No More Learning

4 SeeSB'sletterof14November1936toMaryManningHowe.
5 Houghton Mifflin's request for cuts to Murphy apparently threatened Reavey's arrangement with Stanley Nott (see 28 November 1937 [for 19361).
6 MaryManningHowe'slettertoSBhasnotbeenfound,butmusthaveincludeda reference to the "Johnson-Thrale-Piozzi arrangement. " In 1936 there was considerable interest in Johnson's life; in March new Boswell manuscripts were found ("Yet More of Boswell," The Times 9 March 1936: 15). In April C[olwayn] E[dward] Vulliamy published Mrs. Thra! e ofStreatham, Her Place in the Life ofDr. SamuelJohnson and in the Society ofher Time, her Character and Family Affairs (London: Heinemann). In November a new edition of James Boswell, Boswell's Journal of a Tour to the Hebrides with Samuel Johnson, LL. D. , ed. Frederick A. Pottle and Charles H. Bennet, based on recently discovered manuscripts, was published. Also in November the play Dr. Johnson's Mrs. Thra! e by Winifred Carter (1884-1949) was produced in London; a review of Carter's play noted of Johnson: "Twice he is on the point of declaring his illicit passion, and twice he is saved by a trivial interruption" ("Strand Theatre, 'Dr. Johnson's Mrs. Thrale,"' The Times 25 November 1936: 12).
In 1765 Johnson was introduced to Henry Thrale (c. 1728-1781), brewery owner and Member of Parliament for Southwark from 1765 to 1780, and to his wife Hester Lynch (nee Salusbury, 1741-1821). From 1766 until Thrale's death in 1781, Johnson was an intimate of the Thrales, such a frequent guest that he had his own room in their various houses in Streatham, Southwark, Brighton, and Grosvenor Square; he also traveled with them to Wales and France.
Thrale's death was, as SB put it to McGreevy, "the causa irritans"; it changed the relationship between Mrs. Thrale and Johnson as well as their material situation ([before 23 July 1937], TCD, MS 10402/129). Mrs. Thrale, at forty, looked forward to a less encumbered life, whereas Johnson, at seventy-one, confronted physical and emo­ tional displacement from the Thrales' comfortable household and suffered a "break­ down" (W. Jackson Bate, Samuel Johnson [New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1975] 560, 568, 572, 575-579).
After her husband's death, Mrs. Thrale fixed her attentions on Gabriel Mario Piozzi (1740-1809); despite objections by Johnson, family, and friends, she married him in 1784 (Bate, SamuelJohnson, 572).
7 SBmayrefertoJohnson'santagonismtoPiozziongroundsthathewasCatholic, Italian, and a social inferior to Mrs. Thrale; Johnson's stated objection to their mar­ riage was that it would cause Mrs. Thrale to desert "country, religion, and family" (Leslie Stephen, SamuelJohnson, English Men of Letters [New York: Harper and Brothers, 1879] 153).
398
8 InMrs. ThraleofStreatham,Vulliamywrotethat"noseriousattempthaseverbeen made to examine the sexual character of Dr. Johnson," raising the issue if not the question that SB asks himself (243). Johnson's testicular hydrocele was eventually diagnosed as a tumor (Bate, Samuel Johnson, 577, 581-583). SB writes "<member> mentula. "
9 One ofJohnson's compulsive habits was "touching the posts as he passed, and going back if he missed one" (Bate, SamuelJohnson, 382).
American film actor Charles Laughton (1899-1962) starred in The Private Life of Henry VIII (1934), The Barretts ofWimpoleStreet (1934), Les Miserables (1935), Mutiny on the Bounty (1935), and Rembrandt (1936).
SB refers to Francis Barber (known as Frank, 1735-1801), a freed slave from Jamaica placed in Johnson's care from the age of ten; Johnson educated him, and Barber was later Johnson's "man-servant" (Bate, Samuel Johnson, 325-327, 503-504).
10 SBreferstohisGermanDiaries(BIF,UoR).
11 Leopardstown, once known as Leperstown, was near Foxrock station, Co. Dublin.
20 December 1936, Reavey
GEORGE REAVEY LONDON
20/12/36
Berlin W. 50
bei Kempt Budapesterstrasse 45
dear Georg
This pigeonhole will find me for a fortnight or three
weeks, so make a sign, before I leave for Dresden. I came on slowly from Hamburg last week, by Luneburg, Hannover, Brunswick, Hildesheim, etc.
Is there no further news about Quigley, I mean Murphy? Have
you not contrived to join the hands of the two philanthropists
across the pond? I know finding the terms is child[']s play to
bringing them together. The last I remember is my readiness to
cut down the work to its title. I am now prepared to go further, and
change the title, ifit gives offence, to Quigley, Trompetenschleim,
1
Eliot, or any other name that the publishers fancy.
399
20 December 1936, Reavey
I don't even know if you got the apes at chess. Lighten my darkness. 2
Heil, Sieg, fette Beute and a Merry Xmas/ Sam
APCS; 1 leaf, 2 sides; to George Reavey Esq, 1 Parton Street. London, WC 1. England; pm 20-12-36, Berlin-Charlottenburg; TxU.
