French (Paris: Les Éditions de
Minuit).
November Malone meurt (Paris: Minuit).
1952
Purchases land at Ussy-sur-Marne, subsequently Beckett’s preferred location for writing.
September En attendant Godot (Paris: Minuit).
1953
5 January Premiere of Godot at the Théâtre de Babylone in Montparnasse, directed by Roger Blin.
May L’Innommable (Paris: Minuit).
August Watt, in English (Paris: Olympia Press).
1954
8 September Waiting for Godot (New York: Grove Press).
13 September Death of Frank Beckett from lung cancer.
1955
March Molloy, translated into English with Patrick Bowles (New York: Grove; Paris: Olympia).
3 August First English production of Godot opens in London at the Arts Theatre.
November Nouvelles et Textes pour rien (Paris: Minuit).
1956
3 January American Godot premiere in Miami.
February First British publication of Waiting for Godot (London: Faber).
October. Malone Dies (New York: Grove).
1957
January First radio broadcast, All That Fall on the BBC Third Programme.
Fin de partie, suivi de Acte sans paroles (Paris: Minuit).
28 March Death of Jack B. Yeats.
August All That Fall (London: Faber).
October Tous ceux qui tombent, translation of All That Fall with Robert Pinget (Paris: Minuit).
1958
April Endgame, translation of Fin de partie (London: Faber).
From an Abandoned Work (London: Faber).
July Krapp’s Last Tape in Grove Press’s literary magazine, Evergreen Review.
September The Unnamable (New York: Grove).
December Anthology of Mexican Poetry, translated by Beckett (Bloomington: Indiana University Press; later reprinted in London by Thames and Hudson).
1959
March La Dernière bande, translation of Krapp’s Last Tape with Pierre Leyris, in the Parisian literary magazine Les Lettres nouvelles.
2 July Receives honorary D.Litt. degree from Trinity College, Dublin.
November Embers in Evergreen Review.
December Cendres, translation of Embers with Pinget, in Les Lettres nouvelles.
Three Novels: Molloy, Malone Dies, The Unnamable (New York: Grove; Paris: Olympia Press).
1961
January Comment c’est (Paris: Minuit).
24 March Marries Suzanne at Folkestone, Kent.
May Shares Prix International des Editeurs with Jorge Luis Borges.
August Poems in English (London: Calder).
September Happy Days (New York: Grove).
1963
February Oh les beaux jours, translation of Happy Days (Paris: Minuit).
May Assists with the German production of Play (Spiel, translated by Elmar and Erika Tophoven) in Ulm.
22 May Outline of Film sent to Grove Press. Film would be produced in 1964, starring Buster Keaton, and released at the Venice Film Festival the following year.
1964
March Play and Two Short Pieces for Radio (London: Faber).
April How It Is, translation of Comment c’est (London: Calder; New York: Grove).
June Comédie, translation of Play, in Les Lettres nouvelles.
July–Aug. First and only trip to the United States, to assist with the production of Film in New York.
1965
October Imagination morte imaginez (Paris: Minuit).
November Imagination Dead Imagine (London: The Sunday Times, Calder).
1966
January Comédie et Actes divers, including Dis Joe and Va et vient (Paris: Minuit).
February Assez (Paris: Minuit).
October Bing (Paris: Minuit).
1967
February D’un ouvrage abandonné (Paris: Minuit). Têtes-mortes (Paris: Minuit).
16 March Death of Thomas MacGreevy.
June Eh Joe and Other Writings, including Act Without Words II and Film (London: Faber).
July Come and Go, English translation of Va et vient (London: Calder).
26 September Directs first solo production, Endspiel (translation of Endgame by ElmarTophoven) in Berlin.
November No’s Knife: Collected Shorter Prose 1945–1966 (London: Calder).
December Stories and Texts for Nothing, illustrated with six ink line drawings by Avigdor Arikha (New York: Grove).
1968
March Poèmes (Paris: Minuit).
December Watt, translated into French with Ludovic and Agnès Janvier (Paris: Minuit).
1969
23 October Awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature. Sans (Paris: Minuit).
1970
April Mercier et Camier (Paris: Minuit).
Premier amour (Paris: Minuit).
July Lessness, translation of Sans (London: Calder).
September Le Dépeupleur (Paris: Minuit).
1972
January The Lost Ones, translation of Le Dépeupleur (London: Calder; New York: Grove).
The North, part of The Lost Ones, illustrated with etchings by Arikha (London: Enitharmon Press).
1973
January Not I (London: Faber).
Autumn First Love (London: Calder).
1974
Mercier and Camier (London: Calder).
1975
Spring Directs Godot in Berlin and Pas moi (translation of Not I) in Paris.
1976
February Pour finir encore et autres foirades (Paris: Minuit).
20 May Directs Billie Whitelaw in Footfalls, which is performed with That Time at London’s Royal Court Theatre in honour of Beckett’s seventieth birthday.
Autumn All Strange Away, illustrated with etchings by Edward Gorey (New York: Gotham Book Mart).
Foirades/Fizzles, in French and English, illustr
ated with etchings by Jasper Johns (New York: Petersburg Press).
December Footfalls (London: Faber).
1977
March Collected Poems in English and French (London: Calder; New York: Grove).
1978
May Pas, translation of Footfalls (Paris: Minuit).
August Poèmes, suivi de mirlitonnades (Paris: Minuit).
1980
January Compagnie (Paris: Minuit).
Company (London: Calder).
May Directs Endgame in London with Rick Cluchey and the San Quentin Drama Workshop.
1981
March Mal vu mal dit (Paris: Minuit).
April Rockaby and Other Short Pieces (New York: Grove).
October Ill Seen Ill Said, translation of Mal vu mal dit (New York: The New Yorker, Grove).
1983
April Worstward Ho (London: Calder).
September Disjecta: Miscellaneous Writings and a Dramatic Fragment, containing critical essays on art and literature as well as the unfinished 1937 play Human Wishes (London: Calder).
1984
February Oversees San Quentin Drama Workshop production of Godot, directed by Walter Asmus, in London.
Collected Shorter Plays (London: Faber; New York: Grove).
May Collected Poems 1930–1978 (London: Calder).
July Collected Shorter Prose 1945–1980 (London: Calder).
1989
April Stirrings Still (New York: Blue Moon Books).
June Nohow On: Company, Ill Seen Ill Said, Worstward Ho, illustrated with etchings by Robert Ryman (New York: Limited Editions Club).
July 17 Death of Suzanne Beckett.
December 22 Death of Samuel Beckett. Burial in Cimetière de Montparnasse.
1990
As the Story Was Told: Uncollected and Late Prose (London: Calder; New York: Riverrun Press).
1992
Dream of Fair to Middling Women (Dublin: Black Cat Press).