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

MS-SYR-GP-95

Segment 1

[0184] –back on the year that is gone, with what
I hope is perhaps a glint of the old eye to
come, there is of course the house on the
canal where mother lay a-dying, in the
late autumn, after her long viduity (Krapp
gives a start), and the–

Segment 2

[0185] (Krapp switches
off, winds back tape a little, bends his ear
closer to machine, switches on)[0186]–a-dying,
after her long viduity, and the–

Segment 3

[0187] Krapp switches off, raises his head, stares
blankly before him.[0188] His lips move in the
syllables of "viduity."[0189] No sound.[0190] He gets
up, goes backstage into darkness, comes
back with an enormous dictionary, lays it
on table, sits down and looks up the word.

Segment 4

[0191] (reading from dictionary).[0192] State–or
condition of being–or remaining–a widow
–or widower.[0193] (Looks up.[0194] Puzzled.)[0195] Being
–or remaining? ... [0196] (Pause.[0197] He peers again
at dictionary.[0198] Reading.)

Segment 5

[0199] "Deep weeds of
viduity" ... [0200] Also of an animal, especially
a bird ... the vidua or weaver-bird ...
[0201] Black plumage of male ... [0202] (He looks up.
[0203] With relish.)[0204] The vidua-bird!

Transcription

Segments
- Segment 1
- Segment 2
- Segment 3
- Segment 4
- Segment 5

Krapp's Last Tape / La Dernière Bande © 2015 Samuel Beckett Digital Manuscript Project.
Editors: Dirk Van Hulle and Vincent Neyt