Seeing Barbara Bray: Marek Kędzierski on Barbara Bray – Barbara Bray on Samuel Beckett

Abstract

Seeing Barbara Bray was written as a sketch for a portrait of Barbara Bray, who met Samuel Beckett shortly after he sent the text of All That Fall to BBC's Third Programme. As script editor and producer, she consulted with the author on his first radio drama and collaborated on subsequent works broadcast by the BBC. From the early 1960s, Bray, based in Paris, worked mainly as a literary translator. Over time a strong bond between them developed and an intimate relationship ensued. Erudite and with a gift for rendering complex issues in the least complicated way, Bray provided Beckett with much more than translating advice, encouraging him in his writing, editing his texts, and acting as his “sounding board”. Very modest and discrete, she kept a low profile until her death in 2010. It was only with the publication of the two last volumes of The Letters of Samuel Beckett (2014, 2016 respectively), that her role in his life and writing became apparent to the general readership. In his personal account, Marek Kedzierski focuses principally on Beckett's letters to Bray, her comments on them, and on her unfinished memoir from which he quotes several passages. Drawing from conversations with her recorded by him in 2003-2009, his essay ends with Bray's personal confession revealing to us her deep pain and her refusal to be “the invisible woman” in Samuel Beckett's life.