Englisches Seminar - Ruhr-Universität Bochum

Students will emerge with a firm grasp of the scope of Beckett’s art and of Beckett
criticism.
But this course will also develop its own theory of Beckett’s work, which sets
Beckett at a sharp angle to the tradition of Enlightenment humanism. Beckett’s work
is a rigorous critique of instrumental reason. It proposes a non-instrumental – iconic
– view of language. We will explore iconicity as an idea and as artistic practice:
Beckett’s art refuses to be constituted as conceptual content but, rather, gives itself
in excess of conceptual blueprints. What emerges is a radically new approach to
images, both literary and visual, which is supremely relevant in the increasingly visual
culture of the 21st century.
Major readings:
Waiting for Godot
Endgame
The Unnamable
Disjecta
Shorter Plays (Catastrophe, Not I, Krapp’s Last Tape, amongst others)
Nohow On