Spring, 2002

Ms. Tufts

English 327

Rice 105 (440) 775-8572

Tu, 7:00-9:30 pm
King 327

Office Hours: MW, 11:00-noon,
Tu, 2:00-3:00, and by appointment

E-mail: Carol.Tufts@oberlin.edu

MODERN DRAMA:  IBSEN TO PIRANDELLO

 

READING ASSIGNMENTS:

I.               Origins of Modern Drama

                        Ibsen, The Wild Duck (1884), February 12

                        Chekhov, The Three Sisters (1900), February 19

                        Strindberg, Miss Julie (1888), February 26

                                           The Ghost Sonata (1907), March 5

                        Gorky, The Lower Depths (1902), March 12

 

II.             The Irish Renaissance

                        Wilde, The Importance of Being Earnest (1895), March 19

                        Synge, The Playboy of the Western World (1907), April 2

                        Shaw, Heartbreak House (1916), April 9

                        O’Casey, Juno and the Paycock (1924), April 16

 

III.           The Establishment of  “Modern Drama” in Europe and the U.S.

                        Pirandello, Henry IV (1922), April 23

                        Lorca, The House of Bernarda Alba (1936), April 30

                        O’Neill, The Iceman Cometh  (1940), May 7

 

WRITING ASSIGNMENTS:  Two papers.  First paper (4-6 pages) due either March 20, or April 3. Second paper (6-10 pages) due May 14th.

 

PERFORMANCE REQUIREMENT AND DRAMA CRITIC REQUIREMENT:  Each student is responsible for a performance in class of a scene from one of the plays we are reading.  Each student is also responsible for “acting” as a first-night drama critic in response to an in-class performance.

 

NOTE WELL:  BECAUSE CLASS PARTICIPATION IS AN ESSENTIAL PART OF THIS COURSE, MORE THAN THREE UNEXCUSED ABSENCES WILL RESULT IN A LOWERING OF YOUR FINAL GRADE.  YOU STAND WARNED.

 

IN ADDITION:  PLEASE USE THE BATHROOM BEFORE COMING TO CLASS.  WALKING IN AND OUT OF THE ROOM WHEN SOMEONE IS SPEAKING IS BOTH RUDE AND DISTRACTING

 

THIS CLASS IS HEREBY DECLARED A P.C. FREE ZONE

 

In this time of political correctness, you have to go against the grain.  If audiences don’t embrace both sides of the issue, there can be no political dialogue.  Political correctness is an oxymoron:  In my sense of political you can never be politically correct.  To be political means to open up a dialogue, not to be ‘correct.’

                                                                                                                        Paula Vogel, playwright