This course examines the life and work of Irish playwright and author Samuel Beckett (1906-1989), and seeks to demystify Beckett’s art, which has garnered a reputation as serious and obscure. Students will learn how to appreciate Beckett’s drama, as well as how to make sense of it.  Particularly of interest to the course is the way in which Beckett’s private life, as well as major world events, had a profound impact on his literary career.

Samuel Beckett has a reputation as a difficult, avant-garde artist, but why has he been so popular with readers and theatre-goers the world over since the 1950s? The answer is that Beckett vividly speaks to the absurdity, comedy and desolation of the human condition in a way that transcends time. This eight-week module is designed for students who are curious about the mystique surrounding Samuel Beckett (as well as the reasons for his cultural importance), and will provide students with strategies for “making sense” of his abstract, challenging, and often hilarious art, incorporating elements of his biography, historical events, the philosophy in which he was interested, and the paintings he admired during his life. The course will examine and explain his most famous and critically-acclaimed plays in their artistic and historical contexts, including Waiting For Godot, Krapp’s Last Tape, Happy Days, and Not I, as well as some of his shorter fiction, making the case for Beckett’s importance, influence, and timelessness in the Ireland of today.