You are responsible for everything listed on the syllabus unless I
specifically tell you otherwise. I will assume that I can trust you to do all
the assigned reading on time. If I discover that this trust is misplaced, you
will face my wrath.
You will be responsible for one 15-20 minute oral presentation
which contextualizes one or more of the readings we are discussing that day.
You will also compile an annotated bibliography based on your presentation and
distribute it to the class. Your grade will be based on both the oral
presentation and your bibliography. Presentation dates will be assigned on a
first-come, first-serve basis. You must email me your top 3 choices by
Monday, September 1. If you have not emailed me your top 3 choices by that
time, I will assign you a date.
Journals
To help you engage with the material, and to give me a sense for
how you are engaging with it, you will keep a reading journal which you turn in
weekly. You must turn in one entry per week (half of you will turn them
in on Monday and the other half will turn them in on Wednesday) which must be at
least 500 words (two double-spaced pages). You may write more if you wish. Due
dates for reading journals are not given on the syllabus. Your reading
journal entries must engage with the reading we are doing in class the week you
turn it in; you may also bring in earlier readings. Journal entries turned
in late will not be accepted. Reading journals will be marked on a
credit/no credit basis. You must have a better than 80% ‘credit’ rating in
order to pass the course.
At the end of the semester you will turn in a final project of
20-30 pages which uses some of the texts we have read this semester, and some
which you will discover on your own, to investigate the question or problem you
have chosen to explore. You will develop your topic during individual
consultations with me.
All assignments will be
turned in at the beginning of class on the days that the syllabus says they are
due. All written work must be typed on a word
processor.
For this as for any graduate course, your presence and
participation are crucial. Attendance is mandatory. If you miss ten minutes or
more of a class, either at the beginning or at the end, that counts as an
unexcused absence. The only excuses I accept for absence are major religious
holidays, physical or mental illness, or serious personal trauma. I will allow
you one unexcused absence free of charge; after that, your class participation
grade drops 20 points with each unexcused absence. It is your responsibility to
keep track of your absences.
I will always be available in my office during my office hours for
conferences. If you can't make those hours you can set up an appointment with
me for another time. If we cannot arrange a face to face meeting, it may be
possible to arrange a videoconference, if you have access to a computer with a
webcam and Skype.
Your final grade for the course breaks down as follows:
Presentation: 15%
Paper Proposal: 15%
Final paper: 50%
Attendance/class participation (including short assignments and reading
journal): 20%
This syllabus is subject to change.
Please check your email and the version posted online for updates.
I. THE NATURAL
WEEK ONE
August 27
Introduction
WEEK TWO:
Freeing the Theater
September 1
Preferences
for presentation dates due via email.
Innes: 1-42, 52-53
(Introduction, “Theoretical Approaches,”
“The Context of Naturalist Theater: A Chronology”; “Emile Zola and Andre
Antoine,” Antoine, “Commentary on la mise en scène”)
Handout:
Emile Zola, “Preface to Therèse Raquin”
and “Naturalism in the Theatre”
September 3
Handout:
August Strindberg, “Preface to Miss
Julie;” Una Chaudhuri, “The Politics of Home and the Poetics of Exile” and
“Plays and Place”
WEEK
THREE: The Ibsen Revolution
September 8
Presentation: Ann
Henrik Ibsen: 1-88
A Doll’s House
Innes: 65-96
Handout:
Georg Brandes, “Inaugural Lecture”
September 10
Ibsen: 89-164
Ghosts
Course Packet:
Toril Moi, “Rethinking Literary History”
WEEK FOUR:
Ibsen Into English
September 15
Presentation: Analise
George Bernard Shaw:
Mrs. Warren’s Profession
Innes: 189-232
“Context,” “Shaw’s Naturalistic Drama,” “Mrs. Warren’s Profession”
Handout:
Bertolt Brecht, “Three Cheers for Shaw”
September 17
Presentation: Simone
Harrington:
J.M. Synge, Riders to the Sea
Course Packet:
J. M. Synge, In the Shadow
of the Glen
Synge, “The Dramatic Movement in
Ireland;” Maire Nic Shiubhlaigh, The Splendid Years; Frank Fay, “Irish
Acting” and “Some Account of the Early Days of the Irish National Theatre;” A.
