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

MS-HRC-SB-4-2-2

X
Segment 1

[0085] and ledger violently from table, winds tape back to be-
ginning, switches on machine, resumes pose
.)
[0086] Thirty-
seven today, sound [] as a whistle, apart
from the old trouble, and intellectually I have little doubt
at the peak of my powers, or thereabouts.
[0087] Celebrated the
awful occasion, as in recent years, quietly at the Winehouse.

X
Segment 2

[0088] No face there I knew.[0089] Sprawled in front of the fire with closed
eyes, separating the grain from the chaff.
[0090] Jotted down a
few notes, on the back of an envelope.
[0091] Good to be home
again, in my old rags.
[0097] The new light above my table is a
great improvement.
[0098] With all this darkness round me I feel
less alone.
[0099] (Pause.)[0100] In a way.[0101] (Pause.)[0102] I like to get up
and move about in it, then back here to...(hesitates)...
me.

X
Segment 3

[0105] Pause.
[0106] The grain, what do I mean by that, I mean...(Pause.) I
suppose I mean those things worth having when all the
dust has - when all my dust has settled.
[0107] I close my
eyes and try to imagine them.
[0108] Pause.

X
Segment 4

[0110] Extraordinary silence this evening. I strain my ears and
do not hear a sound.
[0111] Old Miss Hare always sings at this
hour.
[0113] Songs of her girlhood, she says.[0112]
But not tonight.
[0115] Wonderful woman.[][0116] Connaught.[0118] Shall I sing when I am her
age, if I ever am?
[0119] No. [][0121] Did I sing as a boy?[0122] No.[0124] Did
I ever sing?
[0125] No.
[0126] Pause.

X
Segment 5

[0127] I have just listened to an old year, passages at random.
[0128] I did not check in the book, but it must be at least ten
or twelve years ago.
[0129] At that time I was still living on and off
with Bianca [] in Trafalgar Street.
[0130] Well out of that.[0131] Hopeless
business.
[0133] Not much reference to her. A queer passage about
her eyes.
[0135] I suddenly saw them again.[0137] Matchless.[0138] (Pause.)
[0139] Ah well.[0140] (Pause.)

X
Segment 6

[0141] These old P.M.s are gruesome, but I -
(A switches off, broods, switches on again) - always find them
a help before embarking on a new...
(hesitates)... conspectus.
[0142] Hard to believe I was ever that
young pup.
[0143] That voice![0145] And the aspirations![0146] (Brief
laugh in which A joins
.)
[0147] And the resolutions![0148] (Brief laugh in which
A joins
.)
[0149] To drink less, in particular.[0150] (Brief laugh of A alone.)

X
Segment 7

[0151] Statistics.[0152] Seven-
teen hundred hours, out of the preceding eight thousand odd,
consumed on licensed premises alone.
[0153] Over 20%.[][0155] Plans for a less wear-
ing sexual life.
[0156] Last illness of his father.
Flagging pur-

X
Segment 8

[0157] Flagging pur-

X
Addition 1
as a whistle,
X
Addition 2
Wonderful woman.[]
X
Addition 3
Connaught.
X
Addition 4
No. []
X
Addition 5
Bianca []
X
Addition 6
And the aspirations!
X
Addition 7
And the resolutions!
X
Addition 8
(Brief laugh of A alone.)
X
Addition 9
Over 20%.[]
Transcription
  • Segments
  • Marginal Additions