Klarinet Archive - Posting 000284.txt from 1996/04

From: "Scott D. Morrow" <SDM@-----.EDU>
Subj: Re: Beckett interpreters
Date: Wed, 10 Apr 1996 20:20:50 -0400

>Marie McDonough wrote:
>[...]
>>until he died, Samuel Beckett, the
>>author of "Waiting for Godot" and many other plays, went around the world,
>>observing rehearsals of his works and threatening lawsuits against directors
> who
>>deviated too far from what he perceived to be the *right* way to stage his
>>plays. Some creators would rather see their works die than see them
> transformed
>>in any significant way.
>
>This is an interesting case, since Beckett was so very insistent on
>adherence to his script and directions. I remember being told that Beckett
>chose to write several of his plays in French even though he was Irish
>because he felt he was less likely to write something in French which would
>be very subtle and fully understandable only to a native speaker as he could
>do, perhaps inadvertently, in English. He wanted everything perfectly clear
>(which perhaps my posting here isn't).
>
>Cheers,
> Steve

But then he went and personally TRANSLATED them back into English!
(He was an expatriate in France and hated Ireland).
I know this is WAY off the original topic. I think, though, that
this example is taking a very extreme case to counter the point!

-Scott

Scott D. Morrow
Department of Biochemistry
School of Hygiene and Public Health
Johns Hopkins University
(410)-955-3631

SDM@-----.edu