Krapp's Last TapeSamuel BeckettDirk Van HulleCentre for Manuscript Genetics (UA)Universiteit Antwerpen (UA)Prinsstraat 13B-2000 AntwerpenBelgiumtel: +32 (0)3 220 42 46email: dirk.vanhulle@ua.ac.beDirk Van HulleSBDMP coordinator, encoding scheme, TEI customizationVincent NeytProject architecture, encoding scheme, TEI customizationCentre for Manuscript Genetics (University of Antwerp)Antwerp
Not to be distributed outside the project
Abbreviated in the Manuscript Chronology as ET3
'Krapp's Last Tape'. Typed manuscript, signed, March 1958, 9 pp., 4to. 'Typescript III', so described in Beckett's hand at the top of the first page. With many autograph emendations and additions, a few doodles, and one mathematical calculation on the verso of the last page. The title now takes its published form and has been typed in (apparently later) at the beginning of the text. Beckett has added a few more details concerning the setting: e;g., 'April 1986' has been changed to 'a late evening in the nineteen eighties'. Inscribed, in blue ink, on the last page: 'for Jake Schwartz / Sam. Beckett / March 1958'.
Lake, Carlton, ed. (1984), No Symbols Where None Intended: A Catalogue of Books, Manuscripts and Other Material Relating to Samuel Beckett in the Collections of the Humanities Research Center (Austin: Humanities Research Center), p. 106
Front centre, sitting facing front on an armless wooden chair at a narrow wooden table the two drawers of which open towaards audience.Krapp. a little wearish old man: Krapp.Little wearish old man.April 1986. A late enveningeveningin 1985in⁁in the nineteen eighties.Krapp's sanctum. room. den.K. is discovered front centre. Krapp, a little wearish old man, is discovered front centre.Front centre a small wooden table the two drawers of which open towards audience.Sitting at the table, facing front, an old man: Krapp.
Rusty black narrow trousers too short for him.Rusty black sleeveless waistcoat, four capacious pockets.Heavy silver watch and chain.Grimy white shirt open at nexck, no collar.Surprising pair of dirty white boots, size ten, very narrow and pointed.
At centre of table a tape-recorder.,with microphone. On its right a number of cardboard boxes containing recorded tapes.ToOn its left a thick worn ledger.
Table and immediately adjacent area in strong white light.Rest of stage in darkness.
Krapp sitsremains a moment motionless, then looks at his watch, feelsfumbles in his waistcoat pockets, takes out an envelope, puts it back, feelsfumbles, takes out a small bunch of keys, raises them to½tohis eyes, choseschooses a key, gets up and moves to front of table.He stoops, unlocks a drawer, peers into it, feels about inside,it,takes out a reel, peers at it, puts it back,locks it ag closes and locks itdrawer, unlocks the other, peers inside, into it, feels about inside, takes out a large banana, ⁁holds it up high between finger & thumb closes and locks drawer, puts keys back in his pocket.He turns, advances to edge of stage, halts, ⁁caresses banana, peels banana⁁it, drops the skin a skin, puts the end of the banana in his mouth and remains a moment motionless, staring vacuously before him.⁁HeFinally he bites off the end,turns aside and begins pacing up and down at edge of stage, in light, i.'e. not more than four or five paces either way, eating banana and meditatingmeditatively.He treads on skin, slips, nearly falls, erecovers himself, pushes skin with his stoops and peers at skin and finally pushes it, still stooping, with his foot over the edge of stage into pit.He resumes his pacing, finishes the banana, returns to table, sits down, remains a moment motionless, takes keys from his pocket, raises them to his eyes, choseschooses key, unlocks wrgets up, moves to front of table, as before with both drawers, takes out a second banana, holds it up high between finger and thumb closes and locks drawers, puts keys back in his pocket, turns and advances to edge of stage, halts, caresses banana peels it,banana, puts skin in his pocket, puts end of banana in his mouth and remains motionless, staring vacuously before him,.⁁the edge now off his appetitex He has an idea, drops banana at his feet, turns and goes backstage into darkness.Ten seconds.Loud pop of cork.TenFifteen seconds.He comes back into light carrying an old ledger and sits down at table.HeHe lays ledger on table, wipes his mouth, wipes his hands on his waistcoat, brings them smartly together and rubs them.
