White erethism: Beckett, Crevel, and Negro: An Anthology

From 1931-1933, Samuel Beckett translated nineteen French-language texts for Nancy Cunard's Negro: An Anthology. Adding up to more than 63,000 words, Beckett's translations for the anthology are his most extensive single publication. Focusing on his translation of Rene Crevel's essay The Negress in the Brothel (La Negresse des bordels), this essay shows how Beckett injects Crevel's original text with a critique of the ideology of racial purity by foregrounding the panic over racial purity, degeneration, and generation hygiene in late nineteenth- and early twentieth-century Europe. This critique resurfaces in his later works Murphy (1938), First Love (1946), and Happy Days (1961).

Automated summary

This essay examines Samuel Beckett's translation of Rene Crevel's essay, demonstrating how he critiques the ideology of racial purity in late nineteenth- and early twentieth-century Europe by emphasizing the panic over racial purity, degeneration, and generation hygiene.