Dr Nicholas Johnson, Associate Professor of Drama, TCD explores the Beckett Janvier collection

In this video, Dr Nicholas Johnson, Associate Professor of Drama, Trinity College Dublin, explores the Beckett Janvier collection housed in the Library.
The Janvier collection contains over 100 letters and notecards sent by Samuel Beckett (1906-1989) to his translators, Ludovic Janvier (1934 - 2016) and Agnès Vaquin-Janvier (1934 - 2017), over a period of nearly twenty years. The reading in this video is from Beckett's notecard, dated 1 November 1969 (Ref: TCD MS 11720), sent to Agnès, “Love Sam”, from Tunisia in response to a telegram. With his wife Suzanne, Beckett was in hiding following the announcement of him being awarded the Nobel Prize for literature - an event which Suzanne famously declared “a catastrophe”. In the notecard Beckett explains that he is (translated from French) “Not too badly hidden here for now… The Arabs are splendidly kind and understanding”. The notecard closes with the curious comment, “Les chameaux pleurent, le saviezvous?”, “Camels weep, did you know?”.
#samuelbeckett #NewTreasuresOfTheOldLibrary #LibraryOfTrinityCollegeDublin