Subjects

OBJECTIVES
The course is designed as a wide exploration of stage and radio plays written by Beckett from the 1950s to the late 1970s. A central objective is to follow the trajectories taken by recurrent themes in these plays such as voices resounding in the head, fighting back and/or piecing together memories, or the presence of a torturing external gaze. Close attention will be paid to the way in which Beckett often stretches his medium to the utmost limit: it will become manifest how radically Beckett changed the face of modern theatre with his fundamental experiments. The course will combine textual analysis with an examination of the performative aspects of the play text and the specific forms of approaching its audience. Most items will be screened or made available in audio format.

ASSESSMENT
Credit requirements include active in-class participation, a 15-20 min in-class presentation, and a final essay (min. length 3 000 words). Students wishing to be awarded an exam grade in the course are required to submit, in addition to the above, a graded research paper (min. length 5 000 words). Essay topics must be consulted with the instructor in advance. The formal arrangement of essays must follow the Department guidelines (essay-guidelines.pdf (cuni.cz)). Deadline for all essays: 20 January 2025.

Last update: Pilný Ondřej, prof. Mgr., Ph.D. (08.09.2024)

BASIC BIBLIOGRAPHY

Beckett, Samuel. The Complete Dramatic Works. London: Faber and Faber, 1986.

“Three Dialogues by Samuel Beckett and Georges Duthuit.” In Martin Esslin, ed. Samuel Beckett.

A Collection of Critical Essays. New Jersey: Prentice-Hall, 1965. 16-22.

Knowlson, James. Damned to Fame. The Life of Samuel Beckett. London: Bloomsbury, 1996.

Pilling, John, ed. The Cambridge Companion to Beckett. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1994.

van Hulle, Dirk, ed. The New Cambridge Companion to Samuel Beckett. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2015.

Ackerley, C.J. and S.E. Gontarski, eds. The Grove Companion to Samuel Beckett. New York: Grove Press, 2004.

Uhlmann, Anthony, ed. Samuel Beckett in Context. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2013.

Cohn, Ruby. A Beckett Canon. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 2001.

Gontarski, S.E., ed. The Edinburgh Companion to Samuel Beckett and the Arts. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2014.

Haynes, John and James Knowlson. Images of Beckett. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2003.

O’Brien, Eoin. The Beckett Country. Samuel Beckett’s Ireland. Dublin: The Black Cat Press/ London: Faber and Faber, 1986.

Last update: Pilný Ondřej, prof. Mgr., Ph.D. (09.09.2022)

seminář

Last update: Znojemská Helena, Mgr., Ph.D. (23.06.2013)

SCHEDULE

30 Sep Introduction

7 Oct Endgame

14 Oct Happy Days

21 Oct All That Fall

28 Oct No class (state holiday)

4 Nov Krapp’s Last Tape

11 Nov Words and Music

18 Nov No class (Humanities Week)

25 Nov Cascando

2 Dec Play

9 Dec Not I

16 Dec That Time

6 Jan Footfalls

Last update: Pilný Ondřej, prof. Mgr., Ph.D. (08.09.2024)