Thursday, March 17, 2011

Author of the absurdist play Waiting for Godot: Samuel Beckett


Samuel Beckett
Originally uploaded by Père Ubu
On St Patrick's Day, fine arts class looked at Irish artists.

Among them:
Samuel Beckett, the Irish avant-garde writer, dramatist and poet, writing in English and French. Beckett's work offers a bleak outlook on human culture and both formally and philosophically became increasingly minimalist in his later career.
See his Waiting for Godot, a disheartening if witty statement of the human condition.

Oscar Wilde, 1890's playwright, dandy and wit. "The Importance of Being Earnest. "Picture of Dorian Gray."
"Always forgive your enemies; nothing annoys them so much."
"I don't want to go to heaven. None of my friends are there."
"I am not young enough to know everything."
"Education is an admirable thing, but it is well to remember from time to time that nothing that is worth knowing can be taught."

Jonathan Swift, satirist of the 1700's. Most famous for the cannibal-minded A Modest Proposal.

Jame Joyce, the avant garde writer whose stream of consciousness novels were awesomelt influential in 20th century lit.
Ulysses, a version of The Odyssey, 1922.

Celtic design! Gaelic language. Nearly everyone from North Louisiana has Celtic roots.

We listened to Irish folk music-influenced -
Mumford & Sons
The Corrs
U2

On the map -
Eire
Dublin (Guinness beer and Book of World Records)
Northern Ireland (part of the UK)
Belfast and the HMS Titanic.

Scotland, England and Wales.
The Irish Sea.

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