Samuel Beckett
Digital Manuscript Project
Malone meurt / Malone Dies

MS-HRC-SB-4-3

X
Segment 1

[1689] holding in my hand a stone, a horse chestnut of a fir-apple
or a cone, and I would be still holding it when I woke, my
fingers closed over it, in spite of sleep which makes a rag of the
body, so that it may rest.
[1690] And those of which I ea [place = overwritten] wearied, or which
were ousted by new loves, I threw awau [place = overwritten] y, that is to say I cast
round for a place to lay them where they would be at peace for-
ever, and no on [place = margin left] e ever find them short of an extraordinary hazard,
and such places are few and far between, and I laid them there.

X
Segment 2

[1691] Or I buried them, or threw them into the sea, with all my strength
as far as possible from the land, those I knew for certain would
not float, even briefly.
[1692] But many a wooden friend too I have sent
to the bottom, weighted with a stone.
[1693] Until I realized that was
wrong of me.
[1694] For when the string is rotted they will rise to
the surface, if they have not already done so, and return to the
land, sooner or later.
[1695] In this was [place = margin left] y I disposed of things I loved
but could no longer keep, because of new loves.

X
Segment 3

[1696] And ofe [place = overwritten] ten I
missed them.
[1697] But I had hidden them so well that even I could
never find them again.
[1698] That's the style, as if I still had time
to kill.
[1699] And so I have, deep down I know it well. [1700] Then why play
at being in a hurry?
[1701] I don't know.

X
Segment 4

[1702] Perhaps I am in a hurry after
all,
[1703] it was the impression I had a short time ago. [1704] But my im-
pressions.
[1705] And what after all if I were not so anxious as I make
out to recall to mind all that is left to me of all I ever had? [place = margin left] had, a good dozen objects at least to put it mildly?

[1706] No no, I must? [place = margin left] . [1707] Then it's something else. [1708] Where were we? [1709] My bowl.
[1710] So I never got rid of it. [1711] I used it as a receptacle, I kept
things in it, I wonder what I could have kept in it, so small

X
Addition 1
e
X
Addition 2
y
X
Addition 3
had, a good dozen objects at least to put it mildly?
X
Addition 4
.
Transcription
  • Segments
  • Marginal Additions