English 574: Graduate Dramatic
Literature
Professor Melissa D. Aaron
Room 24 106 TTh 3:30-5:20
Office: 24 229
Office hours: TWTh 1-3 pm; and by appointment
Phone:869-3839
Email:maaron@csupomona.edu
| Web page | Courses Page |
| Shakespeare Page | Resources Page |
| Discussion Questions | Discussion board |
| Research paper | Group project |
Required texts
Four Plays by Aristophanes, ed.
William Arrowsmith. New American Library, 1984
Plautus: Four Comedies: The Braggart Soldier . Trans
Erich Segal. Oxford, 1998.
Medieval and Tudor Drama. Ed. John Gassner. Applause,
1988.
Jonson, Ben. The Alchemist
and Other Plays. Oxford, 1995/98.
Restoration Plays. Ed. Robert G. Lawrence. Everyman
Paperback Classics.
Oscar Wilde. Ed. Peter Robey. Oxford World’s
Classics, 1998.
Bernard Shaw: Arms and
the Man, Viking, 1992;
Major Barbara, Penguin, 2001.
Noel Coward: Private Lives/Blithe
Spirit/Hay Fever. Random House, 1999.
Joe Orton: What the Butler
Saw. (on reserve)
Thornton Wilder: The Matchmaker.
Tom Stoppard: On the Razzle. Faber & Faber.
(on reserve)
Recommended: The Riverside
Shakespeare
Link
to reserve material
Special note: Some of the plays we will be
reading—the modern plays—are sadly, out of print. They seem to be
available on Amazon.com, and I recommend that you seek for used copies there.
I will also put copies on reserve in the library for you.
This class will continue from ENG 573, focusing on comedy rather
than on tragedy. We will examine the origins of English and Western comedy generally
beginning with its roots in Greek theater, moving through Roman, Renaissance,
and Restoration comedy, and ending with 20th-century British comedy by such
diverse writers as Coward, Orton and Stoppard. Along the way, we will be exploring
the ways in which comedy is and is not culturally determined, what is and is
not funny and why, and whether the preeminent method to destroy a joke is to
explain it. By the end of the course, you will have studied comic drama in breadth
in our readings and short writing assignments in class, in depth in a research
paper, and in action, by analyzing, preparing, and performing a scene from one
of those plays in a final project.
Course requirements
You will need access to a computer and the Internet
for this course-if this will present a problem, please contact me. You will
also need an Intranet account so you can post to a discussion board-please write
immediately to grcrews@csupomona.edu if you do not already
have one.
All work handed in to me must be typed and double-spaced in ten
or preferably twelve point font. The font I'm using for this,
Times New Roman, is nice and easy to read. Please type your name,
the class and section number, my name and the date in the upper-right
hand corner, and the title centered at the top of the first page.
Do not have a title page, and please, please staple your papers
together.
The short, ungraded assignments will be done electronically on a threaded discussion board. They are discussion-related and will count towards your participation grade. Since they are time-sensitive, they cannot be made up.
The
Research Paper
Since this is a graduate class, it
seems appropriate to spend some time on research methodology,
with an eye towards producing a scholarly paper, suitable for
submission to one of the many scholarly conferences and journals
in the field, many of which specialize in the work of graduate
students. In order to make this a productive and instructive
process, you will be writing only one paper in the course of this
term, but that paper will be broken down into component and submitted
multiple times. You will be required to select a topic fairly
early in the quarter and submit the topic both to me and to the
class at large on the discussion board. We will have a special
session in the library devoted to research tools and methods.
After this, you will be put into writing support teams, who will
help you locate resources, critique your writing, and give you
feedback. The next step will be producing a preliminary paper,
during which time you will narrow the topic, produce a working
bibliography, and narrate the process by which you attained the
material. This paper will be turned in to me for my feedback
and suggestions for bibliography and other routes of research.
You will then work in your groups to produce a draft, which you
will then revise. The final submission will be a portfolio containing
all your drafts and prewriting, the final copy, and a journal
or conference for which you think the paper might be suitable.
Attendance policy
You can't participate if you're not
here, obviously. Here are some reasons you don't want to be absent:
More than three absences and your grade will be lowered. Six or
more and you will fail the course. Extreme tardiness (more than
ten minutes late) counts as an absence.
I don't distinguish between excused and unexcused
absences, and here's why. If you miss class, you'll miss discussion,
my commentary on the texts, homework assignments, etc. In a remarkably
short period of time, you'll find yourself terribly behind, and
it will be next to impossible for you to catch up. The attendance
policy is to help you succeed, not to punish you. If you are faced
with illness or emergency, please let me know right away, and
the same applies if you want questions answered or additional
help. I check my email very regularly and you can also always
come to my office hours.
Plagiarism
Did you know that "plagiarism"
comes from the Latin word for "kidnapper?" That's because
it's theft, and the University and I will treat it that way. I
don't want to go into all the dire consequences that will ensue;
so don't do it. Enough said.
I count the Cliff's Notes as plagiarism in all cases. Don't use them, period; they will only confuse you and irritate me.
If you use someone else's ideas or words, you have to credit them. Here are two rules to help you with this: are you giving credit where credit is due? If someone wanted to find out more about the information you cited, or look up the quote, do they have enough information to do it? I would like you to use MLA documentation. On my Resources page, under Writing resources, there is a direct link to a handout on MLA style, as well as many other helpful writing resources.
Week 1
April 2, 4
T: Intro to class and to drama.
Th: Beginning discussion of comedy, Greek comedy, etc. Greek Comedy: Aristophanes,
The Frogs. Discussion
question.
Week 2:
April 9, 11th
T Discussion of topics. The Frogs.
Th Roman comedy: The Menechmi. Discussion
question.
Week 3:
April 16th, 18th
T Topics selected. Research discussion. Miles Gloriosus.
Th Ralph Roister Doister. Discussion
question.
Week 4:
April 23, 25th
T. Beaumont and Fletcher: The Knight of The Burning Pestle.
Th.Ben Jonson: Bartholomew Fair. Discussion
question.
Week 5:
April 30th, May 2
T. Preliminary paper due
Restoration comedy: The Country Wife or The Man of Mode.
Th.William Congreve. The Way of the World. Please
fill out evaluation online, and answer discussion
question.
Week 6
May 7th, 9th
T: John Vanbrugh. The Provok’d Wife.
Th George Farquaher. The Beaux Stratagem, Discussion
question.
Week 7
May 14th, 15th
T Draft due. Oscar Wilde: An Ideal Husband, (poss) Importance of Being
Earnest.
Th. George Bernard Shaw: Arms and The Man.
Week 8:
May 21st, 23rd,
T “”, Major Barbara.
Th Noel Coward: Private Lives, Blithe Spirit. Meet in draft groups to
work on final portfolios.
Week 9
May 28th, 30th
T The Greeks redux: Joe Orton, What the Butler Saw.
Th “”
Week 10:
June 4th, 6th
T A study in cross-comparison: Nestroy’s Einen Jux will Er sich machen;
Thornton Wilder’s The Matchmaker, Tom Stoppard’s On the
Razzle.
Th “”. Final portfolios due.
Exam Week--Final performance projects due.
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