Samuel BECKETT.

Endgame. Corrected typescript. Undated [1956]. Typescript of 45 pages in-4 in carbon copy, including the list of characters marked "III" in Roman numerals, and 4 pp. of typed additions, with about 50 autograph corrections and additions, in black, blue, pink or red pen, on 28 pages, original envelope retained. Precious corrected typescript of Beckett's second play in French. After the success of Waiting for Godot, Fin de partie imposed the playwright on the international scene. The first draft dates back to the winter of 1954-1955, closely following the death of the author's brother. It then took several rewrites before the play was presented to the public - first in its printed version, published by Minuit in January 1957, then in a staging by Roger Blin in London in April of the same year. Close to the final version, in one act, the present typescript nevertheless contains variants. Most of the autograph corrections and additions have been integrated into the final version. Some reworkings, however, were later abandoned, notably in the stage directions preceding the first scene. In addition, the character of Hamm is still called Haam. On the back of page 8, Beckett has added about ten lines in a dialogue between Nell and Naag. Two pages marked B, add the story, told by Nagg, of the English tailor who takes six months to sew perfect pants. Page 22, a line of Clov is repeated twice, more developed here than in the final version: "My legs hurt, it's unbelievable (He stops) And my eyes. And my heart. And my stomach. And my head. Soon I won't be able to walk. Nor see. Nor breathe. Nor shit. Nor think". Two typewritten sheets, marked C, present about twenty added lines with several crossed-out sentences, not included in later versions, including a long line by Haam evoking a childhood memory: My mother. A winter's night. Christmas. Again. I'm leaving from there (A time). The tree. The old bag full of presents. The house full of holly (A beat). I had soiled my panties. Of happiness. Yes! the small of the men, that can shit of happiness (A time). My bear. The only thing a little expensive. My calm, at night. She threw it on the fire (A moment) She was getting dressed. I saw her knee (With disgust). Maybe it was another night. But it was always the same. The knee. The bear. The holly. The flames. The cold. The fear. The shame. The disgust. The rage. The pain. Hatred. The Christ who had redeemed us (A time) I always start from there, I will start from there. Then the continuation. The procession. For known versions of Fin de Partie, see S. E. Gontarki in The Intent of Undoing in Samuel Beckett's Dramatic Texts, Bloomington, 1985.