1 QuigleyisthenameofthepersonsupportingMurphyinSB'snovel.
Reavey's efforts to find an American publisher to join forces with Stanley Nott: 13 November 1936, n. 4, and 13 December 1936, n. 5.
"Trompetenschleim" (trumpet slime); this suggestion derives from a conversation on the evening of13 October 1936 in SB's pension in Hamburg, during which amusing names were discussed (Beckett, Alles kommt aufso vie! an, 16).
2 The"apesatchess":see13November1936,n. 5. 3 "Heil,Sieg,fetteBeute"(Hail. victory,richspoils).
THOMAS McGREEVY [LONDON]
22/12/36
Berlin 10-50
bei Kempt Budapesterstr. 45
Dear Tom
I do not like sending this to you c/o Hester, but have no
alternative, as I have lost your [? Lad] Lane address, & cannot
1
or recent. As hung it is given to Giorgione, and I do not know who else could have painted it. It is infinitely more interest­ ing for me at least than the very early lyrical Giorgione of the Kaiser Friedrich, also herewith. No doubt you know them both in reproduction. I felt as soon as I saw the Brunswick picture, and each time I went back to it, that it was made for you, and
400
remember Heinemann[']s.
I do not know if the grotesque Dossi attribution is old
that you should have this faint echo at least. Lass es dir gut
2
various excursions to the incredibly beautiful Hildesheim, and
to Wolfenbiittel, where I would not have been surprised to see
Lessing come limping out of the August Bibliothek and across
the square, to take up the thread of the "happiest year of his
life. "3 I wanted to visit Halberstadt & Quedlinburg on the way to
Berlin, but was tired & broke and feel anyway that they would be
only shadows of Hildesheim, so came on straight here. The first
week I spent in a sinister hotel in the North, a German North
Star as opposite Amiens St. Station; then found this place, beside
the Zoo & the Kurfiirstendamm. Museum Island is au <liable,
but the tube is child's play. The collections are stupendous; the
town itself a monstrous comic, but rapidly sympathetic, with
skies nearly as good as Dublin[']s, one wonderful park and an
excellent brim to the hat, lakes, plain & forest. The weather is
lovely, ciel quintessencie, but desperately cold. I expect to stay
4
News from home good. Frank is in Miirren, playing in
the snow. So Mother is alone. But writes in excellent spirits.
Young Sinclair is on his way to South Africa, Boss still alive in
Rathdrum. Cissie got a bad turn when out visiting, I don't know
5
cut the work down to its title and to change that, if it gave offence. I sent Bion a card for Xmas, the Subarair earth goddess in the Tell Halaf museum, complete with chalice for the fertilising
rain and archaic smile. 7
Geoffrey is well dug in in Harley Street, with more patients
than he can manage. Bion is his "supervisor" in the clinic, does me
401
gefallen.
I had a week in Brunswick on the way here, and made
22 December 1936, McGreevy
till middle of January, & then go on to the Porcelaine Madonna.
exactly what, but seems to be well over it.
No further news of the book. The last was my willingness to
6
20 December 1936, McGreevy
the honour to remember me, deprecates my untimely departure, just when I was all set to become the uomo universale, & looks forward to getting his hooks into me again. Quien sabe! 8
The modern rooms of the Kronprinzenpalais are closed,
i. e. modern German painting from Nolde on. I got a permit in
Hamburg to visit the various works no longer accessible to
German public, and shall try it on director ofKronprinzenpalais
here, though it is only valid for Hamburg. On the ground floor
9
on with the Yeats, or work of your own. I seem not to have heard from you for ages. I have almost decided to cut out Paris on way
home (Devisen complications) & take boat from Hamburg to Southhampton, & thence to London, where I shall hope to find
10
know anyone here and though I am often lonely don't feel like picking up anyone. Expect to spend Xmas alone with a bottle of wine & the Kaiser Friedrich catalogue, full of impayable quota­ tions from Bode. Do you know Friedlander[')s Niederlandische Malerei or Dehio's colossal work? 1 1
Love ever Sam
ALS; 2 leaves. 2 sides; TCD. MS 10402/111.
1 SB addressed this letter to McGreevy care of Hester Dowden. There was a Lad Lane in Dublin, but, at this time, none in London; McGreevy wrote to Lennox Robinson on 29 December 1936 from 49 Harrington Road, London SW (TCD, MS 8103/259).
Heinemann published McGreevy's Poems (1934) and had commissioned the trans­ lation of Maillart's Oasis interdites: de Pekin au Cachemire.
2 SB had sent McGreevy a reproduction of the Giorgione painting in Brunswick, Selfportrait as David (Herzog Anton illrich Museum, GG 454). In 1900 the Italian
402
are wonderful Munchs & Van Goghs.
I hope you have got the translation behind you & are getting
you. That will probably be in May.