Krapp
(briskly).Ah!(He bends over ledger, turns the pages, finds the entry he wants, reads.)Box...thrree...spool...five.((dHe raises his head and stares front.With relish.))Spool!(Pause.)2Spooool!((Pause. He stoops to table, starts peering and poking at the boxes.))Box...thrree...thrree...four...two...(with surprise)...nine! Good God! ...seven...ah! ... the little rascal!(Heseparatesholds the biox three from othersup high between finger & thumb.)Box thrree.(He lays it on the table opens it, peers at the spools inside.)Spool...(he peers at ledger, finds entry)...five. (He peers at spools.) Five...five...ah! the little soundrelscoundrel)!(He takes out a spool, straihghtens up, holds it up spoolhigh between finger and thumb.)Spool five.(He lays it on table, closes box three, puts it back with the others. He takes up spool.)Box thrree, spool five.((He bends over machine, puts spool on it,loads tape on machine,rubs his hands.))Ah!Now!(Heetcpeers at ledger. Reading entry at foot of page.)Mother at rest at last...The black ball...((He raises his head., stares frontPuzzled.))Black ball?((Pause. He peers again at ledger, reads.))The dark nurse.(He raises his head, broods, peers again at ledger.)Improvement in bowel condition...Memorable...what?(He peers closer.)Equinox, memorable equinox.((He raises his head, stares front. Puzzled.))Memorable equinox?((Pause. He shrugs his shioulders, peers again at ledger.))(Farewell to - (he turns the page) - love.
He raises his head, broods, bends over machine, switches it on and assumes listening posture, i.e. leaning forward, elbows on table, hands cupping ear towards machine, face front.
Tape
(strong young voice, rather pompous, obviously Krapp's ata much earlier time.)This day, being in the third - (Settling himself more comfotably comfortably he knocks a box off the he curses, switches off machine, sweeps boxedboxes and ledger violently off the table, winds tape back to beginning, switches on machine.)Thirty-seven today, sound as a -(Settling himself more comfortably he knocks one of the boxes foff the table.,He curses, switches off machine, sweeps boxes and ledgerfrom table violently ½from table, winds tape back to beginning, xswitches on machine, resumes pose.)Thirty-seven today, sound as a -a...(hesitates)...whistle, apart from my old trouble, and intellectually I have little dounow every reason to believesuspect at the½the...(hesitates)...peakapogeecrest of my powers - or thereabouts.Celebrated the awful occasion, as in recent years, quietly at the Winehouse.NoNot o face there I knewNot a soul.Sat before the fire with closed eyes, separating the grain from the chaff.Jotted down a few notenotes, on the back of an envelope.Good to be back home againagain in my den, in my old rags.Have just eaten An insertion mark before "eaten" has been deleted.I am ashamed to sayregret to say three bananas and only with an effortgreat difficulty refrained from a fourth.⁁I really must really eschew themcut them out!Worst possible Fatal things for a man with my condition.Cut them out.(Pause.)The new light above my table is a great improveme,nt.With all this darkness round me I feel less alone.(Pause.)In a way.(Pause.)I like to get up and move about in it, then back here to...(hesitates)...me.
Pause.
The grain, what do I mean by that, I mean...(pausehesitates)...I suppose I mean those things worth having when all the dust has - when all my dust has settled.I close my eyes and try and imagine them.
Pause.Long pause
Spooool!(Pause.)((Pause. He stoops to table, begins peering and poking at the boxes.))Box...thrree...thrree...four...two...(with surprise)...nine! Jesus!...seven...ah!...the little rascal!(He takes out a spool, straightens up, holds up spool between finger and thumb.)Spool five.(He lays it on table, closes box three, puts itThe sentence is interrupted and the whole passage on page 2v is cancelled with a St Andrew\'s cross in blue ink.
Hardly anyone about in those days.
