Lawrence E. Harvey papers on Samuel Beckett

The Lawrence E. Harvey Research Papers on Samuel Beckett were a 1984 gift to the Dartmouth College Library from Professor Emeritus and Mrs. Lawrence E. Harvey. Professor Harvey was a friend of Samuel Beckett and an acknowledged authority on Beckett's works; his book "Samuel Beckett, Poet and Critic," won honorable mention in the 1970 James Russell Lowell Prize competition for best book of the year on literature.

Professor Harvey became interested in the works of Samuel Beckett in the late 1950's. He met Beckett through a mutual acquaintance in 1961, and the two became friends. Many of the original manuscripts in the Beckett collection (MS-122) were gifts to Harvey from Beckett, and subsequently from Harvey to the Dartmouth College Library. Samuel Beckett took a strong interest in the writing of Harvey's book, "Samuel Beckett, Poet and Critic" (1970) and provided many insights and submitted to numerous interviews to provide Harvey with background material. Notes on some of these conversations are included in the collection.