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

MS-HRC-SB-4-2-1

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Segment 1

[0184] with the old eyes to come, there is of course the house on the
canal where mother lay dying, in the early autumn, after her long
widowhood, and the
[0207] bench by the weir from where I could see her
window.

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Segment 2

[0208] I sat there, wishing she were gone.[0208|001] [0210] Quite
a number of people I got to know then, oh I mean by appearance, nursemaids
and children, old men, dogs.
[0211] One dark young beauty I remember par-
ticularly, [] all white and starch [] with a big black pram.
[0211|001] [0212] Whenever I looked in
her direction she had her eyes on me.
[0213] But when
I [] was foolish enough to speak to her she threatened to call a policeman.
[0217] The
face she had!
[0218] Eyes [0219] like...moonstones.

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Segment 3

[0223] I was there when - (He
switches off, broods, switches on again
)- the blind went down, one
of those dirty brown roller affairs, throwing a ball for a
dog as it happened [Stet.] .
[0224] I looked up and there it was.[0225] Over at last.[0226] I sat a for a moment or so with the ball in my hand and the dog barking and pawing at
me. []
[0228] []Moments ...[0228|001] (Pause.)[0229] Her moments. My moments.[0230] (Pause.)[0233] In the end I held it out to him and he took it in his mouth, very
gently.
[0234] An old tennis ball, black and sodden, but unpunctured.
[0235] ( (Pause.)[0236] I wonder ) will that ever mean anything.
[0243] Pause.

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Segment 4

[0244] Intellectually a year of profound gloom until that wonderful night in
March, at the end of the pier, in the high wind, when suddenly I
saw the whole thing.
[0245] The turning-point, at last.[][0246] This I imagine is what I have
chiefly to set down this evening, against the day when my work will
be done and perhaps no place in my memory, and no thankful-
ness, for the miracle that -[] - (Pause) - for the fire that set it alight.[]
[0247] What I saw then was that
the assumption I had been going on all , my life, namely -
[0248] (He switches off machine impatiently, winds tape forward, switches
on again
)

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Segment 5

[0249] - granite rocks the foam flying up in the light of the
beacon and the anemometer spinning like a propellor, clear to me
at last that the dark I have struggled to keep at bay
is in reality my most valuable -
[0250] (He curses, switches off, winds tape for-
ward, switches on again
)
[0251] - strange association till my dying day
of storm and night with the light of understanding and the -
[0252] (He curses louder, switches off, winds tape forward, switches on
again
)

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Segment 6

[0253] - my face in her breasts and my hand on her.[0254] We lay there
without moving.
[0255] But underneath us all moved, and moved us,
gently, up and down, and from side to side.
[0256] Pause.
[0257] Past midnight.[0258] Never knew such a silence.
[0260] Pause.
[0261] Here I end this -
[0262] He switches off, winds tape back, switches on again.

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Segment 7

[0263] - upper lake, with the punt, bathed off the bank, then pushed out
into the stream and drifted.
[0264] She lay stretched out on the floor-
boards with her hands under her head and her eyes closed.
[0265] Blazing sun,
with a bit of a breeze, and the water nice and lively.
[0266] I noticed
a scratch on her thigh and asked her how she got it.
[0267] Picking goose-
berries, she said.
[0268] I said again I thought it was hopeless and no
good going on, and she agreed, without opening her eyes.
I asked

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Segment 8

[0270] I asked

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Addition 1
all white and starch []
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Addition 2
moment
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Addition 3
[0228] []Moments ... [0228|001] (Pause.) [0229] Her moments. My moments. [0230] (Pause.) In the end
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Addition 4
[0241] Pause
[0242] Bowels better on the whole.
[0243] Pause
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Addition 5
The turning-point, at last.[]
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Addition 6
- (Pause) - for the fire that set it alight.[]
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Addition 7
my most valuable -
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Metamark 1
Metamark: Stet. Note: \'Stet.\' in the left margin.
Transcription
  • Segments
  • Marginal Additions
  • Metamarks