In the meantime drop me a line to this address. I don't
art historian Adolfo Venturi (1856-1941) attributed the painting to Dasso Dossi (ne Giovanni di Niccolo di Luteri, c. 1486 - c. 1542): in 1908, LudwigJusti (1876-1957), Director of the Berlin Nationalgalerie from 1909 to 1933, "recognized the connection of [this] painting with a print by Wenzel Hollar, which bears an inscription saying that the depiction is a self portrait by Giorgione" (Dr. Silke Gatenbri:icker, 9 December 2005; see also Sabine Jacob and Susanne Konig-Lein, Herzog Anton Ulrich-Museum Braunschweig: Die Italienischen Gemiilde des 16. bis 18. Jahmunderts [Munich: Hirmer, 2004] 60-62; Wenceslaus [Wenzel, Vaclav] Hollar, 1607-1677).
By comparison, SB refers to Giorgione's Portrait of a Young Man (KF 12A; now in the Gemaldegalerie, Berlin).
"Lass es dir gut gefallen" (May it please you).
3 ThetownofHildesheimhadretainedmuchofitsearlycharacter,includingthe Romanesque architecture of St. Michael's Church, St. Godehard's Church, the Cathedral, and the late-Gothic Rathaus.
The German poet, dramatist, philosopher, and critic Gotthold Ephraim Lessing (1729-1781) was Librarian of the Herzog August Bibliothek in Wolfenbiittel from 1770 to 1781. On 8 October 1776, Lessing married Eva Catharina Konig (nee van Hahn, 1736-1778). Lessing referred to the time ofhis marriage as '"mein gliicklichstes Jahr"' ("my happiest year"); his wife and a child died in January 1778. (Dieter Hildebrandt, Lessing: Biographie einer Emanzipation [Munich: Carl Hanser Verlag, 1979] 403; Kurt Wolfe! , ed. , Lessings Leben und Werk inDaten und Bildern [Frankfurt: lnsel Verlag, 1967] 220).
4 The North Star Hotel, 26-30 Amiens Street, Dublin, was across from what was then called Amiens Street Station and is now called Connolly Station.
SB stayed in the Pension Kempt, near the Berlin Zoological Garden at the inter­ section of the Kurfiirstendamm and Kurfiirstendammstrasse, in a house that had been the setting for Theodor Fontane's novel Immgen, Wimmgen (1888; Delusions, Conjitsions) (Erika Tophoven, Becketts Berlin [Berlin: Nicolai Verlag, 2005] 14-19).
Museumsinsel is located between the River Spree and the Kupfergraben, a channel of the Spree. The five museums of Museumsinsel were built between 1824 and 1930, each structure designed to reflect the nature of its collection: the Altes Museum (1830), the Neues Museum (1859), the Alte Nationalgalerie (1876), the Kaiser-Friedrich­ Museum (1904, renamed the Bode Museum in 1956), and the Pergamon Museum (1930). All of these museums were heavily damaged in World War II.
"Au diable" (miles out).
SB refers to the Tiergarten, west of the Brandenburg Gate, bounded on the North by the River Spree, a park that spreads over 600 acres. "Ciel quintessencie" (sky of the most utterly refined blue).
SB mentions Dresden's most famous work of art, Raphael's Sistine Madonna (Dresden Gemaldegalerie, no. 90).
5 FrankBeckettwasonaskiingholidayinMiirren,Switzerland. MorrisSinclairand Boss Sinclair: 28 November 1936, n. 25.
6 Murphy:see20December1936.
7 SB'scardtoBionhasnotbeenfound.
Die grosse thronende Giittin des Tell Halaf (2850 BC; The Large Enthroned Goddess of
Tell Halat) held a chalice in her right hand to capture rain and is described as having
403
22 December 1936, McGreevy
20 December 1936, McGreevy
an "archaisches Lacheln" (archaic smile); this image was on the cover ofthe catalogue ofthe Tell HalafMuseum in Berlin (Fuhrer durch das Tell Halaf-Museum, Berlin [Berlin: Max Freiherr von Oppenheim-Stiftung, 1934] 29-30). The sculpture is pictured and described under the title Grosse Grabfigur einerthronenden Frau (Large Grave Monument ofa Woman Enthroned) in Max Freiherr von Oppenheim, Tell Halaf, III, Die Bildwerke, ed. Dietrich Opitz and Anton Moortgat (Berlin: Walter de Gruyter and Co. , 1955) 35-36. The Tell Halaf Museum was badly damaged during the war, and this sculpture was destroyed; from the rubble, frag­ ments of the Tell Halaf collection were rescued and stored in the Pergamon Museum, where they will be displayed when the restoration of the Museumsinsel is complete.
8 Geoffrey Thompson's offices were at 71 Harley Street; SB had received a letter from him on 8 December 1936 (BIF, UoR, GD 2/f. 47).
