By Bridget English

In a 1955 letter to German director Alan Schneider, Irish playwright Samuel Beckett wrote, “Having worked with you so pleasantly and, I hope, profitably in Paris and London, I feel my monster is in safe keeping.” The work Beckett is referring to is Waiting for Godot, arguably his finest play.

Thanks to a new display at Boston College that takes its title “…my monster is in safe keeping” from the above quote, the public has a chance to probe deeper into the mind of the eccentric genius.

The exhibition honors the centennial of the birth of Beckett in Dublin, Ireland on April 13, 1906.

Boston College’s Burns Library holds a collection of more than 400 Beckett manuscripts and other writings. Among the Library’s treasures are correspondences between Beckett and his American literary agent Barney Rossett, Alan Schneider, and novelist and playwright Robert Pringet. The exhibit also introduces the Burns Library’s newest acquisition, The Judith Schmidt Douw Collection of Correspondence with Samuel Beckett 1957-1984, which features letters between Beckett and Schmidt Douw, secretary to his American publisher.

“This collection significantly strengthens the Beckett Collection, already well represented at Burns Library by the Israel, Schneider and Rossett collections,” enthuses Burns librarian Robert O’Neill

Exhibition highlights include the rare manuscript “Suite” (later called “La Fine”) written in 1946, significant because it was during his work on “Suite” that Beckett started writing extended prose in French. Other pieces include Beckett’s notes to Schneider on how to direct his plays, a typescript of his 1930 poem “Whoroscope” and several rare posters from openings of Beckett plays.

The exhibit continues through January 31, 2007.

The John J. Burns Library at Boston College, 140 Commonwealth Avenue, Chestnut Hill, Mass. Free and open to the public. Hours: Monday through Friday from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. or by appointment. Venue is handicap accessible.

For more information call: 617-552-3282.