3
Extraordinary silence this evening. I strain my ears and do not hear a sound.Old Miss HareScovellMcGloneMcGlone always sings at this hour.↑ But nonot tonightSongs of her girlhood, she says.Hard to think of her as a girl.Wonderful woman. Connaught.But not tonight. Wonderful woman ⁁though.Connaught I fancy. ⁁Born, bred and bewildered.⁁(Pause.)Shall I sing when I am her age, if I ever am?No.Did I sing as a boy?No.Did I ever sing?No.
Pause.
I have just listened to an old year, passages at random.I did not check in the book, but it must be at least ten or twelve years ago.At that time I think UI was still living on and off with Bianca in Street.Well out of that.Hopeless business.(Pause.)Not much reference toabout her. Aqueer passage about herdescription of herJust⁁ A tribute to her eyes.I suddenly saw them again.(Pause.)Incomparable.(Pause.)Ah well...(Pause.)These old P.M.s are grueseome, but I always - (Krapp switches off, broods, switches on again) - find them a help beforre embarking on a new...(hesitates)...conspectusretrospect.Hard to believe I was ever that young pupwhelp.ThatThe voice!Jesus!And the aspirations.(Brief laugh in which A joi Krapp joins.)And the resolutions!(Brief laugh in which Krapp joins.)To drink less, in particularof all things..(Brief laugh of Krapp alone.)Statistics.Seventeen hundred hours, out of the preceding eight thousand odd, consumed on licensed premises alone.Over 20%.Plans for a less wearingengrossing sexual life.Last illness of his father.Flagging pursuit of happiness.Unattainable laxation.⁁xx Shadow of the magnum opus.Closing with a -- (brief laugh) - ayyelp to Providence.(Prolonged laugh in which Krapp joins.)What remains of all that misery?A girl in a shabby green coat, on a railway-station platform?No?t even?
Pause.
When I look -((Krapp switches off machine, nbroods, ;looks at his watch, gets up and goes backstage into darkness. Ten seconds. Pop of cork. Ten seconds. Second cork. Ten seconds.Third cork. Ten seconds. Brief burst of quavering song. ⁁
"Now the day is over,
Night is drawing xx" nigh-igh"Shad Shad-ows(fit of coughing).
He comes back into light, sits down, switches on machine, resumes his posture.))- back on the year that is gone, with what I hope are perhaps the old eyes to come, there is of course the house on the canal where mother lay a-dying, in the early autumn, after her long viduity...(hesitates)...viduity(Krapp gives a start,) and the -(Krapp switches off machine, winds back tape a little, bends his ear closer to machine)- a-dying, in the early autumn, after her long viduity...(hesitates)...viduity, and the -((Krapp switches off machine, raises his head, stares blankly before him. His lips move in the syllables of "viduity". No sound. He gets up, goes backstage into darkness, comes back with an enormous dictionary, lays it on table, looks up the word, reads, (quotes definition if possibmle), nods, closes dictionary, switches on machine, resumes his posture.))- bench by the weir from where I could see her window.There I sat, wishing she were gone.(Pause.)Quite a niumber of people I got to know then, oh I mean by appearance, nursemaids, children, old men, dogs.⁁Very few people about but I got to know one or two - oh by appearance I mean!Deserted spot it was, just a few regulars, nursemaids, infants, old men, dogs. I got to know them quite well - oh by appearance I mean!One dark young beauty I 4The following line (the only line on f. 4v), starting with \'remember\' is not actually crossed out, but clearly a false start, after which Beckett probably pulled out the sheet from the typewriter, and started again on the other side.remember particularly, all white and starch, splendid bosom, with a recollect particularly, all white and starch, splendidincomparablebosom, with a big black hooded pram.,most funereal thing.Whenever I looked in her direction she had her eyes on me.Butunderlining in black inkone daywhen I was foolishingenuous enoughenough\'enough\' is not crossed out to speak to hertry and pat her on the bottomStet\'Stet\' in the margin. she threatened to call a policeman.The face she had.!Eyeslike - moonstone.!(Pause.)I was there when - (Krapp switches off, broods, switches on again) - the blind went down, one of those dirty brown roller affairs, throwing a ball for a dogan Aberdeenfox terrier as chance would have it.I happened to look up and there it was.All over, at last.I sat on for a few moments with the ball in my hand and the dark barki dog yappingelping and pawing at me.(Pause.)Moments.(Pause.)Her moments. My moments.(Pause.)The dog's moments.(Pause.)In the end I held it out to him and he took it in his mouth, gegently.Ansmall old,tennis ball, black and sodden, but unpunctured., ⁁solid rubber ball.⁁(Pause.)I wonder will that mean something some day.I shall feel it, in my hand, until my dying day.(Pause.)I wish I had kept it.(Pause.)But I gave it to the dog.(Pause.)I shall feel it, in my hand, until my dying day.(Pause.)I wish I had kept it.(Pause.)But I gave it to the dog.