W. R. Bion.
"Uomo universale" (It. , universal man). "Quien sabe! '' (Sp. , Who knows! )
9 TheclosedroomsintheKronprinzenpalais:28November1936,n. 8.
On 26 November 1936, Roland Adolphi of the Akademische Auslandsstelle Hamburg (Academy for Foreign Visitors) wrote to Dr. Freiherr von Kleinschmit, Director, Hamburger Kunsthalle, to request permission for SB to see the collections in the cellars in Hamburg: this is reproduced in Matthias Miihling, Mit Samuel Beckett in Der Hamburger
Kunsthalle, 41.
Paintings by Munch then in the collection of the Kronprizenpalais were: The Snow
Shoveler (destroyed in 1945); Embrace (also known as Summer Day, from the "Linde­ Frieze"; now in a private collection); Music on the Karl-Johan Street in Oslo (gift of Curt Glaser in 1932, withdrawn in 1941; now in the Kunsthaus Zurich, 2534); two paintings from the twelve panels of the "Reinhardt-Frieze" (1907): Summemight: The Lonely People (Museum Folkwang, G 368, Hagen) and Melancholy (NGB 2/97); and a set design for Ibsen's Ghosts (current location unknown) (Bernd Evers, 2 June 1993; Gerd Woll, 20 April 2006; Manfred Tschirner, 16 August 2006).
The paintings by Vincent van Gogh (1853-1890) that were still exhibited on the ground floor were: Garden ofDaubigny (Hiroshima Museum of Art, B025), Le Moulin de la Galette (NGB A II 687), The Lovers (confiscated 1937; present owner unknown), and Painter in Cornfield (disappeared in World War II).
10 McGreevy'stranslation:see28November1936,n. 21. McGreevyhadbegunto work on his study ofJack B. Yeats during August 1935.
"Devisen" (foreign currencies).
11 Wilhelm von Bode (1845-1929) had been Director of the Kaiser Friedrich Museum from 1890 to 1929. SB may have purchased all five volumes of Staatliche Museen Berlin, Die Gemdldegalerie (Berlin: Paul Cassirer Verlag, 1929-1933), for he owned Staatliche Museen Berlin, Die Gemdldegalerie, I, Die Deutschen und altniederldndi­ schen Meister (Berlin: Paul Cassirer Verlag, 1929).
Max J. Friedlander (1867-1958), Bode's successor as Director of the Kaiser Friedrich Museum from 1929 to 1933, had written several books on Dutch painting, culminating in Die altniederldndische Malerei, 14 vols. (Leiden: A. W. Sijthoff, 1924-1937).
Georg Dehio (1850-1932) edited several monumental art histories, including Geschichte der Deutschen Kunst, 4 vols. (Berlin: Walter de Gruyter and Co. , 1919-1934). Dehio had initiated the Handbuch der deutschen Kunstdenkmaler series in 1900, as a work of many hands; by World War I the series had completed volumes on all German regions. The series was further revised by Ernst Gall (1888-1958) between the wars.
404
Dear George
Thanks for your card, letter & enclosure. Congratulations
1
Hogarth Private Lunatic Asylum, that [for than] by Stanley N. , whom I can't say I relished when I met him in Harrington Road. But if all else fails I would prefer to be done by Nott than not at all. The chief thing is to get the book OUT. Better a bougie than a burst bladder. As to the question of an advance, if Mifflin offers one, as they certainly would, I think it is up to the English publisher to do so also. But similarly, ifit is impossible to get the book out without foregoing [for forgoing] an advance, I shall forego [for forgo] an advance. The main thing is to get the book OUT. 2
I was very pleased to hear you were trying Dent. As I think I mentioned to you before, my Boston Hetzerin suggested to me some time ago that you should try Dent, as Mifflin were in parley with Dent with especial reference to Irish authors. The sheep in wolfs' [for wolf 's] clothing turned down the Dream of Fair to Middling Women some years ago, but they of course are unaware of this. 3
I am not clear as to the American attitude. Have you had any direct communication with Mifflin?
I think they wrote to you screaming for cuts. But are they definitely on if an English firm can be found to share the shame? Or are they shuffling out? I take
405
ontheDuhamel. Bestwishesforthenewyear.
I would prefer of course to be done by Dent, or even the
27 December 1936, Reavey
GEORGE REAVEY LONDON
27/12/36
Budapesterstrasse 45 bei Kempt
Berlin W. 50
27 December 1936, Reavey
it Dents know that Mifflins have seen the book and are interested.
If the two safety-match heads could be rubbed together we might
get the titther [for tither] of fire that is all we want. I leave it to
your discretion to lever Dent with Nott's conditional acceptance.
And by all means keep Nott waiting to the extent of his patience.
4
if possible to use them as a frontispiece, or better still on the jacket. 5
I shall be here till 14th January at least. IfI don't hear before
6
Sorry to say I have nothing at all to send you, not a line. Is the Rimbaud translation sidestepped or merely deferred? 7
All the best. Yours
sf Sam TLS; 1 leaf. 1 side; TxU.
1 Georges Duhamel gave Reavey the option for cinematographic and theatrical adaptation of his five-volume sequence, Vie et aventures de Salavin (Georges Duhamel to George Reavey, 11 December 1936, TxU). The novels, except for the second volume Deux hommes, had been published in English as Salavin, tr. Gladys Billings (1936).
