Modern European & American Drama
Fall 1392
Z. Jannessari Ladani
I. Course Description: This course will focus on Modern European and American drama including theory as well as practice. The notions of modern and postmodern drama and the way drama developed and passed the Aristotelian codes will be discussed. Further, the course will work on a number of plays written by a range of European and American writers as examples to trace the theoretical aspects discussed in the introductory session. Two sessions will go to each play, which will cover form and content based on historical as well as literary contexts in which the play was produced. Part of the discussion in each session is organized and carried out by the instructor, but the other part will be the responsibility of the students. This will be assigned beforehand so that each student will know what s/he should present to the class throughout the semester. Students are expected to follow the instructor’s lectures and take exact notes in class. Students should also have an active participation in class discussions only when the instructor asks them to do so. The interruption of the instructor’s lecture is impolite and only takes the time of the class. By the end of the semester, students should be able to recognize and discuss modern European and American drama.
II. Bibliography: Modern European and American Drama for the Fall Semester 1392 is built around the following materials: students must prepare a copy of numbers (1) to (8). Numbers (9) to (13) are suggestions for further reading.
1) Brustein, Robert. “Introduction.” The Theatre of Revolt: An Approach to the Modern Drama. Boston: An Atlantic Monthly Press Book, 1964. 3-33.
2) Wild Duck (Henrik Ibsen)
3) Miss Julie (August Strindberg)
4) Three Sisters (Anton Chekhov)
5) Mother Courage and her Children (Bertolt Brecht)
6) Endgame or Happy Days (Samuel Beckett)
7) Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (Edward Albee)
8) Hairy Ape (Eugene O’Neill)
9) Docherty, B. (1994). Twentieth Century European Drama.
10) Matlane, M. (1972). Modern World Drama: An Encyclopedia.
11) Pickering, K. (1988). How to Study Modern Drama.
12) Middleton, T. (2003). Modernism: Critical Concepts in Literary and Cultural Studies.
13) Pilling, J. (1994). The Cambridge Companion to Beckett.
III. Assignments & Grades: Students should study the texts that are assigned to them by the instructor for the following session. Each text or extract should be read before students come to class. Each play will be discussed in one or two sessions. Part of the discussion will be carried out by the instructor, but the main task falls on the shoulder of the students. Each student is responsible to choose a play from the following material and give a lecture. Therefore, we will arrange a time schedule for students’ lectures through the semester. Lectures should be about the form, content, and literary techniques of each play, the literary or philosophical school to which the play belongs, and the contribution each playwright made to the field of modern drama. Lectures will have twenty points (20) with respect to students’ representation, information, power of articulation, innovation, and PowerPoint slides. In addition, each student is expected to submit a paper by the end of the semester. Papers can cover a range of topics including modern plays by playwrights not discussed in class or plays written by the following dramatists but not discussed in class. Papers will have twenty points (20). There will also be a final exam of twenty six (26) points with essay-type questions related to the material discussed and lectured during the semester. Students are not allowed to be absent from the class. They will receive one point (+1) for each presence and a minus (-1) for each absence. More than three (3) sessions of absence will be reported to the Education Office and the absentee will be deprived of the final exam. All these scores will amount to the final grade of 80: lectures (+20) + presence in all sessions (+14) + final exam (+26) + papers (+20) =80. The final score is one fourth of this total grade (80/4=20).
IV. Week-by-Week Reading Schedule: Please note that this schedule tells students what they need already to have read when they sit down in class in each session. Note also that, once in possession of the Schedule, no one should be in doubt about the assignments.
Week One – Wednesday 27 Shahrivar 1392:
Introduction to Modern Drama from source (1)
Week Two – Wednesday 3 Mehr 1392:
Introduction to Modern Drama from source (1) [continued]
Week Three – Wednesday 10 Mehr 1392:
Henrik Ibsen: Wild Duck
Week Four – Wednesday 17 Mehr 1392:
Henrik Ibsen: Wild Duck [continued]
Week Five – Wednesday 24 Mehr 1392:
Off
Week Six – Wednesday 1 Aban 1392:
August Strindberg: Miss Julie
Week Seven – Wednesday 8 Aban 1392:
Anton Chekhov: Three Sisters
Week Eight – Wednesday 15 Aban 1392:
Bertolt Brecht: Mother Courage and her Children
Week Nine – Wednesday 22 Aban 1392:
Off
Week Ten – Wednesday 29 Aban 1392:
Bertolt Brecht: Mother Courage and her Children [continued]
Week Eleven – Wednesday 6 Azar 1392:
Samuel Beckett: Endgame or Happy Days
Week Twelve – Wednesday 13 Azar 1392:
Samuel Beckett: Endgame or Happy Days [continued]
Week Thirteen – Wednesday 20 Azar 1392:
Edward Albee: Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?
Week Fourteen – Wednesday 27 Azar 1392:
Edward Albee: Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? [continued]
Week Fifteen – Wednesday 4 Dey 1392:
Eugene O’Neill: Hairy Ape
Week Sixteen – Wednesday 11 Dey 1392:
Eugene O’Neill: Hairy Ape [continued]