Why ‘Teach’ Beckett?

Abstract

Samuel Beckett's impact on literature and theatre is unquestionable but what is the impact of his work within the classroom and how do we quantify the effect on student minds? With an emphasis on why, as opposed to how, this article investigates the rationale for teaching Beckett in Higher Education. It raises questions about curriculum design and delivery, and the pedagogical motivation for exposing students to Beckett's work in the twenty-first century. Adopting a qualitative approach from the positionality of the Beckett educator within an Anglophone-Irish context, the phenomenological accounts of teaching Beckett detailed here offer some substantive observations regarding the study of Beckett and education. Providing insight into pedagogical practice in relation to Beckett from literary and practice-based perspectives, each account demonstrates how Beckett's work is effective in creating significant learning experiences which have application for the wider field of literary pedagogy at higher education level.