2 Having reached a stalemate about the publication of Murphy with the British publisher Stanley Nott, Reavey considered trying to interest another English publisher in partnering with the American publisher Houghton Mifflin, namely Dent or the Hogarth Press.
Thomas McGreevy lived for a time at Harrington Road, London.
"Bougie" (an old term for an early form of catheter); see [16 September 1934], n. 8.
3 SB'sBoston"Hetzerin"(rabble-rouser)isMaryManningHowe.
There is no evidence that Houghton Mifflin and Dent published together.
There is no record that Dent were among publishers who considered Dream ofPair to
Middling Women.
406
He has the hopeless feet of a good waiter.
All suggestions as to delenda & addenda grovellingly received. The chimpanzees are more or less than a good joke, I want
thenI shall let you have an address in Dresden as soon asI can. Expect to be in London on the way home late in April or early in May.
31 December 1936, Albrecht
4 ThesequestionsreflectSB'slackofclarityaboutanAmerican-Britishpublication partnership (see 13 December 1936, n. 5).
5 "Apes at chess": 13 November 1936, n. 5.
6 SB arrived in Dresden on 29 January 1937, later than he had expected.
7 Le Bateau ivre: 28 November 1937 [for 1936J n. 20.
GUNTER ALBRECHT HAMBURG
SB's errors of Gennan in this letter have not been corrected.
31/12/36 Berlin W. 50 bei Kempt
Budapesterstrasse 45
Lieber Herr Albrecht!
Es ist einsam gewesen, seit ich fort von Hamburg bin, aber auf
eine so freundliche Weise, dass es mir nicht einmal eingefallen
ist, nach dem zu suchen, was man "Anschluss" nennt. Freilich
denke ich ofter an diejenigen in Hamburg, die einem Fremden
und Unbekannten so viele Freundlichkeit erwiesen haben. Ein
anderes Vergntigen ist es, bloss (! ) mit Dingen zu verkehren,
doch wohl ein Vergntigen, wenn auch endlich ein sehr gefahr­
liches. Weiter ist es auch sehr die Frage, ob man sich jede Abreise
und jene letzte vom Lande tiberhaupt mit erst entstehenden
1
Von den verschiedenen Ausfltigen, die ich von Braunschweig aus machen wollte, habe ich mich mit den nach Konigslutter,
407
Sympathien immer schwieriger machen sollte. In Deutschland gibt es schon einen Uebertluss von dem, was ich werde verlassen mtissen, ja habe verlassen mtissen, ohne es kennenlemer [for kennenlemen] zu konnen. Z. B. . den Giorgione in Braunschweig, obgleich ich ihn jeden Tag fur eine Woche besucht habe. 2
31 December 1936, Albrecht
Riddagshausen, Wolfenbiittel und Hildesheim begniigen miissen.
Hildesheim bleibt Hildesheim. In den 8 oder 9 sehr kurzen, kal­
ten, feuchten und triiben Stunden, die mir ein Hundeswetter
gegonnt hat, ist es mir vielleicht gelungen, wenn ich mich nicht
schmeichle, das Zwanzigstel, von dem anzusehen, was ich sehen
wollte, d. h. , das Fiinfzigstel von dem, was es zu sehen gibt. 3 In der
Heiterkeit von Wolfenbi. ittel hatte ich nicht gebraucht, das erste
Fragment in der August-Bibliothek zu lesen, um mir Lessing gegen­
warting zu machen. Es liegt namlich in dieser kleinen Stadt jene
franzosische Kuhle, die ich so oft bei Lessing selbst zu fuhlen
geglaubt habe. lch habe nie verstehen konnen, wie ein so carte­
sischer Geist den Geist von Descartes so ganz und gar habe mis­
4
lichem Masse gesehen. lch freue mich, dass es keine hier gibt.
Es herrschte in Hannover eine kulturelle Begeisterung von
solcher Allegemeinheit, das man sie bis in dem Cafe Kropcke
wahrnehmen konnte. Man hatte namlich gerade die Echtheit
des in der Neustadten Kirche liegenden Skeletts von Leibniz
durch eine eingehende Untersuchung der rechten grossen Zehl
5
stellung des Inneren wegen. Wir wissen, was das heisst. Wahrend
der Mittagspause habe ich mich durch die Baustelle, die die ganze
siidliche Seite der Kirche verbirgt, bis zu einem Eingang gedrangt,
um da einem unerbittlichen Schupi zu begegnen. Der Hauptgiebel
des Gewandhauses ist gleichfalls verschwunden, hinter dem
6
burg, habe mich aber plotzlich am Notwendigen - Geld, Laune
408
verstehen konnen.
Fachwerkhauser und Sandsteingiebel habe ich in unheim­
[for Zehe] festgestellt.
