The measured release of material has multiplied the way Beckett’s work can be interpreted, transforming the image of Beckett as a leading 20th century existentialist into a historically and culturally complex figure who actively resisted a stable interpretation of his work. What the estate has accomplished through its trickle of archival material is perpetual scholarship, allowing certain numbers of comments upon a theme before new information is dangled in front of eager scholars, negating earlier arguments. With Palgrave Macmillian, Continuum, Rodopi, and Cambridge University Press all with dedicated imprints to Samuel Beckett, and The Samuel Digital Manuscript Project (the digitization of Beckett’s manuscripts along with accompanying rewrites and revisions), Beckett studies lubricates itself through the diffusion of the source material.
