BIB_ID
414024
Accession number
MA 9771.1
Creator
Brian, Denis.
Display Date
West Palm Beach, Florida, 1982 February 8.
Credit line
Gift of Sean and Mary Kelly, 2018.
Description
1 item (1 page) ; 27.9 x 21.6 cm
Notes
This item is either carbon copy of Brian's original letter to Beckett, which he later annotated by reinserting as a carbon into the same tyepwriter, or it is a carbon copy of a typed copy of Brian's original letter.
Accompanying Samuel Beckett's response to Brian, dated 17 February 1982, in which Beckett says that the story is true. Beckett's response has been cataloged separately as MA 9771.
Accompanying Samuel Beckett's response to Brian, dated 17 February 1982, in which Beckett says that the story is true. Beckett's response has been cataloged separately as MA 9771.
Provenance
The Sean and Mary Kelly Collection; gift of Sean and Mary Kelly, 2018.
Summary
Saying he is writing a novel in which some of the characters discuss James Joyce, and asking whether it is true that while Beckett was taking dictation (for Finnegans Wake) Joyce invited someone knocking on the door to "come in," that Beckett recorded "come in" in the dictation, and that Joyce retained this in the text. The text of the letter is preceded by a note (also part of the carbon): "This copy of my letter to Samuel Beckett explains his reply."
Catalog link
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