{"product_id":"typed-letter-signed-samuel-beckett-french-written-same-mqk2gn6u","title":"Typed Letter Signed (\"Samuel Beckett\") in French, written the same month that Waiting for Godot was first performed,","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eWaiting for Godot\u003c\/em\u003e was first performed on the 5th January 1953, this letter dates from the 17th January.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Je serais heureux de collaborer à votre revue.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eBeckett apologises for the late reply to his recipient’s “si amiable lettre”, and says that he would be happy to contribute to his publication. He encloses three pieces written - with ten others of similar structure - a year or so earlier (sadly no longer present), which he says were first published in \u003cem\u003eDeucalion\u003c\/em\u003e (the French philosophy journal). Since that time, he writes that he has struggled to write (“Depuis je n’ai plus essayé d’ecrire”)[Beckett was notoriously ‘blocked’ after completing \u003cem\u003eTextes Pour Rien\u003c\/em\u003e]. He says, just because his recipient has asked for a contribution, he must not feel obliged to include what he (Beckett) has sent, adding “Je trouverai tout natural que vous les jugiez inutilisables” [trans: “I would find it perfectly natural if you deemed them unusable”], and that the only alternative would be to use an extract from \u003cem\u003eL’Innommable\u003c\/em\u003e (\u003cem\u003eThe Unnamable)\u003c\/em\u003e, “qui ne doit sortie qu’au mois d’avril” [trans: which will not be coming out until April“]. He adds that “Je vous en donnerai un tres volontieres, si cela fait hieux votre affaire” [trans: “I’d be happy to give you one, if that suits you better.”]\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eBeckett closes by asking his recipient to send his kind regards to Maurice Nadeau. Nadeau started the periodical \u003cem\u003eLes Lettres Nouvelles\u003c\/em\u003e with Maurice Saillet in the early months of 1953, and it seems possible this letter was to Saillet, although we have not been able to confirm this.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWhile the letter does not mention Beckett’s play, \u003cem\u003eWaiting for Godot -\u003c\/em\u003e instead referencing other recent work, including his novel L’Innommable (The Unnamable) - it is nice to have a letter so contemporaneous with the first production of what would become Beckett’s best known work, a landmark play of the 20th century, and cornerstone work of ‘The Theatre of the Absurd’.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003ePage age-toned, otherwise in very good order.\u003c\/p\u003e\n","brand":"Maggs Bros.","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47844098146461,"sku":"23727","price":1450.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0669\/0045\/9677\/files\/23727_01.jpg?v=1779115203","url":"https:\/\/store.maggs.com\/products\/typed-letter-signed-samuel-beckett-french-written-same-mqk2gn6u","provider":"Maggs Bros.","version":"1.0","type":"link"}