Texts
Sylvan Barnet, et al., eds. Eight Great Comedies. Mentor, 1985.
Sylvan Barnet, et al., eds. Eight Great Tragedies.
Mentor, 1985.
Recommended Text
Joseph Gibaldi, MLA Handbook for Writers of Research
Papers, 4th ed. 1995.
Objectives
This course assists students gain skills which will
be helpful to them in the English major. Specifically, by studying plays
as both verbal and visual constructs and by providing opportunities to
enact and to write about verbal texts, this drama section of 301 introduces
students to ways language is used in literary texts and ways performance
can enhance those texts. Hence, this drama section includes performative-visual
as well as written components.
Requirements
Class attendance is required. Quality of coursework will suffer if classes are missed. Participation in class discussions and enactments is encouraged. This class is deliberately small to allow for this, and it is strongly encouraged. Class participation showing preparation and thought will be counted favorably; a lack of class participation or participation without adequate preparation and thought will be counted negatively. Missed classes must be explained beforehand, when possible and must be accounted for promptly afterwards in all cases, though a missed class is still a missed class and can't be adequately "made up." As a policy, missed work cannot be made up.
All assigned work is to be read en toto by the day it is assigned. Introductions to the volumes and headnotes for each playwright are required in addition to the texts of the four plays.
Graded work will include a writing project (see below), a comprehensive final, and class participation (see above). The final will be composed of a short answer section (c.35%) and a long essay section (c.65%). For the course grade the paper will count about 35% and the comprehensive final will count about (45%); these values will be modified somewhat by class discussion, which will be counted at 20% and more. The period before the final exam includes time to review, to help you prepare.
The writing project will be a short (5-6 pp.) critical or analytical paper (research paper is also acceptable) which investigates
--a work in our genre which is NOT one of the required plays, or
--some aspect of drama other than a play.
For the first of these options, plays must be selected from either of our textbooks and should be one you've never read or studied before. I recommend that a thesis statement and brief outline be submitted in writing and approved by me. If you follow this advice, please let me keep a copy of the thesis statement and outline (deadline on course outline), so I know what I've approved for you to do. The paper is due 24 November. All students will be invited to meet with me to discuss the writing project. Papers must follow MLA style (which includes proper documentation form, line spacing, margins, etc.) and be typed or printed. This is an academic essay, so proper documentation and documentary form are expected (even if it isn't a research paper). Papers will be marked for both content and form (grammar, mechanics, composition, format).