Samuel Beckett
Digital Manuscript Project
L'Innommable / The Unnamable

MS-HRC-SB-5-10

MS. Pages: 1pp. 01r - 06r 2pp. 06r(2) - 10r 3pp. 11r - 15r 4pp. 16r - 20r 5pp. 21r - 25r 6pp. 26r - 30r 7pp. 31r - 35r 8pp. 36r - 40r 9pp. 41r - EXTRACT1-01r 10pp. EXTRACT1-02r - EXTRACT1-06r 11pp. 48r - 52r 12pp. 53r - 57r 13pp. 58r - 62r 14pp. 63r - 67r 15pp. 68r - 72r 16pp. 73r - 77r 17pp. 78r - 82r 18pp. 83r - 87r 19pp. 88r - 92r 20pp. 93r - 97r 21pp. 98r - 103r 22pp. 104r - 108r 23pp. 109r - 113r 24pp. 114r - 118r 25pp. 119r - 123r 26pp. 124r - 128r 27pp. EXTRACT2-01r - 133r 28pp. 134r - 138r 29pp. 139r - 143r 30pp. 144r - 146r
THE UNnamable
THE UNNAMABLE

1st revision up to p. 25

[p. 01r] [0001] Where now? [0002] When now? [0003] Who now? [0004] Unquestioning Without asking.[Stet] [0005] I, say I. [0006] Unbelieving. [0007] Questions, hypotheses, call them that. [0008] Keep going, going on, call that going, call that on. [0009] Can it be that one day, off it goes on, that one day I simply stayed in, in where, instead of going out, in the old way, out to spend day and night as far away as possible, xxxwhere it wasn't far. [0010] Perhaps that is how it began. [0011] No more questions. [0012] You think you are simply resting, the better to act when the time comes, or for no reason, and you soon find yourself precluded from ever doing powerless ever to do anything again. [0013] No matter how it happened. [0014] It, say it, not knowing what. [0015] Perhaps I simply assented at last to an old thing situation.[Stet] [0016] But I did nothing. [0017] I seem to speak, it is not I, about me, it is not about me. [0018] These few general remarks to begin with. [0019] What am I to do, what shall I do, what should I do, in my situation, how proceed? [0020] By aporia pure and simple or by affirmations and negations invalidated as uttered, or sooner or later? [0021] Generally speaking. [0022] There must be other ways solutions out shifts. [0023] Otherwise it would be quite hopeless. [0024] But it is quite hopeless. [0025] I should mention before going any further, any further on, that I say aporia without knowing what it means. [0026] Can one be an Ephectic otherwise than unawares? DOODLE 1 [0027] I don't know. [0028] With the yesses and noes it is different., Tthey will come back to me as I go along, and how to shit on them, sooner or later, like a bird, without omitting any exception. [0029] That is an easy thing to say soon said. [0030] The fact would seem to be, if in my situation one may speak of facts, nt not only that I shall have to speak of things of which I cannot speak, but also, which is even more interesting, but also that I, which is even more interesting, that I shall have to, I forget, no matter. [0031] And yet I am obliged to speak. [0032] I shall never be silent. [0033] Never.

[0034] I shall not be alone, at the outset in the beginning. [0035] Of course I am. []I am of course alone. [0036] Alone. [p. 02r] [0037] That is an easy thing to say soon said. [0038] Things have to be easy to say soon said. [0039] And how can one be sure, in such darkness? [0040] I sjhall have company. [0041] At In the outset beginning. [0042] A few puppets. [0043] Then I'll scatter them., to the winds, [0044] If I can. [0045] And things, what is the right correct attitude towards things? [0046] And, to begin with, are things they necessary? [0047] What a question. [0048] But I have no illusions, things are to be expected. [0049] The best is not to decide anything, in this connexion, in advance. [0050] If a thing turns up, for some reason or another, take it into account consideration. [0051] Where there are people, it is said, there are things. [0052] Does this mean that when you admit the former you must admit the latter? [0053] It remains to be seen Time will tell. [0054] The thing to avoid, I don't know why, is the spirit of system. [0055] People with things, people without things, things without people, what does it matter, it will not take me long to scatter them. I'm confident I can soon scatter them when I choose, to the winds. [0056] I don't see how. [0057] The best would be not to begin. [0058] But I have to begin. [0059] That is to say I have to continue go on. [0060] Perhaps in the end I shall 'll smother in a crowd throng. [0061] Incessant comings and goings, the crush & bustle of a bazaar bargain sale. [0062] No, I am only joking. no danger. Of that.

