The End of Modernity and Samuel Beckett’s Theatre

 

Dr. Fernando de Toro

 

ENGL 3800 T01 CRN 15399 Special Studies 1

e-mail: Fernando.detoro@umanitoba.ca

 

Telephone: 474-8141

Academic Term: Fall 2015

Day, Time and Location: TR, 11:30-12:45 University College 235

Office Hours: MTWTHF 13:30-14:30

 

I. Introduction

To approach Beckett’s theatre is almost an aporistic endeavour since it is a theatre that resists any possibility of interpretation.

We have the texts, they are there, but what to do with them? How to approach them? Where to place them?

These are some of the questions that this seminar aims to answer.

I. Introduction

And yes, hundreds of studies have been written about his theatre from all kind of perspectives, namely, religious, philosophical, psychoanalytic, biographical, etc.

However, one of the aspects that becomes evident from these studies, is that the approaches used do not necessarily emerge from Beckett’s texts, but rather they are imposed from the outside, that is, from the perspective of a given critic.

I. Introduction

What we would do in this seminar is allow Beckett’s texts to speak for themselves, and from there elaborate theoretical strategies of analysis.

One question which is also central to answer, and an attempt to understand, is why Beckett produces this type of texts, texts that in my estimation are not, strictly speaking, theatre.

I. Introduction

This is why it is imperative to situate Beckett’s work within the temporal framework he wrote, that is, within Modernity, and then proceed to establish a textual strategy, and finally, center our attention in several texts written from 1952 to 1984.

II. Method of Evaluation

 

Written Work 3

 

Dates, length and value:

 

1) October 22: A 800 word essay – 25%

2) November 19: A 1000 word essay – 35%

3) December 8: A 1300 word essay - 40%

 

IV. Reference Readings: Theory

Angel-Perez, Élisabeth. (2006). Voyages au bout du possible. Les théâtre du traumatisme de Samuel Beckett à Sarah Kane. Paris : Klincksieck.

Barthes, Roland. “The death of the author”. In David Lodge. (1988). Modern Criticism and Theory. London and New York: Longman.

Bertens, Hans. (1986). “The Postmodern Weltanschauung and its Relation to Modernism : An Introductory Survey”. In A Postmodern Reader. Edited by Joseph Natoli and Linda Hutcheon. New York: State University of New York Press, pp. 25-70.

IV. Reference Readings: Theory Butler, Christopher. (1994). Early Modernism. Literature,

Music and Painting in Europe 1900-1916. Oxford: Claredon Press.

Casanova, Pascale. (2006 [1997]). Samuel Beckett : Anatomy of a Literary Revolution. Translated by Gregory Elliott. With and Introduction by Terry Eagleton. London and New York: Verso.

Collins Donaue, William. (2001). End of Modernism: Elias Canetti’s Auto-Da-Fe. Chapell Hill: University of North Carolina Press.

De Toro, Fernando. (2011). “O que é performance? Entre a teatralidade e a performatividade de Samuel Beckett”. Urdimento, 15: 149-172.

IV. Reference Readings: Theory

De Toro, Fernando. (2012). “Le théâtre de Samuel Beckett et la fin de la Modernité”. Université Libre de Bruxelles. Revue de synthèse à orientation sémiologique. Degrés, Publication International trimestrelle, 149-150 : c 1-34.

De Toro, Fernando. (2014). "Performance: ¿Qué performance? Entre la teatralidad y la performatividad y el caso de Samuel Beckett". México: Editorial Pasodegato, 40 pp.

De Toro, Fernando.(2015). "Más allá del teatro: Samuel Beckett revisitado". Pasodegato. Revista de Teatro. Special Issue on Samuel Beckett. 25 años sin Beckett. (With Maria Fernanda Arentsen, Translator. Université de St. Boniface). Octubre, Año 13, No. 59, February, pp: 27-29.

IV. Reference Readings: Theory

Everdell, William. R. (1997). The First Moderns: Profiles of the Origins of Twentieth-Century Thought. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

Faulkner, Peter. (1977). Modernism. The Critical Idiom. London and New York: Methuen.

