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

[2180.1] Oh I know, I know, attention please, for the [place = supralinear] this may mean spilling of the beans, [place = supralinear] something, I know, there's nothing new there, it's all part of the same old eloquent [place = supralinear] irresistible boloney, namelyBut my dear namely, But my dear man, come, be reasonale [place = overwritten] ble, look, this is the pg [place = overwritten] hotograph is you, look at this photograph, and here's your file, no convictions, I assure you, come now, make an effort, at you at your age, to have no idenity identity, it's a scandal, I assure you, look at this photograph, what, you see nothing, true for you, no may [place = overwritten] tter, here, look at this death's-head, you'll see, you'll be all right, it won't last long, here, look, here's the record, insults o [place = overwritten] to policemen, indecent behaviour [place = supralinear] exposure, sins against holy ghost, contempt of court, impertinence to superiors, impudence to inferiors, deviations from reason, without[p. 103r] battery, look, no bar [place = overwritten] ttery, it's nothing, you'll be all right, you'll see, I beg your pardon, does he work, G [place = overwritten] good God no, out of the question, [2180.2] look [place = inline] , here's the mediacl report, spasmodic tabes, painless ulcers (gommes), I repeat, painless, all is painless;, multiple softenings, ni [place = overwritten] umerous hardenings, insensitive to blows, sight failing, chronic indigestion, light diet, shit well tolerated, hearing failing, heart irregular, sweet-tempered, smell failing, x [place = overwritten] soun d sleeper, no erections, would you like some more, commission in the territorials, inoperabe [place = overwritten] le, untrah [place = overwritten] nsportable, look, here'st the face, no no, the other end, I assure you, it's a bargain, I beg your pardon, does he drink, good God yes, passionately, I beg your pardon, father and mother, both dead, at seven months interval, he at the [ [place = inline] /]conception, she at the nativity, I assure you, you won't do better, at your age, to have no hi [place = overwritten] uman shape, the pity of it, look, here's the photograph, you'll see, you'll be all right, what does it amount to, after w [place = overwritten] all, a painfum [place = overwritten] l moment, on the surface, then peace, underneath, it's the only way, take my word, the only way out, I beg your pardon, have I nothing else, why certainly, certainly, just a second, I was wondering myself, just a second, if you were not rather, just a second, here we are, this one here, but I wanted to make sure, what, you don't understand, neither do I, no matter, it's no time for levity, yes, I was right, no doubt this time, it's you [place = supralinear] all over, [2180.3] look, here's the photograph, have a look at that, he's on his last legs, [place = supralinear] he's dying on his feet, you'd better hurry, it's a bargain, and so on, so on, till I'm tem [place = supralinear] pted, no, it's not true, [place = supralinear] all lies, they know it well, I never understood, I haven't stii [place = overwritten] rred, I'm all right, I'll be all right, when they depart, I haven't stirred, all I've said, said I've done, said I've been, it's they who said it, I've said nothing, I haven't stii [place = overwritten] rred, they don't understand, I can't stir, they think I don't want to, that their conditions don't suit me, that they'll hit on others, in the end, to my liking, then I'll stir, they'll have put me in their pocket, off the cushion, that's how I see it, no, I see nothing, they don't ubderstand , I can't go towards[p. 104r] them, they'll have to come and get me, if they want me, it's not Mahh [place = overwritten] ood will [place = supralinear] ever bring [place = supralinear] Mahood won't get me out, nor Worm either, they set great hopes on Worm, to tempt [place = supralinear] coax me out, he was [place = supralinear] something new, different from all the others, meant to be, perhaps he was, for me it's the [place = supralinear] they're all the same, they don't understand, I can't stir, I'm all right here, I'd be all right, if they'd leave me, let them come and get me, if they want me, they'll find nothing, then they can depart, with an esay mind. [2181] And if there is only one, like me, he can depart without fear of remorse, having done all he could, and even more, to achiec [place = overwritten] ve the impossible and so losr [place = overwritten] t his life, or stayw with me here, and be my like that m [place = supralinear] ay befall him, [place = supralinear] he might do that, and be a like for me, that would be stunning [place = supralinear] delightful, my first like, that would be epoch-making, to know I had a like, a congener, he wouldn't have to be like me, he couldn't be but [place = supralinear] be like me, he need only relax, , he might believe what