[0063] Malone is there. [0064] Of his mortal vliveliness little trace survives remains. [0065] He passes before me at doubtless regular intervals, unless it is I who pass before him. [0066] No, once and for all, I do not stir move. [0067] He passes, motionless. [0068] But there will not be much about on the subject of Malone, from whom nothing further is whom there is nothing more to be expected. [0069] IPersonally I do not intend to be bored. [0070] It was while watching him pass that I wondered if we cast a shadow. [0071] Impossible to say. [0072] He passes close to me, a few feet away, slowly, always in hthe same direction. [0073] I am almost sure it is he. [0074] The brimless hat seems to be conclusive. [0075] With his two hands he props up his jaw. [0076] He passes without a word. [0077] Perhaps he does not see me. [0078] One of these days I shall I'll challenge him. I shall I'll say..., I don't know, I shall I'll think of something when the time comes. [0079] There are no days here, but I use the expression. [0080] I see him from the waist up, [0081] he stops at the waist, for me. as far as I'm concerned. [0082] The trunk is erect. [0083] But I do not know whether he is on his feet or on his knees. standing or kneeling [0084] He might also be seated also be sitting. [0085] I see him in profile. [0086] Sometimes I wonder if it is not [p. 03r] Molloy. [0087] Perhaps it is Molloy, wearing Malone's hat. [0088] But it is more reasonable to assume it is Malone, wearing his own hat. [0089] Oh look, there is the first thing, Malone's hat. [0090] I see no other clothes. [0091] Perhaps Molloy is not here at all. [0092] Could he be, without my knowledge? [0093] The place is no doubt vast. [0094] Dim intermittent lights suggest a kind of distance. [0095] Tp To tell the truth I believe they are all here, at least from Murphy on, I believe we are all here, but so far I have only seen Malone. [0096] Another hypothesis, they were here, but are here no longer. [0097] I shall examine it after my fashion. [0098] Are there other pits, deeper down? [0099] To which one accedes by this one? [0100] Stupid obsession with depth. [0101] Are there other places set aside for us and this one where I am, with Malone, merely their narthex? [0102] I thought I was had done with preliminaries phases. [0103] No, no, we have all been here for ever, we shall all be here for ever, I know it.

[0104] No I shall ask myself No more questions. [0105] Is not this rather the place where one finishes vanishing fading away ?[Stet] [0106] Will the day come when Malone will pass before me no longer? [0107] Will the day come when Malone will pass before the spot where I was? [0108] Will the day come when another will pass before me, [] before the spot where I was. [0109] I have no opinion, on these subject matters.