Fleming, Bruce. A. (1995). Modernism and Its Discontents: Philosophical Problems of

Twentieth-Century Literary Theory. Peter Lang Pub Inc. Fokkema, Douwe W., Editor (1986). Approaching

Postmodernism. Amsterdam and Philadelphia: John Benjamins.

IV. Reference Readings: Theory

Fokkema, Douwe W. (1984). Literary History, Modernism, and Postmodernism. Amsterdam and Philadelphia: John Benjamins.

Heidegger, Martin. (1976). Acheminement vers la parole. Traduit de l’allemand part Jean Beaufret, Wolfgang Bromeier et François Fedier. Paris : Gallimard.

Heller, Agnes. (1999). A Theory of Modernity. Oxford: Blackwell Publishers.

Huyssen, Andreas. (1984). “Mapping the Postmodern”. New German Critique, 11: 5-52.

Hutcheon, Linda. “Theorising the Postmodern”. In Charles

IV. Reference Readings: Theory

Jencks, Editor. (1991). The Post-Modern Reader. London: Academy Editions and New York: St. Martin’s Press.

Jencks, Charles. (1989). What is Post-Modernism? Third revised enlarged Edition. New York: St. Martin's Press.

Karl, Frederick R. (1988). Modern and Modernism: The Sovereignty of the Artists 1885-1925. New York: Atheneum.

Karl, Frederick R. (1988). “Getting to Be Modern: An Overview”. In Modern and Modernism: The Sovereignty of the Artist 1885-1925. New York: Atheneum.

IV. Reference Readings: Theory

Karl, Frederick R. (1988). “Modern and Postmodern, Modernism and Postmodernism”. In Modern and Modernism: The Sovereignty of the Artist 1885-1925. New York: Atheneum.

Matthews, Steven. (2004). Modernism. London: Arnold. McMullan, Anna. (2010). Performing Embodiment in

Samuel Beckett’s Drama. London and New York: Routledge.

McMullan, Anna. (1993). Theatre On Trial. Beckett’s later Drama. New York and London: Routledge.

Miller, Lawrence. (1992). Samuel Beckett: The Expressive Dilemma. New York: St. Martin's.

IV. Reference Readings: Theory

Schwarz, Daniel R. (1997). Reconfiguring Modernism: Explorations in the Relationship Between Modern Art and Modern Literature. New York: St. Martin's Press.

Trainor, Brian. (1998). The origin and end of modernity: Reflections on the meaning of postmodernism. World Heritage Press.

Trezise, Thomas. (1990). Into the Breach: Samuel Beckett and the Ends of Literature. Princeton: Princeton University Press.

Turner, Bryan. (1990). Theories of Modernity and Postmodernity. London: Sage Publications.

IV. Reference Readings: Theory

Uhlmann, Anthony. (1999). Beckett and Poststructuralism. Cambridge, United Kingdom: Cambridge University Press.

Uhlmann, Anthony. (2006). Samuel Beckett and the Philosophical Image. Cambridge, United Kingdom: Cambridge University Press.

Vattimo, Gianni. (1991). La fine Della modernità. Italia: Garzanti.

V. Reading Schedule  September 10: Introduction: From Where to Start? September 15: Introduction: From Where to Start? September 17: Introduction: From Where to Start?   September 22: Introduction to Modernity  September 24: Introduction to Modernity September 29 Introduction to the End of Modernity October 1: Introduction to the End of Modernity October 6: Introduction to Post-Modernity October 8: Introduction to Post-Modernity October 13: Beckett and Modernity October 15: Beckett and Modernity October 20: Beckett and Its Critics

V. Reading Schedule

   October 22 : First paper October 22: Beckett and Its Critics  October 27: Video Not I - Analysis October 29: Video Footfalls - Analysis  November 3: Video That Time I - Analysis November 5: Video That Time I - Analysis November 10: Video A Piece of a Monologue - Analysis November 12: Video A Piece of a Monologue - Analysis

November 17: Video Play - Analysis November 18: Voluntary Withdrawal (VW) deadline November 19: Second paper

V. Reading Schedule

   November 19: Video Rockaby - Analysis November 24: Video Rockaby - Analysis November 26: Video Ohio Impromptu - Analysis December 1: Video Ohio Impromptu – Analysis December 3: Analysis Video Act Without Words I and

II and Breath  December 8: Final Remarks December 8: Third Paper

 

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