IRISH LAUNCH OF VOLUME TWO OF SAMUEL BECKETT’S LETTERS

On Friday 2 December 2011 at 6 p.m. in The Long Room Hub, the French Department, Trinity College Dublin, held the Irish launch of volume 2 of Samuel Beckett’s letters.

The Letters of Samuel Beckett 1941-1956 (Cambridge, CUP, 2011), was edited by George Craig, University of Sussex; Martha Dow Fehsenfeld, Emory University, Atlanta; Dan Gunn, The American University of Paris, France; Lois More Overbeck, Emory University, Atlanta. Quite apart from the fact that Beckett’s sustained connections with Trinity, made during his student years here, so regularly punctuate the volume (as the first volume of his letters, 2010), the decision to host the Irish launch was inspired primarily by the French Department’s wish to give publicity to this highly significant publication which will throw important new light on Beckett’s work, notably those written in French, the primary language in which he writes during the post-war period.

Two of the editors, George Craig and Daniel Gunn, were in attendance, and they read from the letters at the launch. Other speakers included the editor of the Irish Times, Mr Kevin O’Sullivan; Monsieur Hadrien Laroche, cultural attaché of the French Embassy; Emeritus Professor Barbara Wright (TCD); Ms Linda Bree, Commissioning Editor at Cambridge University Press; and the organiser, Dr Sarah Alyn Stacey of Trinity’s French Department. Apart from Trinity staff and students, guests included actor Barry McGovern; Professor Claude Rawson of Yale University; representatives of the various Embassies; members of the public who participate in the French Department’s Outreach Programme.

The following day, on Saturday 3 December, a seminar on the translation of Beckett’s letters was given by Dan Gunn and George Craig (with the participation of Dr Sandrine Brisset of TCD). This gave undergraduates, post-graduates (mainly those studying French or those enrolled on the MPhil in Translation Studies), members of staff and the public, the opportunity to discuss the complex process of translation  evident in the volume.

These two events were most graciously sponsored and made possible by The Irish Times, the French Embassy and Dunne and Crescenzi.

Click here for Irish Times report on the event