[Ads-l] Request access to The Letters of Samuel Beckett Volume 1 (was Palindrome Origin: Was It Eliot's Toilet I Saw?)

ADSGarson O'Toole 00001aa1be50b751-dmarc-request at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
Mon Jan 5 17:10:23 UTC 2026


Rich Lowenthal  wrote:
> Samuel Beckett pointed out that "T Eliot is toilet spelt backwards" in a
> 1937 letter.

Fascinating information, Rich. Thanks!

The journal MLN contains a review of the 2009 book "The Letters of
Samuel Beckett: Volume 1 1929-1940" which suggests that the key
sentence occurred in a letter printed on page 421 of the collection.

[Begin excerpt from MLN]
So what can the letters reveal under these circumstances? Well, as the
comments on Joyce indicate, Beckett spent a fair amount of time
protesting against his most important influences ("T. Eliot is toilet
spelt backwards" [421]), although he could not effectively move away
from them--not only their formal inventions, but also the avant-garde
ethos that they embodied.
[End excerpt from MLN]

Unfortunately, it appears that the Internet Archive does not contain
"The Letters of Samuel Beckett". Also, the pertinent volumes in Google
Books are all in "No Preview" mode.

Does some list member have access to "The Letters of Samuel Beckett:
Volume 1 1929-1940"?

Garson

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The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org


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