Manual
This is the Manual as it was published on 24/06/2011. The document has
since been updated for the publication of the second module: L'Innommable / The
Unnamable (September 2013). Click here to go back to the
updated version.
This manual is organized according to the items in the main menu of the
first module of the Beckett Digital Manuscript Project, the electronic edition of Stirrings Still / Soubresauts. Some of the functions of the menu are
also accessible via quicklinks on the right hand side. The quicklinks remain directly
accessible whenever you scroll down.

1. Documents
In the menu, the heading 'documents' contains the following options:
- a catalogue: a survey (and short description) of the documents (each MS number is clickable and linked to the corresponding transcript);
- a pageflip reconstruction of notebooks (MS 2934 for Stirrings Still / Soubresauts and MS 3316/1 for Comment dire / what is the word).
- facsimiles: scanned images of the documents;
- topographic transcriptions: a graphic representation of the documents (respecting the layout of the pages);
- linear transcriptions: a textual representation of the documents (always linked to the relevant facsimile by means of a thumbnail).
2. Chronology
The intricate composition process of Stirrings Still /
Soubresauts is charted in a genetic map. The transcriptions of the documents can
be accessed by clicking on the corresponding archive numbers. Although the catalogue
numbers reflect the chronology of versions,[1] some documents
(notably the 'Super Conquérant' Notebook, UoR MS 2934) contain more than one
version of a particular passage. The versions in this document are not successive, since
Beckett made alternate use of this notebook and loose sheets of paper. In the case of
Beckett's penultimate text, the writing of the three sections that eventually became
Stirrings Still (sections 1, 2, and 3) was preceded by three abandoned
sections. To distinguish them, the abandoned sections are identified by a zero preceding
the number ('before Stirrings Still', sections 01, 02, and 03).
3. Compare versions
The versions of those parts of the genesis that made it into the base
text can be arranged in chronological order and compared in three different sizes, as
the example of Stirrings Still illustrates: Large (the section); Medium (the
paragraph); Small (the sentence).
3.1. Sentences/Segments (Small)
All the versions of each sentence or segment can be presented in
vertical juxtaposition, starting from any version of the text: each sentence or
segment that made it into the base text is preceded by an icon (a grey bullet); by
clicking on the icon preceding a particular sentence or segment its composition
history can be viewed in vertical juxtaposition. If a document only contains
sentences that did not make it into the base text, this is made explicit at the top
of the page.

Every version is preceded by two buttons. Two versions can be
compared in parallel presentation by means of the buttons corresponding to the texts
of your choice: the left-hand button will place the corresponding text in a
left-hand frame, the right-hand button in the right-hand frame.
By choosing e.g. the left button next to the first version, and
the right button next to the last version the textual evolution of this one sentence
can be viewed at a glance by clicking on the 'parallel version comparison' button at
the bottom of the page (which will show both versions in parallel presentation).
3.2. Paragraphs (Medium)
For the synoptic paragraph view, a similar procedure can be
followed, starting from any version of the text: each paragraph is preceded by
an icon (a grey bullet); by clicking on the icon preceding a particular
paragraph, its complete composition history can be viewed.
4. Language
This option facilitates examination of either
(a) all French drafts or
(b) all English drafts exclusively. Some French versions are originally written in French, whereas others are translations.
(c) Early translations can be visualized separately, facing the version on which they are based (in parallel presentation).
(d) Bilingual comparison: this option highlights mismatches between the English and French versions. Translation variants are marked in blue. The absence of a word or phrase vis-à-vis the text in the other language is visualized by means of a vertical bar |.
(a) all French drafts or
(b) all English drafts exclusively. Some French versions are originally written in French, whereas others are translations.
(c) Early translations can be visualized separately, facing the version on which they are based (in parallel presentation).
(d) Bilingual comparison: this option highlights mismatches between the English and French versions. Translation variants are marked in blue. The absence of a word or phrase vis-à-vis the text in the other language is visualized by means of a vertical bar |.
5. Tools
The 'Tools' section in the main menu presents four different
visualizations of the internal composition history of each document:
5.1. Default transcription
This default visualization indicates cancellations with
strike-through; additions in superscript; additions on the facing leaf in
green.
5.2. Place indications
This more detailed visualization explicitly mentions the
place of an addition (e.g. place = supralinear, when a word is added above
the line).
5.5. Metamarks On/Off
The manuscript pages contain a number of features that are
not part of the text itself. These so-called metamarks are introduced by the
author to indicate how the text will have to be pieced together when it is
copied in the next version. For instance, two corresponding instances of the
letter 'A' indicate where an addition is to be inserted.
6. Search
The search engine offers full-text searches of all the
transcriptions and notes. The results appear within the context of the sentence in
which the search string was found, with the search string highlighted. Searches can
also be finetuned to include only occurrences within the two most prominent features
of manuscripts: additions and deletions. The search engine makes use of the eXist
XML retrieval engine (http://exist.sourceforge.net/).
As an extra, a number of potentially interesting searches are
suggested, such as 'intertextual references', 'instant corrections', or
'transpositions'. They can be run by selecting them from the dropdown menu under
'Suggested searches'. The search for 'Intertextual references', for instance, calls
up allusions to passages by such authors as Shakespeare and Dante (and corresponding
annotations).
7. Stable URL's for documents
The Beckett Digital Manuscript Project has at its essence a
collection of facsimiles and transcriptions of existing physical documents that can
be found in archives. They have been digitized and named on the basis of their
catalogue numbers. Every such document has a stable and unique URL that you can use
in quotations or bibliographies, as well as type in directly in your browser to
access that document.
http://www.beckettarchive.org/MS-UoR-2934is the stable URL for the 'Super Conquérant' notebook, which was catalogued in the University of Reading as number '2934'. This webaddress leads to a facsimile of the first available page from that document.
http://www.beckettarchive.org/MS-UoR-2934,10vis the stable URL for the page that we have numbered as 10v in the document MS-UoR-2934.
Habitual visitors of Beckett archives can also try typing in just
the catalogue numbers without any prefix. The site will cross-reference this string
against the available documents, and redirect the user if it finds a match.
© 2025 Samuel Beckett Digital Manuscript Project
Directors: Dirk Van Hulle and Mark Nixon | Technical realisation: Vincent
Neyt