SAMELSON, ANDRA.
Andra Samelson Samuel Beckett letters, 1981-1987

Restrictions on Access

Special restrictions apply: Collection stored off-site. Researchers must contact the Rose Library in advance to access this collection.

Terms Governing Use and Reproduction

All requests subject to limitations noted in departmental policies on reproduction.

Source

Purchased from Andra Samelson, 2021.

Citation

[after identification of item(s)], Andra Samelson Samuel Beckett letters, Stuart A. Rose Manuscript, Archives, and Rare Book Library, Emory University.

Appraisal Note

Acquired by Poetry and Digital Humanities Librarian, Nick Twemlow, as part of the Rose Library's literary collections. All material that formed the original sale has been retained.

Processing

Arranged and described at the file level by Carrie Hintz, April 2021.

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Biographical Note

Samuel Beckett (1906-1989), Irish poet, novelist and playwright, was born in Foxrock, Ireland, a suburb of Dublin. He attended the Portora Royal School in Enniskillen and Trinity College Dublin. In 1927, Beckett moved to Paris and taught English at the École Normale Supérieure. In 1930, he published his first poem, "Whoroscope," and returned to Trinity College to teach French. In 1937, he returned to Paris permanently. Beckett continued to publish novels throughout the 1950s, 1960s, and 1970s. However, it is the plays he produced during this time for which he is perhaps best known. They include Waiting for Godot (1953), Endgame (1957), Krapp's Last Tape (1958) and Happy Days (1961). He won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1969 and continued to write and publish poems and short stories until his death in 1989.

Andra Samelson is an American multi-media artist. She was born in Denver, Colorado, and received a B.A. degree from Sarah Lawrence College (Bronxville, New York). She met Samuel Beckett in Paris in 1981, and the two developed a friendship and correspondence that lasted through the remainder of Beckett’s life.

Scope and Content Note

The collection contains 12 letters from Samuel Beckett to Andra Samelson. The letters document the friendship between Beckett, Samelson, and Samelson’s former husband Lawrence Shainberg.

Arrangement Note

Arranged in chronological order.