Der Braunschweiger Dom war geschlossen, einer Wiederher­
schonsten Geri. ist, das ich gesehen habe.
lch wollte natiirlich nach Goslar, Halberstadt und Quedlin­
und Energie - so arm gefunden, dass ich nicht konnte. Die bosen Finger habe ich selbst in Braunschweig aufgeschnitten, mit
7
die ausser der Inkonsequenz ihrer Erscheinung kein Ratsel auf­
zugeben hat. Eine mannliche, ja eine bartige Sphinx, wie man
sie im Tell HalafMuseum bewundem kann. Dem lowen gehort
Unter den Linden, demMenschenMuseum lnsel, die Hugel aber
bildet der Himmel, <lessen Todeskampfe, die freilich vielmehr
wie Umarmungen aussehen, beinahe so schon sind, wie jene
allerdings mehr schleichende, die man auch nach den finsters­
8
Der Obergeschoss der Kronprinzen Palais ist "heute geschlos­
sen. " Ein Diener hat es sogar gewagt, mir sein Bedauem dariiber
mitzuteilen. Es gibt aber eine ausgezeichnete Sammlung van
Zeichnungen, wo man die Giftmischer im Intimsten ihres
Schaffens geniessen darf. Ich habe weiter die sehr angenehme
Ueberraschung erlebt, 6 Bilder van Liebermann in der
9
nicht da. Ich nehme es an, wenn sie verloren gegangen sind, wie es hier der Fall zu sein scheint, es sei nichts daraus zu machen, da das Paket nicht eingeschrieben war. Es ist nattirlich auch moglich, <lass es sich bloss um eine zwar unverstandliche
409
31 December 1936, Albrecht
gutem Erfolg.
Berlin kommt mir etwas wie eine geschwatzige Sphinx var,
tenTagenvanO'ConnellBridgeinDublinanschauenkann. So lassen sich die Eindriicke nicht bestimmen, es sei denn, dass man ihnen das Wesentlichste abzieht. Ich verstehe z. B. schon sehr gut, wie leicht es ware, sich van Berlin begeistem zu lassen; und weiss doch schon vorher, mit welchem Befriedigungsgefiihl, als ob es sich um eine Flucht handelte, ich die Reise nach Dresden in ungefahr 14 Tagen antreten werde.
Nationalgalerie zu finden.
Die 22 Bucher, die Sie als Paket geschickt haben, sind noch
31 December 1936, Albrecht
Verspatung handelt. Dagegen ist das Buch von Keyserling richtig erhalten worden, wie alles, was ich als Briefpaket habe schicken
10
habe den Gri. inen Heinrich begonnen und werde aus verschie­
den Grunden an Manzoni erinnert, eine Analogie, die sich ohne
Zweifel wtirde dokumentieren lassen. Die Geschichte des
Meretleins, die die mindeste Uebert6nung ins Lacherliche
11
Gri. issen Sie bitte von mir Ihre Familie, Herrn Saucke, den
Maler und seinen Freund, deren Namen ich nie richtig vernom­
12
lassen.
lch Iese sehr wenig, vor allen Dingen keine Zeitung. lch
hatte ziehen miissen, habe ich erschiitternd gefunden.
men habe, und lassen Sie es Ihnen gut gehen. Mit besten Wiinschen fur das neue Jahr,
1hr
s/ Samuel Beckett
TIS: 1 leaf, 2 sides: BIF, UoR, MS 5037.
31/12/36
Dear Mr. Albrecht,
It has been lonely since I have been gone from Hamburg,
but in such a pleasant manner that it hasn't even occurred to me to look for any so-called connections. Of course, I frequently think about those in Hamburg who extended so much hospital­ ity to a foreigner and stranger. It is a different pleasure to be dealing solely with things, however a pleasure nevertheless, even if in the end a very dangerous one. Furthermore, it is also very much a question whether one should make every departure more and more difficult for oneself - with friendships that are
410
Berlin W. 50
c/o Kempt Budapesterstrasse 45
only just beginning to form - and especially that last departure,
1
Of the various excursions which I wanted to go on from
Braunschweig, I had to make do with those to Konigslutter,
Riddagshausen, Wolfenbilttel and Hildesheim. Hildesheim
remains Hildesheim. In the 8 or 9 very short, cold, damp, and
dreary hours which foul weather allowed me, I succeeded in
seeing perhaps a twentieth, if I don't flatter myself, of what I
3
serenity ofWolfenbilttel I could have done without reading the
first fragment in the August Library to bring Lessing to life for
me. There is in this small town that kind of French reserve
which I so often thought I sensed in Lessing himself. I have
never been able to understand how such a Cartesian mind
4
uncanny numbers. I am glad there are none round here.
