Beckett's Trilogy I

In this fully online course we’ll study Samuel Beckett's Trilogy (Molloy, Malone Dies, The Unnamable) and several related plays. Samuel Beckett remains one of the most influential and acclaimed writers of the 20th century. Our study will include short lectures and discussions that provide access to Beckett’s challenging Trilogy in which he crafted a unique voice and launched a set of literary provocations that draw on the devastations of war, on wordlessness in the face of a “universe made provisional,” and on the strange power of one who has “nothing to express, no means to express... yet the obligation to express.” Through all its laughter and tears, Beckett's work ultimately returns readers to the neutral, quiet ground of a language through which the human experience might be “thought again.” This course is a great opportunity for those interested in a guided, well-paced engagement with Beckett's work and the chance to have discussions with others about this monument in twentieth century literature.

Each week will include short online or recorded lectures and discussion using Zoom and short writing tasks completed using Canvas (Canvas and Zoom will be available to you through your my.evergreen homepage). In addition to weekly short writing tasks, students will have the option of completing a critical essay or creative response (including fiction, poetry or visual art) to culminate the reading experience. 

This work in continued on in Beckett's Trilogy II in winter quarter.