tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8470094.post1600053254105107934..comments2024-03-18T16:55:31.971+00:00Comments on This Space: Be in no doubt (just this once)Stephen Mitchelmorehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01658772259307446873noreply@blogger.comBlogger6125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8470094.post-74100740662661822142009-03-13T15:22:00.000+00:002009-03-13T15:22:00.000+00:00As fine a description of Hensher as I have read.As fine a description of Hensher as I have read.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01188308893322575721noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8470094.post-31121141398971227142009-03-13T14:54:00.000+00:002009-03-13T14:54:00.000+00:00It was worth reading this review just to catch tha...It was worth reading this review just to catch that 1930 comment from SB to Charles Prentice apologising for not breaking out of his block in order to be able to come up with additions to his Proust text: "I expected more generous rifts in the paralysis." Priceless! <BR/><BR/>I am leaving for the bookshop now to buy this volume...Nicholas Murrayhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07189263209323471368noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8470094.post-22781599615057960862009-03-13T12:23:00.000+00:002009-03-13T12:23:00.000+00:00But the message I get from Gabriel as from Pip is ...But the message I get from Gabriel as from Pip is the same: READ THIS BOOK.Paul Griffithshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09171653884998730659noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8470094.post-14365953532796213252009-03-12T16:36:00.000+00:002009-03-12T16:36:00.000+00:00Ha, perhaps I could have read his review more clos...Ha, perhaps I could have read his review more closely!<BR/><BR/>Still, it seems strange that one could acknowledge the existence of such a stipulation and yet persist in being annoyed that in these letters Beckett doesn't talk about politics or whatever.Richardhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08014014605639738887noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8470094.post-85715540705936632632009-03-12T15:21:00.000+00:002009-03-12T15:21:00.000+00:00I think Hensher did read the intro as he says: "Th...I think Hensher did read the intro as he says: "There is a possibility ... that some odd requirements placed on the editors have excluded some interesting material. Beckett, towards the end of his life, stipulated that the only letters to be published should be those that illuminated his work."<BR/><BR/>But still, he's imagining his own Beckett - an incontinent English, middlebrow hack who thinks everything has to be drawn under politics and social issues to make any sense.Stephen Mitchelmorehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01658772259307446873noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8470094.post-16333870586098586272009-03-12T13:52:00.000+00:002009-03-12T13:52:00.000+00:00Nice, thanks. From this passage in the review: "wh...Nice, thanks. <BR/><BR/>From this passage in the review: <BR/><BR/>"when Beckett gave his blessing in principle to the idea of publishing his letters he specified that he only wished to have published those which would “have a bearing on [his] work”. One can surmise from their introduction that the editors have had to fight long and hard with Beckett’s executors to make their sense of what has a bearing on the work prevail."<BR/><BR/>...one can only assume that Hensher did not read the introduction.Richardhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08014014605639738887noreply@blogger.com