En attendant Beckett

Christian Whittall ~ okiejoe2000@hotmail.com ~ Tuesdays 7:00pm - 9:00pm ~ 18 January - 22 March 2005 ~ 63B Ossington Ave. (From Queen & Ossington walk N to Bruce St. then E to second door on the N side)

With the major exceptions of his plays Waiting for Godot and Endgame, the vast literary output of Samuel Beckett has been heavily burdened with the role that's since been assigned to it of buttressing the Pharisaic project of intellectual self-entombment being 'undertaken' by our institutes of higher learning. In regards to English criticism alone, it was projected years ago that by sheer volume it would equal that devoted to Napoleon and Wagner by the turn of the century. Whether this is in fact the case or not, it is clear that the void Beckett's literature has articulated not only in terms of content but also, revolutionarily so, in form, has attracted more than its share of academic vampirism.

Beckett himself felt compelled to

refuse to be involved in exegesis of any kind .... And if that's not enough for them, and it obviously isn't, it's plenty for us, and we have no elucidations to offer of mysteries that are all of their making. My work is a matter of fundamental sounds ... made as fully as possible, and I accept responsibility for nothing else. If people want to have headaches among the overtones, let them. And provide their own aspirin.

Lost somewhere in the occultish obfuscations of the well-subsidised 'modern vs. post-modern' academic psych-out, the meaning and resonance of Beckett's work has been severely blunted for the non-accredited reading public: it has become a void within a void.

And so still we are waiting for Beckett.

For Beckett, writing was first and foremost a practice. A playful practice. The writing itself is simply a record of the act of its having been written. This class would be good for practicing writers and artists, who, like Beckett, are interested in teasing out the meaning and structure of artistic practice through that very practice. The emphasis is on open-ended written (or performed or filmed or …) encounters either directly with the texts or with the students’ own work. Heavy academic engagement with the texts will take a back seat to the playful elaboration of a collaborative, creative dialogue with Beckett’s work and each other's.

Readings

In order to accomodate a classroom of students whom I presume would have varying quantities of available reading time, I've divided up the readings into primary/secondary/tertiary importance. Keep in mind that these are but the barest of guidelines and I would certainly welcome and encourage the independant introduction of any texts you may find relevant to our discussion. Beyond the core of primary readings, I will also offer many examples of writings that belong to various branches of his literary geneology as well as a much slenderer sampling of redeemable Beckett criticism (most of which is German or French).

*PRIMARY*

Because so much attention has been lavished on Beckett's theatre work, I would like to lean the course a bit more on the side of his more neglected literary output, but seeing as plays are quick reads and are truly important works of twentieth century art, I've included his most important plays among the primary readings. Overall however, I think it makes sense to adopt the Molloy, Malone Dies, The Unnamable trilogy as the central hub from where we can branch our studies out in whatever direction.

• Malloy

• Molone Dies

• The Unnamable

• Waiting for Godot

• Endgame

• Stories and Texts for Nothing (selections)

• The Complete Short Prose, 1929-1989 (selections)

• Collected Poems in English and French (selections)

*SECONDARY*

• Murphy

• Watt

• Collected Shorter Plays (selections)

• More Pricks than Kicks

• Company / Ill Seen Ill Said / Westward Ho trilogy

• Disjecta edited by Ruby Cohn (selections)

*TERTIARY*

I will include examples of writings that have influenced or been influenced by Beckett's as well as a smattering of essays and commentary in weekly handouts that you may or may not read at your leisure. Also, seeing as Beckett also did much work in many different mediums: theatre, radio, television and film, not all his influence has been strictly literary. Included among them, you might find these names:

Dante Alighieri ~ Rene Descartes ~ Arnold Geulincx ~ James Joyce ~ Maurice Maeterlinck ~ Alfred Jarry ~ Dada ~ Surrealism ~ Antonin Artaud ~ George Bataille ~ Maurice Blanchot ~ Gunter Grass ~ Friedrich Durrenmatt ~ Theodor Adorno ~ Harpo Marx ~ Laurel and Hardy ~ Dziga Vertov ~ V.I. Pudovkin ~ Luis Bunuel ~ Buster Keaton ~ John Banville ~ Thomas Bernhard ~ William S. Burroughs ~ James Kelman ~ David Mamet ~ Alexander Trocchi ~ Paul Muldoon ~ Harold Pinter ~ Etc. ~~~

NOTE: The class will be held in my apartment which is something of an informal setting to say the least. Please feel free to bring your own thought-fuel in whatever form that that might take.