B. Walkley, “The Irish National Theatre;”
II. EVERY UNHAPPY
FAMILY...
WEEK FIVE:
Real Characters
September 22
T.C. Murray, Birthright
Course Packet
Hogan and Burnham, “1910”
September 24
Elin Diamond, “Realism’s Hysteria”
Handout:
Selections from Stanislavsky, An Actor Prepares
WEEK SIX: The Lower Depths
September 29
Presentation:
Jonathan
Harrington:
Sean O’Casey, Juno and the Paycock
Krasner:
Georg Lukacs, “The Sociology of Modern Drama;” Emma
Goldman, “Foreword to The Social
Significance of Modern Drama”
October 1
Clifford Odets: 33-102
Awake and Sing!
Wendy Smith,
“Genesis”
WEEK
SEVEN: Abolish Such Families?
October 6
Odets: 1-32
Waiting for Lefty
Krasner:
Georg Lukacs, “The Sociology of Modern
Drama;” Bertolt Brecht, “The Modern Theatre is the Epic Theatre”
Handout:
Bertolt Brecht, “The Popular and the
Realistic”
October 8
Presentation: Laura
Eugene O’Neill:
Long Day’s Journey Into
Night
Krasner:
O’Neill, Memoranda on Masks
Handout:
Kevin Sullivan, “Eugene O’Neill: The Irish
Dimension”
WEEK
EIGHT: Methods and Madness
October 13
Lee Strasberg: 63-122
“The American Laboratory Theatre;” “The Voyage
Continues:
“The Voyage Continues: II. The Actors Studio And My Classes”
Course Packet:
Wendy Smith, “Conflict” and “After the Fall”
October 15
Film:
October 18-26: Fall break. No class.
III.
THE DESERT OF THE REAL
WEEK NINE:
The Red and the Pink
October 27
Presentation: Mike P.
TOPIC PROPOSAL
AND BIBLIOGRAPHY DUE.
Arthur Miller:
Death of a Salesman
Krasner:
Miller, “Tragedy and the Common Man”
Course Packet:
Miller, “The Family and Modern Drama”
October 29
Conferences. No class.
WEEK TEN: Anger
Management
November 3
David Savran, “Arthur Miller: Why Can’t I
Say ‘I’?”
November 5
John Osborne:
Look Back in Anger
WEEK
ELEVEN: Is It Real, Or Is It...?
November 10
***PROSPECTUS DUE***
Edward Bond:
Saved
W. B. Worthen, “Actors and Objects”
November 12
Handout:
Walter Benjamin, “The Work of Art in an
Age of Mechanical Reproduction”
Course Packet:
Jean Baudrillard, “Simulation and
Simulacra”
WEEK
TWELVE: Unreal Estate
November 17
Presentation: Ryan
Sam Shepard:
True West
November 19
David Mamet:
Glengarry Glen Ross
Course Packet:
Mamet, “Realism” and “Ancestor Worship;”
Don B. Wilmeth, “Mamet and the Actor”
WEEK
THIRTEEN: The Death Of Live?
November 24
Philip Auslander, “Live Performance in a
Mediatized Culture”
November 26
Day before Thanksgiving. No Class.
WEEK
FOURTEEN: Realism’s Ghosts
December 1
Presentation: Lindsay
Conor McPherson:
Shining City
December 3
Tracy Letts:
August,
WEEK
FIFTEEN:
December 8
DRAFT DUE. Presentation of final projects
December 10
Last class day. TCEs, wrap-up.
DECEMBER 16:
Final paper due in Flanner 712 by 5:00
p.m.