Collection: Collection of American Theater Director Alan Schneider (1917-1984)BECKETT, SAMUEL
Watt. New York: Grove Press, 1959. First limited edition. Number 34 of 100 copies. Publisher's cloth over boards. Fading to spine, small dampstain on front joint, boards a bit dust soiled, head toned and bit scuffed, hinges loose but holding.
First published by Olympia Press in 1953, Watt was written by Beckett during the Second World War while he was hiding from the Nazis in southern France. Beckett referred to Watt as a writing "exercise" he took up to stay sane. The novel is profoundly experimental and hilarious. "The Tuesday scowls, the Wednesday growls, the Thursday curses, the Friday howls, the Saturday snores, the Sunday yawns, the Monday morns, the Monday morns. The whacks, the moans, the cracks, the groans, the welts, the squeaks, the belts, the shrieks, the pricks, the prayers, the kicks, the tears, the skelps, and the yelps."
Provenance: Collection of Alan Schneider (1917-1984); Following the death of Alan Schneider in 1984, these materials were retained by Schneider’s widow, Eugenie Schneider, who died in the summer of 2025 at 101 years old.
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