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ENGL262
Staging American History
ENGL262 SP
Next Offered in 9899 SP
This colloquium will focus on the ways in which
twentieth-century dramatists have used the "two [or three]
hours' traffic" of the modern stage to (re)construct a
visible, graspable, usable past for their audience. We
will discuss spectatorship, privilege, and the construction
of an audience as well as the representation, distortion,
and recreation of the past. Students will research the
production history and critical reception of a single play
as a way of figuring out what was at stake for the writers,
producers and audiences in presenting and viewing history
the way they did. The point will not be to "prove" that art
distorts history, but rather to examine the motivations
(conscious and unconscious, personal and ideological) and
the mechanisms of this inevitable distortion.
MAJOR READINGS
Wilder, OUR TOWN
Hellman, THE LITTLE FOXES
Sherwood, ABE LINCOLN IN ILLINOIS
O'Neill, AH WILDERNESS and MOURNING BECOMES ELECTRA
Miller, THE CRUCIBLE
Hwang, THE DREAM AND THE RAILWAY
Wilson, FENCES
Park, THE AMERICAN PLAY
EXAMINATIONS AND ASSIGNMENTS
Frequent written exercises,
class presentations, and a final project.
ADDITIONAL REQUIREMENTS and/or COMMENTS
This course is an
American Studies Junior Colloquium. Permission of
Instructor forms will be distributed to Junior American
Studies majors on a first-come/first-served basis in the
American Studies Office beginning on the first day of
preregistration. Others will be admitted during Drop/Add
if space is available.
This course counts toward the English Department's
historical knowledge requirement.
Unless preregistered students attend the first class meeting
or communicate directly with the instructor prior to the
first class, they will be dropped from the class list.
NOTE: Students must still submit a completed Drop/Add form
to the Registrar's Office.
COURSE FORMAT: Seminar
REGISTRATION INFORMATION
Level: UG Credit: 1.00
Gen Ed Area & Dept: HA ENGL
Prerequisites:
None
Last Updated on MAR-03-1998
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