Samuel Beckett
Digital Manuscript Project
L'Innommable / The Unnamable

MS-HRC-SB-5-9-1

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Segment 1

[0030] seem to be, if in my situation one may
speak of facts, 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.
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Segment 2

[0034] I shall not be alone, in the beginning.
[0035] I am of course alone.[0036] Alone.[0037] That is an
easy thing to say.
[0038] Things have to be easy to
say.
[0039] And how can one be sure, in such
darkness?

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Segment 3

[0040] I shall have company.[0041] In the
beginning.
[0042] A few puppets.[0043] Then I'll scatter
them.
[0044] If I can.[0045] And things, what is the
correct attitude towards things?
[0046] And, to
begin with, are they necessary?
[0047] What a question.

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Segment 4

[0048] But I have no illusions, things are to be ex-
pected.
[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 consideration.

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Segment 5

[0051] Where there's
people, it is said, there are things.
[0052] Does
this mean that when you admit the former
you must admit the latter?
[0053]
Time will tell.

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Segment 6

[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.
I'm confident I can soon scatter them.
[0056] I
don't see how.
[0057] The best would be not to begin.

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Segment 7

[0058] But I have to begin.[0059] That is to say I have to go on.
[0060] Perhaps in the end I'll smother in a
throng.
[0061] Incessant comings and goings, the crush
and bustle of a bargain-sale.
[0062] Don't mind
me, I'm only joking.
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Segment 8

[0063] Malone is there.[0064] Of his mortal liveliness
little trace survives.
[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.
[0067] He passes, motionless.[0068] But there will not
be much on the subject from Malone, from
whom there is nothing more to be expected.

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Segment 9

[0069] Personally I do not intend to be bored.[0070] It
was while watching him pass that I wondered

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