“Beckett Beyond” Zine Project – Series 2
The Library, in collaboration with the Department of Drama and the Trinity Centre for Beckett Studies, is proud to release the second series of “Beckett Beyond Zines.” Produced by the Junior Sophisters of the open module “Studies in Samuel Beckett: Beckett Beyond” (designed and taught by Céline Thobois-Gupta), these research zines disseminate each learner’s investigation of Samuel Beckett’s dramatic work with a special focus on a theme of their choice.
After working on Beckett’s life, texts and creative methods in Michaelmas term 2023, learners were invited to reuse methodologies they have discovered or deepened their practice of during the term, to produce a zine for the research community in Trinity College and beyond. As this new series reveals, Beckett’s oeuvre operates as a lens through which learners can explore their personal and academic interests, often with a multidisciplinary or interdisplicinary approach – a strategy embedded within the module’s pedagogy.
This year, the cohort was composed mainly of visiting students, which steered the research dynamic beyond the shores of Ireland towards various political, cultural and artistic ecosystems. In so doing, students illuminated the vitality of enmeshing Beckett’s drama with lived, fictional, physical or technological environments, and of experimenting with his work as an epistemological method.
During the presentation of their research process and outcomes in the final week of term, learners observed that – in addition to the discipline-specific knowledge they acquired – this challenging, creative project increased their motivation to study, research and write, and encouraged them to develop their academic ‘voice’ with more confidence and independence.
The Beckett Beyond Zines, which are a significant contribution to undergraduate research in Trinity College, are in the process of being catalogued as part of the Library’s permanent collection, as well as archived on TARA. In addition, the Beckett Beyond Zine Exhibition is set to launch in the Iveagh Hall of the Library in February 2024. The college community is warmly invited to visit the exhibition and read the zines.
