Digital Manuscript ProjectKrapp's Last Tape / La Dernière Bande
About

Transcribed by: Dirk Van Hulle
Holding Library: University of Reading (MS 1659)
Abbreviated in the Manuscript Chronology as ET5
Typescript of Krapp's Last Tape with corrections and additions in Samuel Beckett's hand. Undated. 8 leaves. 28 x
21 cm. Titled, and with words '(with proof corrections)' in Beckett's hand at head
of page.
Late formative draft. Corrections made in black ink and blue-black ink and in type.
These are minor but frequent, including deletion and some exchanges of words and phrases.
The initial setting is altered from 'A late evening in the nineteen eighties' to 'A
late evening in the future', Krapp's hair is identified as grey, and the directions
rather than the actions of the opening mime are abbreviated. Some important changes
to the text in the latter stages, including the deletion of 'wire-haired fox terrier'
for 'little white dog', and the substitution of 'flags' for 'reeds' in the twice-heard
punt episode.
Beckett types 'Krapp' and 'Tape' for the first time in the adjacent left margin each
time the role of speaker changes from one to the other.
Bryden, Mary, Julian Garforth, and Peter Mills, eds. (1998), Beckett at Reading: Catalogue of the Beckett Manuscript Collection at the University
of Reading (Reading: Whiteknights Press and the Beckett International Foundation), p. 59
Krapp's Last Tape / La Dernière Bande © 2015 Samuel Beckett Digital Manuscript Project.
Editors: Dirk Van Hulle and Vincent Neyt