Spring 2006

E 359 • English Drama from 1660 to 1900

Course Description

In this course we will read plays written and produced in England between 1660 and the early 19th century. The theater reflects and responds to the culture of its time to an unusual degree. So we will examine the plays on the reading list with an eye to several matters: the political and historical contexts in which the plays appeared, the regulation of the stage and the publication practices of playwrights, questions of staging--e.g., acting, scene design, and costuming, and the belletristic qualities (or lack thereof) of the plays themselves. In an effort to think about the plays as more than purely literary documents, we will read portions of scenes from many of them in class and discuss at length the larger question of what it means to "read" a play.

Grading Policy

Two readings of a scene 10% each
For these assignments, I will ask you and a classmate to read the scene in class, then to lead a discussion of it. I don't expect you to act these scenes formally. But I do expect you to know what the characters in the scene are saying (look up words you don't know in the OED), and to be able to talk about what happens in the scene: how it reveals or adds to our knowledge of the individual characters; how it advances or alters the plot; and how it affects our understanding of larger literary concerns we may bring to a reading of the play as a whole.
Two papers, one on each scene for which you lead discussion, 3-5 pages 10% each
A mid-term essay, on material covered in class, 6-8 pages 20%
A final essay on material covered in class, 6-8 pages 20%
Participation in class discussions 20%
Note 1: You must complete all the above assignments in order to pass the course.
Note 2: No Q drops will be given past the normal drop deadline without a well-substantiated non-academic excuse.

Texts

British Dramatists from Dryden to Sheridan, ed. G. H. Nettleton and A. E. Case, SIU Press
The Plays of Oscar Wilde, ed. John Lahr, Vintage edition
Bernard Shaw's Plays, ed. Warren S. Smith, Norton edition
Speedway packet, containing material by Dryden, Wycherley, Jerrold, Bulwer-Lytton, Gilbert and Sullivan, and Pinero

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