Two Women Scholars Honored for Their Collection of Samuel Beckett Letters

The Modern Language Association has announced the winner of the Morton N. Cohen Award for a Distinguished Edition of Letters. The winning collection is The Letters of Samuel Beckett, Volume 1: 1929-1940 (Cambridge University Press). The award will be presented on January 7 at the MLA annual convention in Seattle.

The project was led by founding editor Martha Dow Fehsenfeld, who was authorized by Beckett to edit his correspondence in 1985 and managing editor Lois More Overbeck. Both women are affiliated with the Laney Graduate School at Emory University.

Fehsenfeld is a graduate of Bennington College, holds a master’s degree from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and did doctoral work at the University of Illinois.

Dr. Overbeck is a graduate of Beloit College. She earned a master’s degree at the University of Chicago and a Ph.D. at the University of Pennsylvania.

The Letters of Samuel Beckett, Volume 2, 1941-1956 was published in October.