Beckett, Samuel - Beckett's Dream Notebook

Between 1930 and 1932 Beckett entered almost 1200 items in a notebook which he used on the way to writing his first full-length novel, Dream of Fair to Middling Women , published posthumously in 1992. The range of references is unusually wide even for Beckett, including a life of Napoleon, studies of Chinese music and civilization, a book on astronomy, classics of religious thought and what booksellers used to call curiosa. The jottings help to explain much which has previously been considered obscure or not worthy of comment in Becketts writings before Murphy , with some items even pointing forward to En attendant Godot and the Trilogy and as late as Not I . No other notebook contains so much raw material to be used (or abused) as Beckett saw fit, and not even James Knowlsons biography brings us quite so close to the mind and creative practices of the young Beckett. Becketts "Dream" Notebook is quite an exceptional sourcebook, indispensable to anyone seeking to understand Becketts development. This is the first such notebook to be edited and annotated, permission for publication having been generously granted by the Beckett Estate. Edited, Annotated And With An Introductory Essay By John Pilling. Includes Bibliographical References.