The Letters of Samuel Beckett, Volume I: 1929-1940

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.

Winner of Choice Outstanding Academic Title 2009
Winner of Morton N. Cohen Award for a Distinguished Edition of Letters, Modern Language Association 2009-10

“'... you find there not just Beckett melancholy and Beckett scatological but Beckett funny, astute, vulnerable, lonely, ambitious ... even flirtatious.' The Daily Mail”

'It is hard to credit the magisterial scholarship and publishing expertise that has gone into the editing of this first of four volumes of the letters of Samuel Beckett ... a breathtaking and essential work of human understanding ... This is a great book; simply priceless.' Gerald Dawe, The Sunday Business Post 'For all of us who love Samuel Beckett, there can be no more thrilling book. These letters not only cast light on his life and work, they are a considerable addition to his writing ... This is a volume to treasure, not just study. No Beckett reader will need it recommended, merely announced.' David Sexton, The Evening Standard 'There is so much in the pages of this volume, and the editors honour both the writer and the reader with the painstaking detail with which they frame each carefully chosen letter. The excitement generated in this reader is not only from the perusal of the contents of this amazing collection of correspondence but of the promise of three more volumes to come.' Beverley Curran, Journal of Irish Studies 'The first volume of Beckett's letters, The Letters of Samuel Beckett, 1929-1940 (Cambridge University Press), was the funniest, most intelligent and most poignant book I read this year, and since three more volumes are promised by Cambridge University Press we should be moved and entertained for some years to come.' Gabriel Josipovici, The Times Literary Supplement 'This edition is beautiful to read. It sets the very highest standards of presentation and organizes inherently complex and often partial material most coherently. For example, many letters written to Beckett are lost, yet the reader is able to infer the tone and scope of his correspondence through the editors' meticulous annotation.' M. S. Byron, The Review of English Studies 'One can hardly wait for Volume Two.' John Walsh, The Independent 'The most bracing read [of 2009] was The Letters of Samuel Beckett, 1929-1940, a portrait of the Dubliner as a young European with a hard gemlike gift for language, learning and mockery. ... Constantly Beckett is veering between certainty about his need to write and doubt about the results, all expressed in prose that is undoubting, delighted and demanding.' Seamus Heaney, The Times Literary Supplement '... these similarly anticipated letters have quite definitely arrived, and in an edition more sumptuous than one ever imagined. Has any modern author been better served by his editors than Beckett? ... Best of all, each letter is annotated in detail, with every person, event and allusion scrupulously identified.' Michael Dirda, The Washington Post 'Be in no doubt about it, if Godot and Molloy lit up the dreary landscape of writing in the immediate post-war era, these letters are set to do the same for the new century.' Gabriel Josipovici, The Times Literary Supplement 'Beautifully edited and annotated.' Philip Hensher, The Spectator 'Since Samuel Beckett was incapable of writing a duff sentence, the first volume of his letters, 25 years in the making, has been awaited with high anticipation ... There are, of course, some superbly dark Beckettisms among these letters. His most characteristic utterances are what he calls 'shining agates of negation'.' Jonathan Bate, The Sunday Telegraph 'Judging by this exemplary inaugural selection, the overall enterprise promises to be an extraordinary commitment, not only to the scholarly virtues of patience, concentration and scrupulousness but to a deep sense of the cultural value of the writer as a twentieth-century avatar ... we must be grateful for the opportunity this magnificent work of scholarship provides to reflect on what there is to be known, and the conflicts and crises its subject underwent in his fidelity to the strange, demanding and all too human need to speak his mind.' George O'Brien, Dublin Review of Books 'Impossible to mistake these letters for anyone else's work. Parts of them read like a nonfictionalized version of a Beckett novel.' Robin Moroney, The Wall Street Journal 'In literary annals, 2009 may well go down as the year that saw the publication of not this or that novel, set of poems, or 'important' theory book, but, quirkily enough, the first of four promised volumes of the letters of Samuel Beckett ...' Marjorie Perloff, Bookforum 'It would be an understatement to say we look forward to the sequel.' Bert Keizer, The Threepenny Review "This is an extraordinary work of scholarship on the part of its main editors ... What Fehsenfeld and Overbeck have produced is a revelatory triumph."
The Los Angeles Times "Admirers of Samuel Beckett, arguably the greatest writer in English of the second half of the twentieth century, have grown used to waiting for Godot, who will surely come tomorrow or, just possibly, the day after. In the meantime, these similarly anticipated letters have quite definitely arrived, and in an edition more sumptuous than one ever imagined. Has any modern author been better served by his editors than Beckett? ... Best of all, each letter is annotated in detail, with every person, event and allusion scrupulously identified."
