Samuel Beckett
Digital Manuscript Project
Krapp's Last Tape / La Dernière Bande

MS-HRC-SB-4-2-1

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Segment 1

[0086] Thirty-seven today, sound apparently in wind (he he rimes this word with mind) and limb,
apart from my old trouble, and intellectually I have
little doubt at the peak of my powers, or thereabouts.
[0087] Celebrated the solemn dreadful occasion, as in recent years, quietly
at the Winehouse.
[0088] No one face there I knew.[0089] Sat before the fire
with closed eyes separating the grain from the chaff.

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Segment 2

[0090] Jotted
down a few notes, on the back of an envelope.
[0091] It is good to
be home again, in my old things rags.
[0097] The new light over above my desk table
is a great improvement.
[0098] With all this darkness round me I feel
am less alone.
[0099] (Pause.)[0100] In a way.[0101] (Paeuse.)[0102] I like to get up
and move about in it, then back here to...(hesitates)...
myself.
[0105] Pause.

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Segment 3

[0106] The grain, what dio I mean by that, I mean...(Pause.) I
suppose I mean those things worth having when all the dust
has - when all this dust has settled.
[0107] I close my eyes and
try and imagine them.
[0108] Pause.

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Segment 4

[0110] Extraordinary silence this evening. I strain my ears and
do not hear a sound.
[0111] Old Miss Williams Beamish always sings at this
hour.
[0113] []The songs of her girlhood, she says.[][] [0112] But not tonight.[0115] I admire her.[][0112|001] I hope nothing Please Heavens nothing has happened to her.
[0118] Shall I sing when I am her age?[0119] Goodness [] if I ever am. Unlikely.[0121] Did I sing
as a boy?
[0122] No.[0124] Did I ever sing?[0125] No.
[0126] Pause.

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Segment 5

[0127] I have just listened to an old year., []passages at random.[0128] I did not check up
in the register book, but it must be at least ten or twelve or fifteen years
ago.
[0129] At that time I was living on and off with Celia Furry in
Street.
[0131] Hopeless business.[Insert][] [0141] I must say I - (A switches off machine, broods
at length, switches on again
.) - find this a great help before
embarking on a new...er....review conspectus.
[0142] I find it hard It is hard to believe
that young man was I.
[0143] Even tThe voice is unfamiliar not mine..[0145] Aspirat-
ions,.

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Segment 6

[0147] rResolutions.[0149] To drink less, in particular.[0151] He speaks of Statistics.
[0152] sSeventeen hundred hours, out of the preceding 8eight thousand
odd, consumed on licensed premises alone.
[0155] Plans for a fuller less aspiring less exhausting
sexual life.
[0156] Last illness of his father.[0157] []Pursuit of happiness.[0157] Flagging spasmodic pursuit of happiness.[0163] References to his
life's work magnum opus
[] .
[0163] Shadow of the magnum opus.[0164] Closing with a - (brief laugh) - an appeal to a plea squeal
Providence.
[0165] (Prolonged laugh.)[0166] What remains of all that
lumber misery?
[0167] A girl in a shabby green dress coat, on a railway-
station platform?

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Segment 7

[0169] Pause.
[0170] When I look -[0171] (A siwwitches off machine, broods, consults looks at watch, gets up and
goes backstage into shadows.
[0172] Pause of ten seconds. [0173] Sound of
cork popping.
[0174] Ten seconds. [0175] Second cork. [0176] Ten seconds. [0177] Third
cork? Te cork.
[0178] Ten seconds. [0179] Sudden brief burst of song
(Brief burst of raucous song.)
[0183] He comes back into light from an
unexpected angle, say front right , sits down, resumes his
pose, switches on machine
.)
- back on the year that is gone,

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Segment 8

[0184] - back on the year that is gone,

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Addition 1
Typescript I of Krapp's Last Tape 3.58.
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Addition 2
[0083] (strong young voice, but unmistakeably A's. Rather pompous.)
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Addition 3
The songs of her girlhood, she says.[][]
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Addition 4
I admire her.
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Addition 5
Hopeless business.[Insert][]
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Addition 6
less exhausting
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Addition 7
Pursuit of happiness.
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Addition 8
Shadow of the magnum opus.
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Addition 9
Sudden brief burst of song
(Brief burst of raucous song.)
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Date 1
3.58.
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Doodle 1
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Doodle 2
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Doodle 3
Transcription
  • Segments
  • Marginal Additions
  • Dates
  • Doodles