[0110] If I were not without feeling his beard would fill me with puity. [0111] It hangs down, on either side of his chin, in two twists of unequal length. [0112] Was there a time when I too revolved thus? [0113] No, I have always been sitting here, at this self[]same spot, my hands on my knees, gazing before me like a great horned owl in an aviary. [0114] The tears stream down my cheeks from my unblinking eyes. [0115] What makes me weep so? [0116] From time to time. [0117] There [/]is nothing saddening here. [0118] Perhaps it is liquefied brain. [0119] Past happiness ijn any case has celean gone from my memory, assuming it was ever there. [0120] If I accomplish other natural functions, it is unawares. [0121] Nothing ever troubles me. [0122] And yet I am troubled. [0123] Nothing has ever changed since I have been here. But I dare not conclude from this that nothing will ever change. [0124] Let us [p. 04r] try and see where these considerations lead. [0125] I have been here, here ever[] since I began to be, here, my appearances elsewhere being due to other parties. [0126] All has proceeded, throughout all this time, in the utmost calm, the most perfect order, apart from a few manifestations the meaning of which escapes me. [0127] No, it is not that their meaning escapes me, my own escapes me just as much. [0128] Here all things ... no, I shall not say it, being unable to. [0129] I owe my existence to nobody, these faint fires are not of the kind those that illuminate or burn. [0130] Going nowhere, coming from nowhere, Malone passes. [0131] These notions of ancestors forbears, of houses where lamps are lit at night, and other kindred ones such, where do they come to me from? [0133] And all these questions that I ask myself. [0134] It is not in a spirit of curiosity. [0135] I cannot be silent. [0136] I do not need to know anything about myself About myself I need to know nothing. [0137] Here all is clear. [0138] No, all is not clear. [0139] But the discourse must continue go on. [0140] So one invents obscurities. [0141] It is rRhetoric. [0142] What then These lights is so strange about these lights, I do not ask them to mean any- for example, which I do not ask to have meaning mean anything, what is there so strange thing, so out of place almost? about them, one might almost say so wrong? [0143] Is it their irregularity, their instability, is it their shining strong one minute and weak the next, but never exceeding beyond the power of one or two canfdles? DOODLE 2 [0144] Malone appears and disappears with the punctuality of clockwork, always at the same distance from me, at the same speed velocity, in the same direction, in the same attitude. [0145] But the play of the lights is truly unpredictable. [0146] It is only fair to say that to eyes less knowing than mine they would probably pass quite unnoticed unseen.. [0147] But even to mine do they not sometimes do so? [0148] They are perhaps unwavering and foixed and my fitful perceiving the cause of their inconstancy. [0149] I hope I shall may have occasion to come back to this question. [0150] But I shall remark without further delay, in order to be sure of doing so, that I am counting relying on these lights, as indeed on all other similar sources of credible perplexity, to help me continue and perhaps even conclude. [0151] Upon which I shall continue And xxx I I resume, I have to. I have to. [0152] Yes, where was I, from the unexceptionable harmony of this place order that has prevailed here up to now date may I infer that such will always nbe the case? [0153] I may [p. 05r] of course. [0154] But the mere fact of asking myself such a question sets me wondering gives me to reflect. [0155] It is in vain I tell myslef that its only purpose is to stimulate the lagging discourse, this excellent explanation does not satisfy me. [0156] Can it be I am the prey of a genuine preoccupation, of a need to know so to speak as one might say? [0157] I don't know. [0158] I'll try something else. [0159] If one day a change were to occur take place, proceeding resulting from a principle of disorder already present, or on its way, what then? [0160] All That would seem to [] depend on the nature of the change in question. [0161] No, here all change would be fatal and land me back, there and then, in all the fun of the among the swings and fair the roundabouts. [0162] I'll try something else. [0163] Has nothing really changed since I have been here? [0164] No,[] Ffrankly, hand on heart, wait a second, no, nothing, to my knowledge. [0165] But, as I have said, the place may well be vast, as it may well really measure twelve feet in diameter. [0166] As far as discerning its limits is concerend, it comes to the same thing. [0167] It pleases I like me to think I occupy the centre, but nothing is less certain. [0168] In a sense I would be better off on at the dedge circumference, since my eyes are always fixed in the same direction. [0169] But I am certainly onot on at the edge circumference. [0170] For if I were then Malone, wheeling about me as he does, would exit issue froù from the enclosure enceinte at every revolution, which is manifestly impossible. [0171] But does he really in fact wheel, does he not perhaps simply pass before me in a straight line? [0172] No, he wheels, I feel it, and about me, like a planet about its sun. [0173] And if he made a noise,[] as he goes, I would hear him all the time, on my right hand, at my back, on my left hand, before seeing him again. [0174] But he makes none, for I am not deaf, of that I am convinced, that is to say half convinced. [0175] In any case from centre to edge circumference it is a far cry and I may wdell be situated somewhere between them the two. [0176] It is equally possible, I do not deny it, that I too am in endless perpetual motion, accompanied by Malone, as the earth by its moon. [0177] In which case there would be no further grounds for my complaining about the disorder of the lights, this being due simply to my insistence on regarding them as always the same lights and viewed always from the same point. [0178] All is possible, or very nearly almost. [0179] But the best is to think of myself as fixed and at the centre of this place, whatever its shape and scope extent. [0180] This is[p. 06r] also probably the most pleasing to me. [0181] In a word: no change apparently since I have been here;, disorder of the lights perhaps an illusion:, all change to be feared;, incomprehensible uneasiness.



MS. Pages: 1pp. 01r - 06r 2pp. 06r(2) - 10r 3pp. 11r - 15r 4pp. 16r - 20r 5pp. 21r - 25r 6pp. 26r - 30r 7pp. 31r - 35r 8pp. 36r - 40r 9pp. 41r - EXTRACT1-01r 10pp. EXTRACT1-02r - EXTRACT1-06r 11pp. 48r - 52r 12pp. 53r - 57r 13pp. 58r - 62r 14pp. 63r - 67r 15pp. 68r - 72r 16pp. 73r - 77r 17pp. 78r - 82r 18pp. 83r - 87r 19pp. 88r - 92r 20pp. 93r - 97r 21pp. 98r - 103r 22pp. 104r - 108r 23pp. 109r - 113r 24pp. 114r - 118r 25pp. 119r - 123r 26pp. 124r - 128r 27pp. EXTRACT2-01r - 133r 28pp. 134r - 138r 29pp. 139r - 143r 30pp. 144r - 146r