Beckett Lecture week 1: Beckett Philosophy and the Modern/Postmodern Debate
Part one: Module Introduction
1. I would like to welcome you all to these series of lectures. For me it is my chance in the year to talk about a number of my favourite subjects, topics I find fascinating and I hope you find too. Before we begin, and to help me get to know you, could you each first tell me you name, and what interest/relationship you have to both Beckett and philosophy?
2. Before we move onto to today’s lecture I want to highlight a few key points as to how these sessions work.
As an overarching idea these lectures are designed to be understood as a collaborative workshop between all of us – this space shouldn’t in my opinion be that different to the studio or the workshop. Of course there will be a substantial component of the sessions, which will be formed around me giving what might be considered traditional lectures. However I want us to keep in mind that these aspects are only there to open up a frame for us all to discuss the material, but also more importantly test ideas and associations that arise from these frames. As such I want us to consider this space an open and completely non-judgmental space. It should be a place where we all can test our critical and creative thinking.
I’ve found that to make this work I prefer not to lecture straight through for an hour, and then spend an hour discussing what I have just relayed. Instead I prefer to lecture in chunks, speaking for 20 minutes or so before we reach a point where we naturally break off and discuss an argument or point as it develops. If we are engaging with complex philosophical material, it also gives us a chance to stop off and clarify or critique material before it is applied. Part of every session will also involve us as a group making a shared analysis of at least one of Beckett’s work.
As you may have heard from previous years one of the other key differences on this module from those you have previously undertaken is that we will be asking you all to come up with your own questions for your essay. This is a change to previous ways you may have worked, but an essential step and training ground for when you come to set up your research project for your dissertation. At this stage it might seem daunting, but the structure and learning you do on the module are all designed to get you to that point.
So rather than looking for the answers to a question that might be situated around a particular week’s sessions, each session will hopefully trigger in your mind issues that you find interesting and important. The seminar aspects of the sessions should in this context be used as a place to test you ideas, look for creative and interesting associations, and link material across the week’s topics. We often think of feedback coming at the end of the essay writing process, but in our case I’d urge you to use the sessions to play and test ideas, and obtain early initial feedback on small parts of an argument from me and your peers long before you get anywhere near typing at a computer. Like the works in progress or exercises you share in a studio and get feedback from before performing a final piece of theatre, a similar thing should happen here.
To help guide this process there are two formal points of feedback on the module, prior to essay feedback. First, after reading week I will ask each of you to submit a rough paragraph long synopsis of your essay question. I’ll review these, and offer a tutorial or an email correspondence if you prefer whereby we reach a mutually agreed topic to work on. In this way no one will be leaving at Easter without something concrete planned to work on. Second, I will not be asking you to take turns to present on a weekly basis as part of the module. Instead the final week will be given over to a symposium, where each of you will have the chance to present your essay projects. Again you then have a chance to hear what each other are doing – something that doesn’t really happen with essays, but does all the time with your performances – and get feedback again from your peers and me.
The final piece of practical information I want to note is to please keep a close eye on the Learngold page. As you will have already noticed each session is laid out, and a synopsis provided as to what we will be talking about – this should help guide you when you are reading in preparation. I will also normally send out a message with a specific question relating to the next week’s session, which if you think about helps immensely with opening up discussion. Also, after each lecture I post my full lecture notes – these are normally 3-4,000-words long and cover everything prepared for the class.
Part two: Beckett and Philosophy
3. Did everyone read the short essay by Moran I set on Beckett and philosophy? Was it helpful in contextualising the links between Beckett and Philosophy?
4. I set the reading because it outlines the fundamental problem in studying Beckett, that it both covers a wide range of intellectual and philosophical topics, whilst at the same time presenting itself through an aesthetic form as something that cannot and should not be reduced to a theorisation. I think Moran hits the nail on the head when he points out how seductive the terrain of topics – topics that foreshadow the topics we will cover over the coming weeks – have been for a range of philosophers. And how as a result many have tried to appropriate or align their stances with Beckett’s. As he writes:
‘They (the philosophers) have all been attracted to Beckett’s relentless vision of the world and our human place in it. They have sought to reflect on Beckett’s meaning from quite divergent points of view, seeking to recruit Beckett to one cause or other: from modernism to postmodernism, from structuralism to deconstruction’ (Moran, 2006 p.100)
5. In this lecture, and because this module forms part of the grouping of course held under the title of Modernisms and Postmodernity, I would like us to use this particular distinction to show precisely how Beckett eludes the easy application of a particular style or theory.
6. This in turn leads me to set out my thesis for how we might approach Beckett’s work. As such these lectures coincide with my own research into what art is; how it differs from other modes of expression or action; and what advantages or reasons are there for using it. Beckett for me is a case study that helps understand this question. Towards the end of this lecture I’ll try to qualify what this might be.
7. Before we go on do this work, some further contextualisation is probably helpful. How aware are all you of the general trajectory and chronology of Beckett’s work? Although this is a far from perfect way of breaking down the general narrative of his work, you can roughly view like this.