excerpts from damned to fame by james knowlson
production process
biographical ties
"and i didn't want to be an invisible woman. i mean the point was, i didn't want not to exist."
Trailer to Rue Samuel Beckett: Barbara Bray. A documentary by Marek Kedzierski & Piotr Dzumalaa
While Beckett was married to Suzanne Déchevaux-Dumesnil, he maintained a close intimate and intellectual relationship with Barbara Bray, a writer and translator. The video to the left is a trailer of a documentary which includes conversations with Barbara Bray towards the end of her life.
Of Bray and Beckett, Kedzierski said “Beckett’s relationship with Barbara began in the early sixties and lasted until 1989. Eighteen years his junior, she accompanied him for three decades, a great help above all in what was most difficult for him – writing. She kept him informed about what was going on in literature and art […]. She inspired Beckett, discussed his works, proof-read his new works and translations […] She sent him an impressive number of books to read from Ernest Jones’ biography of Freud to Wittgenstein’s Tractatus.”
Even without a watch of the full-length documentary, this trailer quickly captures the essence of Bray's relationship with Beckett and the function she served in his life. Bray and Beckett were alike in mind, perhaps bound by soul and mind rather than experience and similarities. I don't believe that it's necessary to have a multilayered understanding of this affair to perform Play successfully - but goodness, is it intriguing to consider the weight of it in the context of the work. Her relationship also speaks to his dedication to his marriage Suzanne, who had been part of his life prior to fame and with whom he had experienced the horrors of World War II, as they both had fled to Roussilion together after he served the French Resistance to Nazi Germany.
While Bray saved her side of the thousands of letters of correspondence they shared in nearly thirty years of knowing one another, Beckett burned all of the ones he received from her, effectively eradicating her existence. This documentary, while not comprehensive, captures what is able to be gleaned of this remarkable woman's story.