THD 304-01 - Studies in Drama II

4 credits (Fall)

Cross-listed as: GLS 304-01. Beckett’s Prose and Plays. Study of the work of one of the most influential contemporary storytellers and dramatists, who won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1969. The course will focus on the development of Beckett’s thought and style; the artistic, philosophical, literary and Irish influences at work in his plays and prose (Unnamable, The Lost Ones, Company, Ill Seen Ill Said); problems of interpretation and the staging of the plays, especially as Beckett himself conceived and rehearsed them (Godot, Endgame,Happy Days, Krapp and minimalist late work). Through critical discussion and close attention to Beckett’s narrative and dramatic ingenuity and stagecraft, we will explore the variety of ways in which the “comedian of the impasse” goes about fulfilling the need to give shape to chaos and the obligation to express, though there is “nothing to express, nothing with which to express.” Depending on class composition, potential workshop performance of selected prose, scenes, or short plays.

Prerequisite: One 200-level course from any of the following departments: General Literary Studies, Philosophy, History, Religious Studies, Anthropology, English, Classics, Theatre and Dance, Spanish, German, Russian, French, Chinese, Art and Art History.
Note: Plus-2 option available.
Instructor: Mease