he pleased, at the outset, that he could [place = supralinear] was bear no more [place = supralinear] in hell, or that the place was charming, he might even exclaim, I'll settle down here never stir again, being used to announcing his decisions, at the top of his voice, and so [place = supralinear] thus get to know them better, he might even add, to cover all eventualit- [place = supralinear] risks ies, For the moment, it would be his last bit of balderdash [place = supralinear] inanity, he need only relax, he'd disappear, he would [place = supralinear] he'd know nothing either, there would [place = supralinear] we'd be the two of us, unbeknownst to ourselves, unbeknownst to each other, that's a darling dream I've been having, a very excellent [place = supralinear] broth of a dream. [2182] And it's not over [place = supralinear] morning. [Stet] DOODLE 15 [2183] For here comes another, to see what has happened to ho [place = overwritten] is pal, and get him out, and back to his right mind, and back to his kin, with a flow of threats, and promises, and tales like this of wombs and cribs, diapers bepissed and the first long trousers, love's young dream and life's l [place = overwritten] old lech, blood and tears and skin and bones and the tossing in the grave, and so out coax him out, as he me, that's right, pidgin bullskrit, and in the end, having lived his life, no, before, but you've got my meaning, and there we are the h [place = overwritten] three of us, it's more cosy, perpetual dream, you only have to sleep, not even that, it's like the song [place = supralinear] [] old jingle, A dog came in [place = supralinear] [] crawled into the kitchen, And stole a crust of bread, Then cook up with I forget what, And walloped[p. 105r] him till he was dead, second verse, Then all the dogs came e [place = overwritten] running [place = supralinear] crawling, And dug their pal [place = supralinear] the dog a tomb, x [place = overwritten] And wrote upon the tombstone, For dogs and bictch bitches to come, third verse, as the second [place = supralinear] first, fourth, as the second, fifth, as the h [place = overwritten] third, give us time, give us time and we'll be a multitude, a thousand, ten thousand, there there's no m [place = overwritten] lack of room, adeste, adeste, all ye living bastards, you'll be all right, you'll see, you'll never be born again, what am I talking about [place = supralinear] saying, you'll never have been born, and bring your brats, our hell will be heaven to them, after what you've [place = supralinear] they've been through done to them [place = supralinear] with you. . [2184] But come to think of it are we not already a goodly company, what right have I to flatter myself I'm the first, first in time I mean of course, there are some more questions,please God they don't take the fancy to answer them. [2185] What can they be hatching anyhow, at this late hour? [2186] Can it be thet [place = overwritten] y are resolved at last to seize me by the horns? [2187] Looks like it. [2188] In that case tableau any minute. [2189] Oyez, oyez, I was like them, before being like me, oh the swine, that's one I won't get over in a hurry, no matter, no matter, the charge is sounded, present arms, corpse, to your guns, spermatozoon. [2190] I too, weary of pleading an incomprehensible cause, at twenty [place = supralinear] six and cents [place = supralinear] eightpence the thousand flowers of rhetoric, let myslef drop among the contumacious, nice image that, telescoping space, it must be the Pulitzer Prize, they're trying to dull [place = supralinear] bore me to sleep, at long range, for fear I might defend myself, they want to catch me alive, so as to be able to kill me, thi [place = overwritten] us I shall have lived, they think I'm alive, what a business, were there but a cadaver it would smack of exhumation [place = supralinear] body-snatching, not in a woman [place = supralinear] womb either, the bi slut has yet to menstruate that will ever litter [place = supralinear] capable of whelping me, that should singularly restrict the field of research, a sperm dying, of cold, in the sheets, wagging feebly it's l its little tail, perhaps I'm a drying sperm, in the sheets of an innocent boy, even that takes time, not a stone must be left unturned, one mustn't be afraid of making a howler, how can one [place = supralinear] know it is one before it's made, and one it most certainly is, now that it's irrevocable, for the good reason, here's another, here comes another, unless [place = inline] it [p. 106r]DOODLE 16 escapes them in time, what a hope, the bright boy is there, for the excellent reason that that counts as living too, counts as murder, it's well establishedx, [place = supralinear] notorious, oh you can't deny it, some people are lucky, born of a wet dream and dead before morning, Imust say I must say I'm tempted, no, the testis has yet to descend that would put [place = supralinear] up [place = supralinear] have anything to do [place = margin left] would have any truck with me, it's mutual, another gleam down the drain. [2191] And now one last look at Mahood, at Worm, we'll never [place = supralinear] it's our get anotehr [place = supralinear] last chance, ah will they never learn sense, there's nothing more [place = supralinear] [] to be got, there was never anything, to be got from those stories, I have mine, let them tell it tom me, they'll see there's nothing to be got from it either, noeh [place = overwritten] thing to be got from me, it will be the end, of this hell of stories, you'd think it was I was cursing them, still [place = supralinear] always the sameo old dodge [place = supralinear] trick, you'd be sorry for them, perhaps I'll curse them yet, they'll know what it is to be a subject of conversation, I'll ascribe to thel [place = overwritten] m [place = supralinear] put words in their mouths words [place = margin left] impute words to them you wouldn't throw too a dog, an ear, a mouth, and in the middle a few rags of mind, I'll get my own back, a few flitterd [place = overwritten] s of mind, they'll see what it's like, I'll clap an eye at random in the thick of the mess, on the offchance something might stray in front of it, then I'll let down my trousers and shit stories at them, stories, photograp [place = supralinear] hs, records, sites, lights, gods and fellow-creatures, the daily round and common task, observing the while, Be born, dear friends, be born, enter my arse, you'll just love my colic pains, it won't take long, I've the gripes. [2192] They'll see what it's like, that it's not so easy as it looks, that you must have a taste for it, that it's not within reach of everyone, that you must be born alive, that it's not a thing you can acquire, that will teach them perhaps, to keep their nose out of my business. [2193] Yes, if I could, but I cant' can't, whatever it is, I can't any more, I could perhaps once, in the days when I was bursting my guts, as per instructio instructions, to bring him back to the fold the dear lost lamb, I'd been told he was dear, that he was dead [place = overwritten] r to me, that I was dear to him, that we were dear to each other, all my life I've pelted him with twaddle [place = inline] , the dear departed, wondering what he co[p. 107r] could possibly be like, wondering where we could possibly have met, all my life, well, almost, damn the almost, all my life, until I joined, joined him, and now it's I am dear to them, now it's they are dear to me, glad to hear it, they'll join us, one by one, what a pity they're numberless, so are we, dear charnel-house of renegardes renegades, this evei [place = overwritten] ning decidedly everything is dear, no mattern [place = inline] , the ancients hear nothing, for them it's all over, hell is reserved for thr [place = overwritten] e last arrival, and my old quarry, there beside me, for him it's all over, beside me how are you, underneath me, we [place = supralinear] []'re piled up in heaps, no, that won't work either, no matter, it's a detail, for him it's all over, him the second-last, and for me too, me the last, itwil it will soon be all over, I'll hear nothing more, I've nothing to do, w [place = overwritten] simply x [place = overwritten] wait, it's a slow business, he'll come and lie on top of me, lie beside me, my dear tormentor, his turn to suffer what he made me suffer, mine to be at peace. [2194] How all comes right in the end to be sure , it's thanks to patience, thanks to time, it's thanksto to the earth that revolves that the eartj [place = overwritten] h revom [place = overwritten] lves no more, that time ends its meal, and pain comes to an end, you only have to wait, without doing anything a thing [place = supralinear] anything, it's no good doing a thing [place = supralinear] anything, and without understanding, understanding is no help [place = supralinear] [] there's no help in understanding, and all comes right, nothing comes right, nothing, nothing, this will never end, this voice will never stop, I am alone here, the first and the last, I never made anyone sug [place = overwritten] ffer [place = inline] , I never stopped anyone's suffering [place = inline] , no one will ever stop mine [place = inline] , they'll never depart [place = inline] , I'll never stir [place = inline] , I'll never know peace [place = inline] , neither will there [place = supralinear] y [place = inline] , but with this difference [place = inline] , that they don't want it [place = inline] , they say they don't want it [place = inline] , they say I don't want it either [place = inline] , don't want peace [place = inline] , after all prehaps they're right [place = inline] , how coud [place = overwritten] ld I want it [place = inline] , what is it [place = inline] , and this business of suffering [place = inline] , what is it [place = inline] , they say I suffer [place = inline] , perhaps they're right [place = inline] , and that I'd feel better if I did this [place = inline] , sia [place = overwritten] aid that [place = inline] , if my body stirred [place = inline] , if my head understood [place = inline] , if they went d [place = overwritten] silent and departed [place = inline] , perhaps they're right [place = inline] , how would [p. 108r] I know about these things [place = inline] , how would I understand what they're talking about [place = inline] , I'll never stir [place = inline] , never speak [place = inline] , they'll never go sie [place = overwritten] lent [place = inline] , never depart [place = inline] , they'll never get [place = supralinear] catch me [place = inline] , never trop trying [place = inline] , that's that [place = inline] , I'm listening. [2195.1] Well I prefer that [place = inline] , I must say I prefer that [place = inline] , that what [place = inline] , oh you know [place = inline] , [place = supralinear] who you, oh I suppose the audience well well [place = inline] , so there's an audience [place = inline] , it's a public show [place = inline] , you buy your seat and you wait [place = inline] , perhaps it's free [place = inline] , a freeshow free show [place = inline] , you take your seat and wait for it to begin [place = inline] , or perhaps it's compulsory [place = inline] , a compulsory show [place = inline] , you wait for the compulsory show to begin [place = inline] ,it takes some time [place = inline] , you hear a voie [place = overwritten] ce [place = inline] , perhaps it's a recitation [place = inline] , that's the show [place = inline] , someone reciting [place = inline] , selected passages [place = inline] , old favourites [place = inline] , a poetry matinée, or someone improvising [place = inline] , you can barely hear him [place = inline] , that's the show [place = inline] , [2195.2] you can't leave [place = inline] , you're afraid to leave [place = inline] , it might be even worse elsewhere [place = inline] , you pull [place = supralinear] make yourself together [place = inline] , [place = supralinear] the best of it, [place = supralinear] you reason with yourself, [place = supralinear] try and be reasonable, you came too early [place = inline] , here we'd need latin [place = inline] , it's only beginning [place = inline] , it hasn't begun [place = inline] , he's only preluding [place = inline] , clearing his throat [place = inline] , alone in his dr [place = supralinear] essing-room [place = inline] , he'll appear in a moment [place = inline] , he'll begin in a moment [place = inline] , or it's the stat [place = overwritten] ge-manager [place = inline] , giving his instructions [place = inline] , his last recommendations [place = inline] , before the curtain rises [place = inline] , that's the show [place = inline] , waiting for the show [place = inline] , to the sound of mi [place = overwritten] umu [place = supralinear] a murmur [place = inline] , you pull yourself together [place = supralinear] reason with yourself [place = supralinear] try and be reasonable [place = inline] , perhaps it's not a voice at all [place = inline] , perhaps it's the air [place = inline] , ascending [place = inline] , descending [place = inline] , flowing [place = inline] , eddying [place = inline] , seeking an exit [place = inline] , finding none [place = inline] , [2195.3] and the spectators [place = inline] , where are they [place = inline] , you don't [place = supralinear] didn't noticed [place = inline] , in the clutch [place = supralinear] anguish of waiting [place = inline] , [place = supralinear] never noticed you were waiting alone [place = inline] , that [place = inline] 's the show [place = inline] , waiting alone [place = inline] , in the restless air [place = inline] , for it to begin [place = inline] , for something to begin [place = inline] , for there to be something a [place = overwritten] else but you [place = inline] , for the power to go [place = inline] , the courage to leave [place = inline] , you pull yourself together [place = inline] , [place = supralinear] reason with your [place = supralinear] try & be reasonable, perhaps you are blind [place = inline] , probably you are deaf [place = inline] , the show is over [place = inline] , all is over [place = inline] , but where then is the hand [place = inline] , the and of friendship [place = inline] , [place = supralinear] helping [place = supralinear] hand or merely of charity [place = supralinear] charitable [place = inline] , or the hired hand [place = inline] , it's a long time col [place = overwritten] ming [place = inline] , to take yours and draw you w [place = overwritten] away [place = inline] , [place = margin bottom] that's the show, free, gratis and for nothing, waiting alone, blind and deaf, you don't know where, you don't know for what, for a hand to come, and draw you away, somewhere else [place = inline] , where[p. 109r] perhaps it's worse.

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