The Making of Samuel Beckett's 'Krapp's Last Tape'/'La derniere bande'

Description

First performed at the Royal Court Theatre in 1958, Krapp's Last Tape has since become widely celebrated as one of Samuel Beckett's most important and powerful plays. The Making of Samuel Beckett's 'La derniere bande'/'Krapp's Last Tape' is a comprehensive reference guide to the history of the text. The book includes: - A complete descriptive catalogue of available relevant manuscripts, including French and English texts, alternative drafts and notebook pages - A critical reconstruction of the history of the history of the text, from its genesis through the process of composition to its full publication history - A detailed guide to exploring the manuscripts online at the Beckett Digital Manuscripts Project at www.beckettarchive.org This volume is part of the Beckett Digital Manuscript Project (BDMP), a collaboration between the Centre for Manuscript Genetics (University of Antwerp, Belgium), the Beckett International Foundation (University of Reading, UK) and the Harry Ransom Humanities Research Centre (University of Texas at Austin, USA), with the support of the Estate of Samuel Beckett.

Dirk Van Hulle is Associate Professor of English Literature at the Centre for Manuscript Genetics, University of Antwerp, Belgium. He is President of the European Society for Textual Scholarship and his previous books include Textual Awareness (2004).

The volume supplies useful tools for aiding comprehension, such as a list of abbreviations, a generous and clarifying introduction, an index, and many illustrations of Beckett's handwritten drafts, annotations, inspirations, and more. Highly academic and focused, this book nonetheless provides fascinating access to the various versions of Beckett's story of a man looking back on his own various "versions. * American Reference Books Annual *