In Hanover there was such a pervasive sense of cultural euphoria that one could detect it all the way to Cafe Kropcke. The authenticity of the skeleton of Leibniz buried in the Neustadten church had been confirmed through lengthy exami­
nation of his right big toe. 5
The Braunschweig cathedral was closed because of renova­
tions of the interior. We know what that means. During the lunch break I forced my way past the building site, which is covering up the entire southern side of the church, all the way to the entrance, only to run into an unforgiving policeman. The
411
when leaving the country altogether. In Germany there is already an abundance of what I will have to leave behind, yes, had to leave, without being able to get to know it. For example, Giorgione in Braunschweig, even though I visited him every day for a week. 2
31 December 1936, Albrecht
wantedtosee,thatisafiftiethofwhatthereistosee. Inthe
could so thoroughly misunderstand the mind of Descartes. Half-timbered houses and sandstone gables I have seen in
31 December 1936, Albrecht
main gable of the 'Gewandhaus' has disappeared likewise,
6
results. 7
Berlin appears to ·me a bit like a gossipy sphinx that has no
other riddle to offer than the insignificance of her own appear­
ance. A male, yes a bearded Sphinx, like the one you can admire
in the Tell Halaf Museum. The lion owns Unter den Linden,
man owns the Museum Island, however the skies shape the
wings; the skies, whose death throes look rather more like
embraces, are almost as beautiful as those admittedly more
creeping ones that one can observe also from O'Connell
8
example, I do understand quite well how easy it would be to let yourself be taken with Berlin; and yet I already know, in advance, the feeling ofsatisfaction with which I will embark on the journey to Dresden in about a fortnight, as if it were a matter of escaping.
The upper level of the Kronprinzen Palais is 'closed today'.
A servant even dared to communicate to me his regrets about
that. There is however an excellent collection ofdrawings where
one may savour the poison peddlers in the most intimate
moment of their creativity. In addition, I experienced the very
pleasant surprise of finding 6 pictures by Liebermann in the
9
I assume that if they got lost, as seems to be the case here, there is probably nothing to be done about it since the parcel was not
412
behind the most beautiful scaffolding I have ever seen.
Of course, I wanted to visit Goslar, Halberstadt, and Quedlinburg but suddenly found myself so wanting in necessi­ ties - money, enthusiasm, and energy - that I was quite unable. In Braunschweig, I myself cut open my bad fingers with good
BridgeinDublinevenafterthedarkestdays. Thusimpressions defy definition unless one strips them of the essential. For
Nationalgalerie.
The 22 books which you sent in a parcel are not here yet.
31 December 1936, Albrecht
registered. It is of course also possible that it is only a matter of delay, however inexplicable. On the other hand, the book by Keyserling was received without difficulty as was everything I sent by letterpost. 10
I read very little, above all no newspapers. I have started Der
Grune Heinrich and for various reasons am reminded of Manzoni,
an analogy that undoubtedly could be documented. I found
myself deeply moved by the story of Meretlein, the slightest
over-doing of which would have inevitably rendered it
11
painter and his friend whose name I never properly heard, and
12
Yours,
s/ Samuel Beckett
1 ThehostofSB'spensioninHamburgwasKurtHoppe(b. 1891),whointroduced SB to many people in Hamburg, who in tum introduced him to others.
2 Giorgione'sSelf-portraitasDavidinBrunswick:see22December1936,n. 2.
3 SBwasinRiddagshausenon7December,wherehevisitedtheFrauenkapelle,and the Klosterkirche that was consecrated in 1278 and once belonged to a Cistercian monastery. He was in Hildesheim on 10 December 1936 (see Mark Nixon, "Chronik der Deutschlandreise Samuel Becketts 1936/37. " Der unbekannte Beckett: Samuel Becket und die deutsche Kultur, ed. Therese Fischer-Seidel and Marion Fries-Dieckmann [Frankfurt: Suhrkamp, 2005] 34-63).
K6nigslutter: see n. 7 below.
4 SB visited the August Bibliothek in Wolfenbiittel on 8 December 1936. The "Wolfenbiittel Fragments" were published by Lessing as Fragmente eines Ungenannten (1774-1777; Fragments of an Unnamed) from a manuscript by the German philoso· pher Hermann Samuel Reimarus (1694-1768) entitled "Apology for the Rational Worshippers ofGod"; this essay challenged evidence for the Resurrection of Christ and thus provoked controversy (Nixon, "Chronik der Deutschlandreise Samuel Becketts 1936/37," 36).
Rene Descartes (1596-1650).
5 The Cafe I<r6pcke, although destroyed during World War II, was rebuilt at the same location, Georgstrasse 35 in Hanover; it is a central meeting point (Walter Asmus, 16 June 2005).
413
ridiculous.
Please, give my regards to your family, Herr Saucke, the
be well yourself.
With best wishes for the New Year,
31 December 1936, Albrecht
SB wrote "Zehl" which is not a German word, so we have presumed that he intended to write "Zehe" (toe). The authenticity ofLeibniz's remains was not at issue in 1936, having been confirmed in 1902 (Professor Dr. Herbert Breger, Leibniz-Archiv, 27 June 2005).
6 In Brunswick, the romanesque Cathedral of St. Blasius dates from the twelfth century. The Gewandhaus, the Cloth Merchants'Hall, from the Renaissance, is located in the Altstadtmarkt.
"Schupi" for "Schupo" (slang for policeman).
