Browse Items (9012 total)

In this letter to Henry Wenning, Beckett conveys a lack of enthusiasm for the task of translating the play Happy Days: “Nothing but this dreary work and nothing else in sight.”

English and French on opposite pages. Both the orignal English text and the French translation are by author Samuel Beckett.

The French title, Oh les beaux jours was not yet present in this typescript draft. Beckett added the title shortly before publication. He claims that it is a paraphrase of a line in Paul Verlaine’s poem “Colloque sentimental.”

English and French on opposite pages. Both the orignal English text and the French translation are by author Samuel Beckett.

This typescript's corrections offer insight into the evolution of the play's language.

This autograph draft of Beckett's French translation of Play stops short of the conclusion of the original English version.

These corrected tearsheets are taken from the French translation’s first appearance in the periodical Les Lettres Nouvelles.

This corrected typescript includes a hand-drawn diagram illustrating the characters' movements.

This corrected typescript includes a color-coded diagram illustrating the positions of the characters' arms when they join hands.

Includes photographs which illustrate the play's complicated stage directions.