In Memory of George Craig

George Craig, Editor and French Translator of The Letters of Samuel Beckett, died on 6 March 2019.

He tackled the arduous task of translating into English Samuel Beckett’s letters written in French with courage and a delight that befitted his own passion for language, and generously gave his “retirement” years to this effort. His translations were exemplary, as readers and reviewers have appreciated.

George was in the thrall of words and the music of languages. He found in Beckett’s writings a special home. George was a man of immense learning whose editorial eye was frighteningly insistent; he missed nothing. By nature, he was a patient, humble, and kind man. His passion was felt in every nuance of what he did.

George Craig brought unique personal credentials to his role as French translator: born and educated in Ireland, he followed in Beckett’s own academic pathway from Trinity College Dublin to the École normale supérieure in Paris. He loved the challenges of crosswords, he was at times infuriated by the untranslatable jokes of Beckett’s wordplay, and he knew the Oxford English Dictionary as life experience – knew when a word entered the English language and so when it could be used in a translation.

An Honorary Research Fellow at the University of Sussex, and, formerly, Reader in French, The School of European Studies, University of Sussex, he educated leaders in literature and critical writing. His distinguished scholarship includes a critical edition of Marguerite Duras, Des journées entières dans les arbres (1972), and with co-editor Margaret McGowan, Moy qui me voy: the Writer and the Self from Montaigne to Leiris (1989), together with essays on Hugo, Mallarmé, and Proust — and on reading. He was for many years a regular contributor to the Times Literary Supplement.

It is with great sadness that we have lost a dear friend, It is with great joy that we celebrate his continued presence with us.