Pause.
Spiritually a year of profound gloom and indigence until that memorable night in March, at the end of the pier, in the howling wind, never to be forgotten, when suddenly I saw the whole thing.The turning-pointvision, at last.This I imagine is what I have chiefly to set down this evening, against the day when my work will be done and perhaps no place left in my memory, and no thankfulness, fot eh for themiravclethat - for the fire that set it alight that -that...(hesitates)...for the fire that set it alight.What I suddenly saw then was⁁was this, ⁁ that the assumptionbelief I had been going on all my life, namely that -(Krapp switches off impatiently, winds tape forxward, switches on again)- granite rocks the foam flyinflying up in the light of the beacon and the anemometerwind gauge spinning like a propellor, clear to me at last that the dark I havehad been fighting againsttoo⁁have always struggled to keep under x is in reality my most -(Krapp curses, switches off, winds tape forward, switches on again)- - unshatterable association tiluntil my dying day...(hesitates)...dissolutionbetween storm and night of storm and night with the light of the understanding and -(Krapp curses louder, switches off, winds tape violently forward, switches on again)- my face in her breasts and my hand on her.We lay there without moving.But underneath us all moved, and moved us, gently up and down, and from side to side.
Pause.
Past midnight.Never knew such a silence.The earth might be uninhabited.
Pause.
Here I end this -
Krapp switches off, winds tape back, switches on again.
- upper lake, with the punt, bathed off the bank, then pushed out into the stream and drifted.She lay stretched out on the floorboards with her hands under her head and her eyes closed.Sun blazing down, bit of a breeze, water nice and loively.I noticed a scratch on her thigh and asked her how she gotcame by it.Picking gooseberries, she said.I said again I 5
thought it was hopeless and no good going on.,Sheand she agreed, wihthout opening her eyes.I(Pause.)I asked her to look at me and after a few moments - (Ppause) - after a few moments she did, but the eyes just slits, because of the glare.I bent over her to bget them in the shadow and they opened.((Pause.Low.))Let me in.(Pause.)We drifted in among the reeds and sstuck.The way they bent, sighing, before the stem.!(Pause.)I lay down across her with my face in her breasts and my hand on her.We lay without moving.But underneath us all moved, and moved us, gently up and down, and from side to side.
Pause.
Past midnight.Never knew -
Krapp switches off, broods. Finally he fumbles in his waistcoat pockets, encounters the banana-skin, peers at it throws it away, fumbles, brings out the envelope, puts it back fumbles, puts back the envelope, looks at his watch, gets up and goes backstage into darkness. Ten seconds. Sound of bottle against glass, then brief siphon. Ten sottle seconds.Bottle against glass alone.Ten seconds. He comes back a little unsteadily into light, goes to front of table, takes out keys, raises them to his eyes, unlocks banana drawer, peers and feels in it, locks it again, unlocks other drawer, peers and fumbles, takes out a fresh virgin?tapereel, holds it up ⁁high between finger and thumb, locks the drawer, goes and sits down, takes tape off pachinemachine, lays it on top of dictionary, puts the fresh onetape on machine, takes envelope from his pocket, consults back of it, lays init on thetatable, switches on, joins the toips of his fingerfingers, coughs and begins to record.
