Samuel Beckett: Debts and Legacies, 2010

A seminar sponsored by the University of Oxford and the University of Northampton

Convening in the Collier Room, Regent’s Park College, Pusey Street, Oxford

Following the publication of James Knowlson’s biography and the release of invaluable notebooks and diaries for scholarly scrutiny, Beckett Studies is undergoing a revolution. Beckett’s major phase of intense study was in the 1920s and 30s, long before he became known as a French Existentialist after Waiting for Godot, and even longer before he was discovered by post-structuralist critics. This seminar will attempt to reassess Beckett’s cultural position in two directions: by examining some of the recently uncovered influences that shaped his unique writing, and by refracting his image and his work through some of the authors, thinkers, composers and visual artists he influenced in turn.

Trinity Term 2010:

30 April

Dr Bill Prosser (Regent’s Park College, University of Oxford)
‘Samuel Beckett: Nothings in Particular’ (AUDIO HERE)

7 May

Dr Catherine Laws (Orpheus Research Centre in Music, Ghent, Belgium)
‘Beckett’s Schuberts: Vocality and Imagination’ (AUDIO HERE)

14 May

Dr Peter Fifield (University of York)
‘”Spirochete!” Syphilitic Fathers in Beckett and Georges Bataille’ (AUDIO HERE)

21 May

Dr John Bolin (Linacre College, University of Oxford)
‘Watt’s Voices’ (AUDIO HERE)

28 May

Dr Katherine Weiss (East Tennessee State University, USA)
‘Beckett’s Theatre: Revolving and Rewinding Histories’ (AUDIO HERE)

4 June

Dr Suzanne Dow (University of Nottingham)
Lacan with Beckett(AUDIO HERE)

11 June

Professor Stan Gontarski (Florida State University, USA)
There is No Outside the Image: Bergson on Movement(AUDIO HERE)

18 June

Professor Enoch Brater (University of Michigan, USA)
‘Beckett’s Devious Interventions, or Fun with Cube Roots’ (AUDIO HERE)

A DAYLONG SYMPOSIUM FROM 9AM–4PM PRECEDES THIS CONCLUDING SESSION

ALL WELCOME. SEMINARS COMMENCE AT 4.30PM

Contact details for seminar series

• Dr John Bolin, Linacre College, University of Oxford bolin.john@googlemail.com
• Dr Matthew Feldman, University of Northampton matthew.feldman@northampton.ac.uk
• Dr Bill Prosser, Regent’s Park, College, University of Oxford william.prosser@regents.ox.ac.uk
• Dr Erik Tonning, Regent’s Park College, University of Oxford erik.tonning@regents.ox.ac.uk