Sex, Violence, and (Poetic) Justice: Spanish and New World Classical Theater
SPAN 231
Spring 2010
| Section:
01
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| Crosslisting:
COL 313, IBST 315 |
From 1580 to 1660 Spanish-language playwrights in Spain and the New World created a repertory comparable for inventiveness, variety, and influence to the classical Greek and Elizabethan English traditions and unmatched by any for the sheer magnitude of the outpouring. Through it a collective identity is shaped and projected and conflicts, often violent, between freedom and authority, desire and conformity, acted out. Designed to please paying popular as well as learned courtly audiences and distinguished for its innovative exploration of hybrid forms such as tragicomedy, Spanish Golden Age theater is typically vital, surprising, and refined all at once. Two fascinating plays by women playwrights are included. Attention will be given to performance: stagecraft, women on the stage, and theater as ritual. Scenes from the plays will be performed informally in class. |
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Essential Capabilities:
Interpretation, Writing
The readings, the oral presentation, class discussion, and the papers are regarded as complementary, mutually reinforcing activities, designed to help you develop your ability to recall and interpret your readings. Class will be given over to detailed imaginative discussion of the main readings, as well as group or team work. Supplementary readings will be brought in regularly to introduce concepts and interpretive gambits (including the broad themes of the course announced in the description), to model ways of reframing and nuancing your responses to the readings, and to encourage a deeper--at once historically informed, textually grounded, and playful--engagement with this classic text. Writing is improved by thoughtful reading, previous discussion, and revision. The course is structured in such a way as to provide you with practice in the use of your reading, of class discussion, and of revision to improve your writing skills (understood in terms of argument, organization, and rhetorical pertinence and flair). The main focus will be the development of a formal, yet personal register of Spanish writing, but you will find that your writing in English also improves as a result of this kind of reflection on what goes into good writing. An oral presentation will be scheduled over the course of the second half of the term in order to encourage you to begin to think carefully about a topic for your final paper.
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| Credit: 1 |
Gen Ed Area Dept:
HA RLAN |
| Course Format: Discussion | Grading Mode: Student Option |
| Level: UGRD |
Prerequisites: None |
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Fulfills a Requirement for: (COL)(HISP)(RMST)(THEA) |
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Past Enrollment Probability: Not Available |
| SECTION 01 |
Major Readings: Wesleyan RJ Julia Bookstore
Major plays by Lope de Vega, Calderón, Tirso de Molina, Ruíz de Alarcón, Maria de Zayas, Sor Juana Ines de la Cruz, and Cervantes
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Examinations and Assignments:
Three short papers (3 pp.), one longer paper (5-7pp.), one short oral presentation as preparation for the final paper. |
Additional Requirements and/or Comments:
SPAN 231 is intended for students who have completed SPAN 221 or the equivalent. Students who have not done so should consult with the professor before pre-registering. An additional semester of upper-level Spanish beyond 221 (or the equivalent), taken earlier or concurrently, is recommended but NOT required. Readings, written assignments, and class discussions will be in Spanish. Only COL students may take this course CR/U. |
| Instructor(s): Armstrong Roche,Michael Times: .M.W... 02:40PM-04:00PM; Location: FISK404; |
| Total Enrollment Limit: 18 | | SR major: 10 | JR major: 3 | | |
| Seats Available: 8 | GRAD: 0 | SR non-major: 1 | JR non-major: 1 | SO: 2 | FR: 1 |
| Drop/Add Enrollment Requests | | | | | |
| Total Submitted Requests: 0 | 1st Ranked: 0 | 2nd Ranked: 0 | 3rd Ranked: 0 | 4th Ranked: 0 | Unranked: 0 |
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