Krapp
Just been listening to that stupid bastard I took myself for thirty years ago, hard to believe I was ever as bad as that.⁁Thank God that's over anyway!(Pause.)The eyes she had!((Broods, realizes he is recordingsStray comma in the margin.silence, switches off, broods. Finally.))Everything there, everything, all the -(Realizes this is not being recorded, switches on.)Everything there, everything on earth, all the light and dark and hunger and...(brief hesitation)...crapulencefamine and feasting of...(hesitates)...the ages!(ViolentlyIn a shout.)Yes!(Pause.)Let that go!Jesus!Take his mind off his homework!Jesus!((Pause. Weary.))Ah well, maybe he was right.(Pause.)Maybe he was right.((Broods. Realizes. Switches off. Consults envelope.))Pah!((Crumples it and throws it away. Broods. Switches on.))Nothing to say, not a thing.What's a year now.Chewed cuds and hard stools.irreversible constipation.(Pause.)Revelled in the word spool.(With relish.)Spooool!Happiest moment of the year.(Pause.)Seventeen copies sold, of which eleven at half-price to lendingfree lending libraries overseas.Getting known.One pound six and something, eight noI have little doubt.(Pause.)Crawled out once or twice, before the summer was corpsed.Sat in the parrk with the brats and the skivvies, drowned in dreams and wishing I were gone.(Pause.)Last fancies.Swore to fight⁁them off.⁁Keep them under.Go mad altogether if I don't keep them under.⁁(Pause.)Resolutions.(Pause.)Aspirations.(Pause.)Scalded the eyes out of me reading Effie again, a page a day, with tears again.Effie...(Pause.)Could have been happy with her, up there on the cold sea,Baltic, and the pines, and the dunes.(Pause.)Fanny came in a couple of times.Bony old whore.Could6n't do lmuch, but I suppose better than nothing.The last time wasn't so bad.How do you manage it, she said, at your age?I told her I'd been saving up for her all my life.(Pause.)Went to Vespers once, like when I was a child.((Pause. Sings.))
Now the day is over
Night is drawing nigh-igh,
Shadows - (fit of coughing.) xxx Faintly) - of the evening
Steal across the sky.
Went to sleep and feelll off the pew.(Pause.)Sometimes wondered in the night if a last effort mightn't -(Pause.)AhDdrink out your bottle now andthe bottleyour poison now and get to your bed.Finish this puke in the morning.Or leave it at that.(Pause.)Leave it at that.(Pause.)Lie proppsed up on my backin the dark - and wander.(Pause.)Be again in the dingle on a Christmas Eve, gathering holly.(Pause.)Be again on Croghan on a Sunday morning, in the haze, with the bitch, stop and listen to the bells.(Pause.)And so on.(Pause.)Be again, be again.(Pause.)All that old misery.(Pause.)Once wasn't enough ⁁for me.(Pause.)Lie down across her.((Long pause. He suddenly bends over machine, switches off, wrenches off tape, throws it away, puts on the other, winds it forward to the passage he wants, switches on, listens staring front.)
Tape
- gooseberries, she said.I said again I thought it was hopeless and no good going on, and she agreed, without opening her eyes.I asked her to(Pause.)I asked her to look at lmeand after a few moments - (Ppause.) - after a few moments she did, but the eyes just slits, because of the glare.I bent over gher to get them in the shadow and they opened.((Pause. Low.))Let me in.(Pause.)We drifted in among the reeds and stuck.The way they bent, sighing, before the stem.!(Pause.)I latydown across her with my face in her breasts and my hand on her.We lay without moving.But underneath us all moved, and moved us, gently up and down, and from side to side.
Pause. Krapp's lips move. No sound.
Past midnight.Never knew such silence.The earth might be uninhabited.
Pause.
Here I end this...(hesitates)...episodetapereel.Box...he (hestitates)...three, Bowx - (pause) - three, spool -(paus)e)- five.(Pause.)Well... ⁁⁁Pperhaps my best years are gone.When there was a chance of happiness.But I wouldn't want them over againback.Not with the fire in me now.No, I wouldn't want them over againback.
AKrapp motionless staring before him. The tape runs on inasilence.
Curtaincentred
for Jake Schwartz
Sam. Beckett March 1958
On the back of the last page (f. 6v) Beckett has made a few calculations regarding Krapp\'s age at the different stages of his life.