7 Goslar,Halberstadt, and Quedlinburg are all towns south ofWolfenbiittel; on the evening of 10 December, SB had considered stopping in Konigslutter the next morning andHalberstadt in the afternoon, but on 11 December he decided to go directly to Berlin by an afternoon train (BIF, UoR, GD 2/f. 53).
On the subject ofSB's infected finger and thumb, see Knowlson, Damned to Fame, 225.
8 The bearded sphinx in the Berlin TellHalaf Museum was known as "Erster Skorpionenvogelmann" (First Scorpion-bird-man) (Max Freiherr von Oppenheim, Tell Halaf. III, Die Bildwerke, 118-119; it was destroyed in 1943).
The broad avenue ofUnter denLinden stretches from the Brandenburg Gate at the Pariser Platz eastward to the Schlossbriicke on the River Spree. SB refers to an eques­ trian statue of Kaiser Wilhelm I (the National Memorial to KaiserWilhelm I) that once dominated the square ofthe Stadtschloss oftheHohenzollern, the Schlossfreiheit, at the eastern end of Unter den Linden; a lion at each corner of the monument looks outward, including one with a gaze directed westward down Unter den Linden. Designed from 1892 to 1897 by Reinhold Begas (1831-1911) and GustafHalmhuber (1862-1936), the statue was dismantled afterWorldWar II by the East German govern­ ment. O'Connell Bridge spans theLiffey in Dublin.
The Museumsinsel, a man-made island, is the site of the Kaiser Friedrich and other museums: 22 December 1936, n. 4.
9 TheclosedsectionsoftheKronprinzenpalais:28November1937[for19361,n. 8. The drawings by the artists who had been attacked by the Nazis as "entartet" (degen­ erate) have not been identified.
The paintings by Liebermann in the Kaiser Friedrich Museum (now in the Nationalgalerie, Berlin) were Women Plucking Geese (A I 524), Shoemaker's Workshop (A I 644), Flax Barn in Laren [Holland] (A I 431), SelfPortrait with Sportscap at an Easel (A II 466), Portrait ofDr. Wilhelm Bode (A III 533), and Portrait ofOtto Braun (NGB 10/60; these were confiscated in 1937, shown in the "Entartete Kunst" exhibition in Munich in 1937, and reacquired by the Berlin Nationalgalerie in 1960).
10 SB had been asked by Arland Ussher to send him a copy of Reisetagebuch eines Philosophen (1919; The Travel Diary of a Philosopher) byHermann Graf von Keyserling (1880-1946); although Keyserling had been banned from speaking in public, SB was able to order a copy of this book, which he received in Berlin (Beckett,Alles kommt aufso viel an, 54, 56).
The list of books purchased inHamburg and sent to Dublin, as well as of those purchased inHamburg and forwarded to SB in Berlin, is given in the Whoroscope notebook (BIF, UoR, MS 3000/34 and 36; see Nixon, "'Scraps ofGerman,"' 278).
11 DergriineHeinrich(1908;GreenHenry)byGottfriedKeller(1819-1890). Thestoryof Meretlein (Part I. ch. 5) is that of a child punished and shunned to control her behavior, told largely from the viewpoint of the abuser; the child seems to die, but comes to life
414
31 December 1936, Albrecht
from her coffin, only to die again. SB compares Keller's book to the writing of Alessandro Manzoni, whose best-known work is I promessi sposi (1827; The Betrothed).
12 Herr Saucke was the bookdealer for whom Albrecht worked in Hamburg (see 7 November 1936, n. 1); on 29 November 1936, SB had met the painter ("child painter, name forgotten") and his friend, identified only as a painter doing posters for Hapag (Hamburg-Amerikanische-Packetfahrt-Actien-Gesellschaft, a shipping firm based in Hamburg), and Albrecht's family, on 29 November 1936 (Beckett, Alles kommt auf so viel an, 54; Mark Nixon).
415
1937 8January 12January
By 18 January
22-23 January 24-25 January 25-26 January 26-28January 29January
4 February
16 February 18 February
19 February 20-23 February 24-25 February 26 February 3-4 March
5 March-2 April By 20 March
CHRONOLOGY 1937
SB attends production ofSchiller's Maria Stuart at Schauspielhaus in Berlin.
Visits Potsdam and Sanssouci. Attends production ofHebbel's Gyges und sein Ring in Berlin.
Learns that Richard Church, a reader for Dent, has written positively about Murphy to Reavey. Meets Axel Kaun and film comedianJosefEichheim.
Leaves Berlin. In Halle. In Erfurt.
In Naumburg.
In Leipzig.
In Dresden, Pension Hofer, until 18 February. Learns that Dent and Cobden-Sanderson have
both rejected Murphy. Visits Pillnitz.
Attends Fedor Stepun's lecture on Andrei Bely in Dresden.
In Freiberg; travels to Bamberg.
In Bamberg.
In Wu. rzburg; travels to Nuremberg.
In Nuremberg; travels to Regensburg.
In Regensburg; travels to Munich.
In Munich.