This series primarily consists of letters written to and from Kennedy during her scholarly career. Kennedy kept carbon copies of many of her own letters, including those she wrote to Samuel Beckett. (Kennedy had pasted her letters to Beckett in a protective binder, from which they have been removed and which left their pages striped by glue.) Other correspondents include: Mary Doll, Richard Ellman, John Fletcher, James Gilvarry, Stanley E. Gontarski, Lawrence E. Harvey, John Kelly, James Knowlson, A.J. Leventhal, Jérôme Lindon (of Les Éditions de Minuit, Beckett's French publisher), George O. Marshall, Jr., W. Kelly Morris and Richard Schechner (of the Tulane Drama Review), Eoin T. O'Brien, John Pilling, and representatives of the Columbia, Dartmouth, Ohio State, Texas, and Washington University Libraries, of the Modern Language Association, and scholarly publishers the Associated University Press, Bucknell University Press, and Princeton University Press. Of note are the letters from TDR's Morris and editor Schechner (later a professor at New York University and a major figure in the field of performance studies); they are two very harsh critiques of Kennedy's first journal article attempt. That Kennedy, then still a graduate student, kept the letters is illustrative of her character.
Also present in this series are two autograph letters from Beckett to his uncle's brother, Harry Sinclair, one written in October 1937 and one dated 2 February 1938, and one photocopy of a typed letter draft, in German, from Beckett to his friend Axel Kaun, dated 9 July 1937. The Sinclair letters were written during the time of the libel suit (eventually successful) brought against the Irish writer, politician, physician and wit Oliver St. John Gogarty for his portrayal of the Sinclair family in his 1937 memoir As I Was Going Down Sackville Street. Beckett's affidavit in the case was taken on 12 May 1937. The second letter reports on the status of Beckett's health following his hospitalization for a stab wound to his lung given to him on 7 January 1938 by a Parisian pimp, apparently for no reason. Beckett wrote the letter from the Hotel Liberia in Paris, where he was convalescing.
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Associated University Press, 1970-1984
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Beckett, Samuel to Axel Kaun (copy of draft), 1937
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Beckett, Samuel, to Harry Sinclair, 1937-1938
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Beckett, Samuel to Sighle Kennedy, 1967-1977
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Columbia University Rare Book and Manuscript Library, 1986-1995
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Doll, Mary, 1983
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Ellman, Richard, 1976-1978
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Fell, Cynthia (Associated/Bucknell University Press), 1973
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Fletcher, John, 1971
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Gilvarry, James, undated
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Gontarski, Stanley E., 1977
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Hall, Holly (Washington University Libraries), 1978
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Harvey, Lawrence E., 1974
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Humanities Research Center, University of Texas-Austin, 1971-1974
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Kelly, John,1976-1977
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Kennedy, Sighle to Samuel Beckett, 1967-1988
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Kennedy, Sighle, 1965-1976
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Kennedy, Sighle, 1977-1992
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Knowlson, James, 1974-1992
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Leventhal, A.J., 1976
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Library Chronicle of the University of Texas-Austin, 1981
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Lindon, Jérôme, 1983
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Mackesy, Eileen (Modern Language Association), 1974
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Marshall, George O., Jr., 1969
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Morris, W. Kelly (Tulane Drama Review), 1966
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Mortimer, Roger (Washington University Libraries), 1973
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O'Brien, Eoin T., 1983-1985
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Pilling, John, 1976
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Princeton University Press, 1974-1981
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Schechner, Richard (Tulane Drama Review), 1966
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Tibbetts, Robert A. (Ohio State University Libraries), 1970-1977
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Wright, Walter W. (Dartmouth College Library), 1975