Samuel Beckett
Digital Manuscript Project
Malone meurt / Malone Dies

Catalogue

Due to an agreement with the Estate of Samuel Beckett and the publishers of Beckett's work, the digital edition of Malone meurt / Malone Dies only contains draft versions leading up to the publication of the text (the so-called 'avant-texte'), including page proofs. It therefore excludes epigenetic material such as later annotated editions.

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MS-HRC-SB-7-2 (FN1)

'Malone meurt.' Autograph manuscript, signed, dated at the beginning, 27 November 1947; dated upon completion, 30 May 1948, 322 pp., folio. Written in various colored inks in two notebooks, the first of which contains the final sections of Watt. With autograph revisions, additions, and deletions, and a number of characteristic doodles and mathematical calculations. Both notebooks bear the original title, 'L'Absent.' The inside back covers, flyleaves, and final pages have notes in English and in French pertaining to Watt and to 'L'Absent.' On the cover of the second notebook Beckett has written: 'L'Absent - Original title of Malone meurt. Part I in Watt VI [sic] Notebook. Samuel Beckett. This concludes original MS.' This manuscript, like the one for Molloy, is dated at regular intervals throughout - with less frequency, however. On page 89v Beckett appears to have shifted from black to red ink. The text in the first part of FN2 (MS-HRC-SB-7-4) continues in this red ink. Beckett retraced (parts of) sentences at several instances in this notebook.

Lake, Carlton, ed. (1984), No Symbols Where None Intended: A Catalogue of Books, Manuscripts and Other Material Relating to Samuel Beckett in the Collections of the Humanities Research Center (Austin: Humanities Research Center), pp. 57 item 98

Abbreviated in the Manuscript Chronology as FN1

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MS-HRC-SB-7-4 (FN2)

'Malone meurt.' Autograph manuscript, signed, dated at the beginning, 27 November 1947; dated upon completion, 30 May 1948, 322 pp., folio. Written in various colored inks in two notebooks, the first of which contains the final sections of Watt. With autograph revisions, additions, and deletions, and a number of characteristic doodles and mathematical calculations. Both notebooks bear the original title, 'L'Absent.' The inside back covers, flyleaves, and final pages have notes in English and in French pertaining to Watt and to 'L'Absent.' On the cover of the second notebook Beckett has written: 'L'Absent - Original title of Malone meurt. Part I in Watt VI [sic] Notebook. Samuel Beckett. This concludes original MS.' This manuscript, like the one for Molloy, is dated at regular intervals throughout - with less frequency, however. Beckett retraced (parts of) sentences at several instances in this notebook.

Lake, Carlton, ed. (1984), No Symbols Where None Intended: A Catalogue of Books, Manuscripts and Other Material Relating to Samuel Beckett in the Collections of the Humanities Research Center (Austin: Humanities Research Center), pp. 57 item 98

Abbreviated in the Manuscript Chronology as FN2

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MS-HRC-SB-NRL-CC (NRL-CC)

'Malone s'en conte.' In 84: Nouvelle Revue Littéraire, No. 16 (December 1950). Paris: Les Editions de Minuit. 8vo, original wrappers, uncut. Beckett has signed the extract below the title. The text has a few manuscript corrections.

Lake, Carlton, ed. (1984), No Symbols Where None Intended: A Catalogue of Books, Manuscripts and Other Material Relating to Samuel Beckett in the Collections of the Humanities Research Center (Austin: Humanities Research Center), pp. 57 item 99

Abbreviated in the Manuscript Chronology as NRL-CC

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MS-TCD-4662 (EM)

Soft-covered 'l'Aigle' exercise book with black spine, stitched. The covers have a woven design and an illustration of an eagle. Folios ruled in small rectangles with a left hand margin in red. Pages removed from between fols 5 and 6 and fols 13 and 14 without obvious loss of text. The volume has been conserved. 217 x 172mm, i-iii, 30 fols, ms. The accompanying card, (MS 4661/ii) in Beckett's hand, identifies the contents of this notebook as 'abandoned theatre', 'abandoned prose', 'Fragment of translation of Malone meurt' and 'Epistolary scraps'. The front and back covers of the notebook contain jotted phrases from the English translation of Molloy.

Maxwell, Jane, (2006), 'The Samuel Beckett Manuscripts at Trinity College Library Dublin'. Samuel Beckett Today / Aujourd'hui 16, p. 184.

Abbreviated in the Manuscript Chronology as EM.

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MS-WU-MSS008-2-47 (ET1)

MALONE DIES / by / SAMUEL BECKETT / Translated from the original French by the author. (I shall be quite dead at last in spite of all.) T.ms., 159 p. (blue ribbon). 160 sheets typing paper comprising title page, [1], 2-159. 27 x 21 cm. Typescript used for the Grove Press edition. Correction of typos and occasional changes of wording (black pen). Initial and final pages badly frayed. Printers marks (pencil).

Admussen, Richard L. (1979), The Samuel Beckett Manuscripts: A Study (Boston: G. K. Hall), p. 65.

Abbreviated in the Manuscript Chronology as ET1.

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MS-HRC-SB-4-3 (ET2)

'Malone Dies.' Carbon copy of typed manuscript, signed, with autograph emendations throughout, 159 pp., 4to. Title written out, in Beckett's hand: 'Malone Dies / By / Samuel Beckett / Translated from the original French by the author.' An autograph note beneath Beckett's signature reads: 'corrections in / my hand'; another one, below the title: 'published by Grove Press, / N.Y. 1956.'

Lake, Carlton, ed. (1984), No Symbols Where None Intended: A Catalogue of Books, Manuscripts and Other Material Relating to Samuel Beckett in the Collections of the Humanities Research Center (Austin: Humanities Research Center), pp. 58 item 103

Abbreviated in the Manuscript Chronology as ET2.

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MS-UoR-1227-7-11-1 (ET3)

Carbon typescript with manuscript corrections by Samuel Beckett of Malone Dies, his translation of Malone meurt into English: undated. 27 x 21 cm. 160 leaves. In portfolio. Inscribed 'for Reading University Library, Sam. Beckett' on title page. 'Translated from the original French by the author' typed under the title on this page. Given to James Knowlson by Samuel Beckett, Paris, 19 April 1973. Corrected by Beckett in blue / black ink. Paginated in full sequence, all typed, two altered in ink. The adjustments Beckett makes are primarily to single words. The lengthiest manuscript addition is found on f. 119, detailing the first intimacy of Macmann and Moll. The absence of explicit directions to the printer suggests that this is not the copy submitted to press.

Bryden, Mary, Julian Garforth and Peter Mills (1998), Beckett at Reading: Catalogue of the Beckett Manuscript Collection at the University of Reading (Reading: Whiteknights Press and the Beckett International Foundation), p. 153

Abbreviated in the Manuscript Chronology as ET3.