Samuel Beckett
Digital Manuscript Project
Not I / Pas moi

MS-HRC-SB-5-4

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Segment 1

[0023] ... yes ... all the time the buzzing ... so-called!...
all that together ... imagine! ... whole body like
gone ...
[0024] just the mouth ... lips ... cheeks ...
jaws ... never - ... what? ... tongue? ... yes
... lips ... cheeks ... jaws ... tongue ... never
still a second ... mouth on fire ... stream of words
... in her ear ... practically in her ear ... not

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Segment 2

[0024] catching the half ... not the quarter ... no idea
what she's saying ... imagine! ... no idea what
she's saying! ... and can't stop ... no stopping
it ... she who but a moment before ... a moment!
... she couldn't make a sound ... no sound of any
kind ... now can't stop ... imagine! ... can't stop
the stream ...
[0025] the whole brain begging ... some-
thing begging in the brain ... begging the mouth to

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Segment 3

[0025] stop ... pause a moment ... if only for a moment
... and no response ... as if it hadn't heard ... or
couldn't ... couldn't pause a second ... like
maddened ... all that together ... straining to hear
... piece it together... and the brain ... raving away
on its own ... trying to make sense of it ... make
it stop ...
[0026] or in the past ... dragging up the past ...

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Segment 4

[0026] flashes from all over ... walks mostly ... walking
all her days... day after day ... a few steps then
stop dead ... stare into space ... move on a few
more ... stop and stare again ... drifting around
... day after day ... then that time she cried ...
the one time she could remember ... since she
was a baby ... must have cried as a baby ...

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Segment 5

[0026] perhaps not ... not essential to life ... just the birth
cry to get her going ... breathing ... then no more
till this ... old hag already ... where was it? ...
Croker's Acres ... one evening on the way home ...
home! ... a little mound in Croker's Acres ...
dusk ... sitting staring at her hand ... there in her
lap ... palm upward ... suddenly saw it wet ... the

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Segment 6

[0026] palm ... tears presumably ... hers presumably ...
no one else for miles ... no sound ... just the tears
... sat and watched them dry ... all over in a
second ...
[0027] or grabbing at the straw ... the brain ...
flickering away on its own ... quick grab and on ...
nothing there ... on to the next ... bad as the voice
... worse ... as little sense ... all that together

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Segment 7

[0027] ... can't - ... what? ... the buzzing? ... yes ...
all the time the buzzing ... dull roar like falls ...
and the beam ... flickering on and off ... starting
to move around ... like moonbeam but not ... all
part of the same ... keep an eye on that too ...
corner of the eve ... all that together ... can't go

Transcription
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