This course surveys the major aesthetic movements of the last century utilizing dramatic texts and theoretical writings to illustrate successive paradigms. Movements such as Naturalism, Symbolism, Expressionism, Dadaism, Surrealism, Epic Theatre and the Absurd are examined through close readings of associated works. Students will respond critically to the material by comunicating mastery of texts and concepts. Classes combine lectures and seminars that require student particpation.
 

REQUIREMENTS:

Attendance, preparation and participation (10%);

Submission of five 3-4 page papers in accordance with the syllabus (50%);

Completion of Mid-term examination (20%); and

Completion of Final Exam (20%).

REQUIRED READING:

Beckett, Samuel. Endgame, Waiting for Godot.

Bentley, Eric. The Theory of the Modern Stage.

Brecht, Bertolt. The Caucasian Chalk Circle. Mother Courage.

Büchner, George. Danton's Death. Woyzeck.

Chekhov, Anton. Three Sisters.The Cherry Orchard.

Gilman, Richard. The Making of Modern Drama.

Handke, Peter. Kaspar. Offending the Audience.

Ibsen, Henrik. Ghosts. When We Dead Awaken.

Jarry, Alfred. Ubu Roi.

Pirandello, Luigi. Six Characters in Search of an Author. Henry IV.

Rice, Elmer. The Adding Machine.

Shaw, Bernard. Candida. Arms & the Man.

Strindberg, August. Miss Julie.
 
 
 

SESSION BREAKDOWN

Week 1 The Traditional Dichotomy

Introduction

Romanticism & The Well Made Play: (Bentley, 283-326)
 

Week 2 Büchner

The Modern Spirit (Gilman, 3-44)

Danton's Death

Woyzeck
 

Week 3 Ibsen

Naturalism I: (Bentley, 197-213)

Ghosts (Gilman, 45-92)

When We Dead Awake
 

Week 4 Chekhov 

Naturalism II: (Bentley, 351-424)  (Paper I Due )

Three Sisters (Gilman, 116-156)

The Cherry Orchard
 

Week 5 Strindberg

Naturalism III (Gilman, 84-115)

Miss Julie

The Father
 

Week 6 Symbolism

Appia (Bentley, 27-54)  (Paper II Due)

Craig (Bentley, 113-152)
 

Week 7 Jarry & Apollinaire

The French Avant-Garde

Ubu Roi

The Breasts of Tiresias
 

Week 8 Rice

Dadaism   (Paper III Due)

Expressionism

The Adding Machine
 

Week 9 Pirandello

Surrealism

Six Characters (Bentley, 153-174)

Henry IV (Gilman, 157-189)
 

Week 10 Shaw

The Shavian Aesthetic (Bentley, 175-196)

Candida

Arms & The Man (Paper IV Due)
 

Week 11 Brecht

The Brechtian Aesthetic (Bentley, 85-112) & (Gilman, 190-233)

Caucasian Chalk Circle

Mother Courage
 

Week 12 Beckett 

The Beckettian Aesthetic (Gilman, 234-266)

Waiting for Godot

Endgame
 

Week 13 Beckett vs. Brecht: The Modern Dichotomy

Summation (Paper V Due)
 

Week 14 Handke 

Post World War Theatre (Gilman 267-288)

Offending the Audience

Kaspar
 

Week 15

Review
 
 
 
 

 
RECOMMENDED READING & RESOURCES

Bentley, Eric. Bernard Shaw: A Reconsideration. Norfolk, CT: New Directions, 1947.

Bentley, Eric. In Search of Theatre. NY: Atheneum, 1975.

Bradbrook, M.C. Ibsen, the Norwegian. Hamden, Conn: Archon Books, 1966.

Büdel, Oscar. Pirandello. NY: Hillary House, 1969.

Carpenter, Charles A. Bernard Shaw & the Art of Destroying Ideals. Madison: University
          of Wisconsin Press, 1969.

Deak, Frantisek. Symbolist Theater: The Formation of an Avant-Garde. Baltimore: Johns
          Hopkins University Press, 1993.

Esslin, Martin. Brecht: A Choice of Evils. London: Methuen, 1959.

Esslin, Martin. Mediations. New York: Grove Press, 1962.

Esslin, Martin. The Theatre of the Absurd. NY: Anchor Books, 1961.

Fjelde, Rolf. Ibsen: A Collection of Critical Essays. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-
          Hall, 1965.

Fletcher, John & John Spurling. Beckett: A Study ofhis Plays. NY: Hill & Wang, 1972.

Hauser, Ronald. Georg Büchner. NY: Twayne Publishers, 1974.

Lindenberger, Herbert. Georg Büchner. Carbondale: Southern Illinois University Press,
         1964.

Lucas, Frank. The Drama of Chekhov, Synge, Yeats and Pirandello. London: Cassell,
         1963.

McFarlane, James, ed. The Cambridge Companionto Ibsen. Cambridge: Cambridge
          University Press, 1994.

McGill, Vivian. August Strindberg: The Bedeviled Viking. NY: Russell & Russell, 1965.

Morgan, Margery. August Strindberg. London: Macmillan, 1985.

Peterson, Elmer. Tristan Tzara: Dada and Surrational Theorist. New Brunswick, NJ:
        Rutgers University Press, 1971.

Pilling, John, ed. The Cambridge Companion to Beckett. Cambridge: Cambridge
        University Press, 1994.

Pitcher, Harvey. The Chekhov Play. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1973.

Ragusa, Olga. Luigi Pirandello. NY: Columbia University Press, 1968.

Schumacher, Claude. Alfred Jarry and Guillaume Apollinaire. NY: Grove Press, 1985.

Shattuck, Roger. The Innocent Eye: On Modern Literature and the Arts. NY: Farrar,
            Straus & Giroux, 1960.

Shaw, Bernard. The Quinressence of Ibsenism. NY: Hill & Wang, 1957

Steene, Birgitta. The Greatest Fire: A Study of August Strindberg. Carbondale: Southern
            Illinois University Press, 1973.

Steiner, George. The Death of Tragedy. NY: Hill & Wang, 1961.

Styan, J.L. Modern Drama in Theory and Practice Volume I: Realism and Naturalism.
           Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1981.

Styan, J.L. Modern Drama in Theory and Practice Volume II: Symbolism, Surrealism and
           the Absurd. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1981.

Styan, J.L. Modern Drama in Theory and Practice Volume III: Expressionism and Epic
          Theatre. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1981.

Thomson, Peter, ed. The Cambridge Companion to Brecht. Cambridge: Cambridge
           University Press, 1994.

Willet, John, ed. Brecht on Theatre. London: Methuen, 1964.