Transnational Modern Drama: Ibsen to Brecht
ENGL 281
Fall 2012
| Section:
01
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| Crosslisting:
FGSS 280 |
The traditional story: In the late nineteenth century, two European men gave birth to the series of theatrical movements that have come to be called modern drama. In the quest to express Truth, realism and naturalism were quickly followed by symbolism, futurism, expressionism, and surrealism, among others. In this course, we will conduct a thematic survey of dramatic literature from 1880 through the beginning of World War II. As tradition dictates, we will first discuss plays by the European fathers as they strove to express a quickly changing world through new dramatic forms. Then, however, we will break from tradition as we explore a poetics of modern drama that takes a transnational focus. What happens when playwrights from China, Japan, Iran, and Argentina are introduced into the predominantly western canon of modern drama? What can we discover by looking more closely at Yeats's experiments with Japanese Noh theater, at Artaud's interest in Balinese theater, and at Brecht's theories of Chinese acting? How does including the work of female modernist playwrights comment on and/or change the story of modernism created by the European fathers? Playwrights in our exploration include Henrik Ibsen, August Strindberg, Anton Chekhov, Anne Charlotte Leffler Edgren, Tsao Yu, Georg Kaiser, Marita Bonner, Antonin Artaud, William Butler Yeats, Gertrude Stein, Oskar Kokoschka, Walter Hasenclever, Maurice Maeterlinck, Djuna Barnes, Hasegawa Shigure, Alfonsina Storni, Filippo Marinetti, and Sophie Treadwell. |
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| Credit: 1 |
Gen Ed Area Dept:
HA ENGL |
| Course Format: Seminar | Grading Mode: Graded |
| Level: UGRD |
Prerequisites: None |
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Fulfills a Requirement for: None |
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Past Enrollment Probability: Not Available |
| SECTION 01 |
Major Readings: Wesleyan RJ Julia Bookstore
Kelly, ed. MODERN DRAMA BY WOMEN
NORTON ANTHOLOGY OF DRAMA, VOL. 2
Schürer, GERMAN EXPRESSIONIST PLAYS
Cardullo and Knopf, eds. THEATER OF THE AVANT-GARDE 1890-1950
Strongly Recommended:
Gertrude Stein, LAST OPERAS AND PLAYS
Additional plays and secondary reading will be provided.
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Examinations and Assignments:
Two essays (5-7 pages each), one in-class group presentation, weekly reading responses, one attendance at a performance outside of class, mid-term and final exams. |
Additional Requirements and/or Comments:
English Major concentration: Theory & Literary Forms. |
| Instructor(s): Moore,Alice Rebecca Times: ..T.R.. 01:10PM-02:30PM; Location: ALLB004; |
| Total Enrollment Limit: 15 | | SR major: 3 | JR major: 3 | | |
| Seats Available: 9 | GRAD: X | SR non-major: 2 | JR non-major: 2 | SO: 3 | FR: 2 |
| 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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