Bertolt Brecht Samuel Beckett
English 612
Brecht and Beckett: The Antinomies of Modernism
Spring 2005 MWF 1:00 PUM 104
This course will explore key creative works by two of the most important playwrights of the twentieth century.
The course will focus on their widely diverging philosophical assumptions and dramatic strategies resulting from and responding to the historical complexities of the first 60-70 years of the twentieth century. Cultural commentators have adopted the term “Modernism” to describe this richly creative yet deeply contradictory era.
Students will read and discuss representative works by both authors, including some non-dramatic works in the form of fiction, essays, and poetry. Students will also explore the dynamics and possibilities of analysis offered by Critical Theory, particularly in the work of Fredric Jameson, T. W. Adorno, Darko Suvin, and Walter Benjamin.
Graded projects will include mid-term and final essay exams, an oral report and supporting handout, and a lengthy critical essay.
Reading List (detailed list)
Beckett: Waiting for Godot; Endgame; Happy Days; Watt; Collected Shorter Plays.
Brecht: Life of Galileo; Brecht on Theatre; The Caucasian Chalk Circle; Three-Penny Opera; The Good Person of Szechwan; Mother Courage and Her Children; The Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny and the Seven Deadly Sins. The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui.
Fredrick Jameson: Brecht and Method.