Michael Dirda, The Washington Post "The editorial work behind this project has been immense in scale. Every book that Beckett mentions, every painting, every piece of music is tracked down and accounted for ... The standard of the commentary is of the highest ... The Letters of Samuel Beckett is a model edition."
J. M. Coetzee, The New York Review of Books "It is hard to credit the magisterial scholarship and publishing expertise that has gone into the editing of this first of four volumes of the letters of Samuel Beckett. Reading [it] is like rediscovering Beckett the man in high definition and hearing in full stereo the emerging voice that would, quite literally, transform the world of literature and theatre in the last half of the twentieth century ... a breathtaking and essential work of human understanding ... This is a great book; simply priceless."
Gerald Dawe, The Sunday Business Post "For all of us who love Samuel Beckett, there can be no more thrilling book. These letters not only cast light on his life and work, they are a considerable addition to his writing ... This is a volume to treasure, not just study. No Beckett reader will need it recommended, merely announced."
David Sexton, The Evening Standard "This first volume of letters presents a young, itinerant Beckett at 22, living in Paris and writing to James Joyce. His first works are coming out: a study of Proust, a book of poetry, short stories and a novel, Murphy. In these letters, as in his career, he is warming up, assembling a style. Beckett grumbles better than anyone in the history of literature ... Here is a Beckett absent from the more polished, public works: simultaneously feeling and writing, caring for words yet movingly unguarded."
Daniel Swift, The Financial Times "One of the highlights of the year was the publication of The Letters of Samuel Beckett, 1929-1940 ... Every page is a hoot. Beckett comes across as even smarter, and more smarting, than one already knew."
Paul Muldoon, 'Books of the Year 2009', Times Literary Supplement "The first of four projected, this first volume is a marvel."
Harper's Magazine "In literary annals, 2009 may well go down as the year that saw the publication of not this or that novel, set of poems, or 'important' theory book, but, quirkily enough, the first of four promised volumes of the letters of Samuel Beckett ... Can a writer's letters - occasional and ephemeral as these tend to be - really qualify as great literature? In Beckett's case, yes. For here is the most reticent of twentieth-century writers, one who refused to explain his plays and fictions, wrote almost no formal literary criticism, and refused to attend his own Nobel Prize ceremony - revealing himself in letter after letter as warm, playful, unfailingly polite even at his most vituperative and scatological, irreverent but never cynical, and, above all, a brilliant stylist whose learning is without the slightest pretension or preciosity."
Marjorie Perloff, Bookforum "There is fluent and brilliant evidence here of Beckett's development of his unique and irreplaceable voice ... Unfalteringly brilliant, this volume is of the same order as the letters of Van Gogh, or the diaries of Kafka."
Nicholas Foxton, Time Out "Beautifully edited and annotated."
Philip Hensher, The Spectator "This is an important work of impeccable scholarship directed not only at Beckett academics but informed fans seeking the man behind Godot. This volume is a landmark in our quest to understand Beckett's great esoteric works and has definitely been worth the wait."
The Washington Independent Review of Books "One can hardly wait for Volume 2."
John Walsh, The Independent "For Beckett enthusiasts, these letters are crammed with unexpected treasures, including displays of his dazzling erudition as an amateur art historian and his charmingly impractical ideas for the alternative careers he might pursue: gallery curator? Advertising man? Commercial pilot? Assistant to the Soviet film director Sergei Eisenstein? There will be three more volumes in this admirable series; the next will cover 1945 to 1956 (the year Waiting for Godot was first produced in Britain, and the unknown author suddenly became world famous). Like Vladimir and Estragon, we fans will find it hard to wait."
Kevin Jackson, The Sunday Times "The most bracing read [of 2009] was The Letters of Samuel Beckett, 1929-1940, a portrait of the Dubliner as a young European with a hard gemlike gift for language, learning and mockery. Beckett's genius exercises itself most exuberantly in the correspondence with Thomas MacGreevy, another Irish poet more at home in Paris, his senior but his soulmate. Constantly Beckett is veering between certainty about his need to write and doubt about the results, all expressed in prose that is undoubting, delighted and demanding."
Seamus Heaney, 'Books of the Year 2009', Times Literary Supplement

Martha Dow Fehsenfeld was authorised to edit Beckett's correspondence in 1985. Lois More Overbeck is Research Associate in the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences at Emory University, Atlanta.

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