An "Other Object of Note": Circle and Point in Samuel Beckett's

Abstract

Although the picture of a circle and centre is present in the earliest drafts of , the painting itself underwent several significant changes before obtaining its final form (, 128-31). A curiosity arises concerning the words "right" and "left" used to define the relationship of point to circle, for these finally assume the perspective of the object perceived, rather than that of the subject perceiving. Tracing this detail through the various notebooks, manuscripts and typescript (particularly those at the Harry Ransom Humanities Center, Austin) offers unexpected insights into Beckett's wider artistic practice, as well as into the evolution of .