Corresponding with Beckett in French

Proposal for Corresponding with Beckett - A London Beckett Seminar conference - Institute of English Studies - School of Advanced Study - University of London – 1 & 2 June 2018

Title: “Corresponding with Beckett in French”

The Letters of Samuel Beckett are published in France by Gallimard, in the well-known “Collection Blanche”. I would like to compare this French version with the original one, and to show that, although the reader has the same documents at his disposal, several editorial choices contribute to give a different image of Beckett – what I might call a French or a “francized” Beckett.

Concerning mediation, the fact that The Letters of Samuel Beckett are not published in France by an university press, as it is the case in the U.K., nor by the historical editor of Samuel Beckett’s work, the Editions de Minuit, but by Gallimard, the notorious French editor, has unexpected consequences, consecrating Beckett as a more established and reputable writer, as I will show by studying the book reviews. Moreover, I will suggest that the impact of the “gallimarization” of Beckett has been emphasized by his integration to the sub-collection of “Lettres et Correspondances”, which is part of the “Collection Blanche”, and in which are edited many mail between more or less known writers, intellectuals and, sometimes, their lovers.

If we look to the translation, the main problem is that the editor, not being a university one, and targeting a wide public, decided to translate in French all the letters written in a foreign language, without reproducing the original ones. Such a choice contribute to “francized” Beckett, erasing the fact that he was always switching from one language to another, and it leads to present as similar documents letters actually written by Beckett, and letters translated by André Topia, for the first two books, and by Gérard Kahn, for the last ones. By studying some words and sentences, I will show that we have at least two French ways of speaking, the Beckett’s one, and the translated one, which does not sound exactly like the original, of course. (And it his complicated by the fact that we have two translators, whose translations are not identical.)

So, although the French edition of the letters still offers a fascinating set of information, it also contributes to integrate a little bit more Samuel Beckett to the French literary Pantheon, offering an image of the writer in which not only his “Irishness” but also his European culture is partly deleted.