Sir, - I read with enjoyment the recently published biographies of Samuel Beckett - Damned to Fame, by James Knowlson and The Last Modernist by Anthony Cronin. Both are works of much research, and very readable. Consequently, it seems churlish to make a dissenting remark about either. Nevertheless, I must point out what, to me, seems a serious omission in both works, the absence of any analysis or precis of Beckett's fourth and last radio play, Cascando, composed in 1962.
In September 1962, Beckett donated a batch of Cascando manuscripts to Harvard College Library, enclosing a letter which modestly stated .... It is an unimportant work, but the best I have to offer. It does I suppose show in a way what passes for my mind and what passes for its work."
Federman and Fletcher, in Samuel Beckett: His Works and His Critics tell us that the texts for Beginning to End, performed by Jack MacGowran on BBC 1 on February 23rd, 1965, was chosen by Samuel Beckett himself and set within the framework of Cascando. How this was done, I have been unable to find out.
Such a statement from Beckett should surely cause any biographer to scrutinise such a work closely. James Knowlson mentions Cascando ten times, but we are given absolutely no idea what the play is about except that there is music with it. I believe it is an important part of the Beckett oeuvre and deserves a lot more attention than that given to it by both biographers. - Is mise,
Wainsfort Road,
Dublin 6W.