Beckett responds to an enquiry by Heathcote Williams, then editor of the Transatlantic Review, writing that he, Beckett, “should be happy for one or more to appear in your review”. Williams had presumably approached Beckett to sound him out regarding contributions to the TR, to which Beckett had responded positively, but with a proviso: “A few pieces from the book you mention have been translated by [Richard] Seaver and myself, but they will have to be worked over before they are fit for publication.” He mentions that they will have to get the blessing of John Calder, but that he (Beckett) “should be happy for one or more to appear in your review”.
Seaver and Calder were both great champions of Beckett, and close personal friends with whom he collaborated often. Seaver was editor of The Grove Press at the time of this letter.
Williams, was an important counter-cultural figure of the era. An actor, writer, activist, as well as an editor, he became, at this time, the “mid-60s”, “a pin-up of the underground press and a talismanic, though always elusive, figure in the counter-culture of the day” (Guardian obituary of Williams).
Beckett and Williams were mutual admirers of each other’s work. Regarding Beckett and The Transatlantic Review, the conclusion of Beckett’s How It Is was published around the time Williams started at the Transatlantic Review in 1963 (no.13, 1963); and Beckett’s Text For Nothing XII appeared in Spring 1967 (no.24).
An unpublished letter.
Both letter and envelope in very good condition.
