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Dr.
Pettit
ENGL
4300.002: Modern & Contemporary Drama
Fall 2008
Tuesdays, 6:00-8:50; LANG 218
Office: AB 206C (T, 5:00-5:55; Th, 5:30-6:25)
TEXTS. You are responsible for securing copies of all texts. Waiting for the local outlets to stock copies does not always constitute sound strategy; you will probably need to order some titles on-line. Asterisks mark works in translation; only the editions noted are acceptable.
ISBN Author/Ed. Title Publisher
9781585676477 Albee, Edward The
Goat; or, Who Is Sylvia? Penguin
0816635235 Brecht, Bertolt
Caucasian Chalk Circle* Minnesota
1559363118 Churchill, Caryl
Drunk Enough to Say I Love You?
Theatre Communications Group
9780451526083 Hawthorne, Nathaniel The
Scarlet Letter Penguin/Signet
9780920079447 Highway, Tomson The Rez
Sisters Fifth House
0192833871 Ibsen, Henrik
Four Major Plays* Oxford UP
9780413742605 Kane, Sarah
Complete Plays Methuen
9780822212157 Odets, Clifford
Waiting for Lefty Dramatists Play
Service
9781559361958 Parks, Suzan-Lori Red
Letter Plays Theatre
Communications Group
9780192833174 Strindberg, August Miss
Julie & Other Plays* Oxford UP
1558854177 Valdez, Luis
Mummified Deer & Other Plays Arte Publico
0451529146
Williams, Tennessee Four Plays Penguin/Signet
9781559362801
Wilson, August
Gem of the Ocean
Theatre
Communications Group
CATALOGUE DESCRIPTION. “Comparative survey of drama from the late 19th century to the present, emphasizing the globalization and increasing multiculturalism of the genre. Playwrights studied may include Henrik Ibsen, Bernard Shaw, Bertolt Brecht, Jean Genet, Wole Soyinka, Amiri Baraka, Caryl Churchill, Athol Fugard, August Wilson, and David Henry Hwang. Satisfies the Cross-cultural, Diversity and Global Studies option of the University Core Curriculum.”
WHAT TO EXPECT. Some lecturing and lots of discussion, all of it, ideally, based on careful readings of the plays. I respect all informed opinions and statements. I do not respect uninformed opinions and statements. Read carefully and speak up. If you don’t read carefully, or don’t read at all, sit quietly and blush.
CAVEAT. Many of these works contain profanity, ideological irreverence, and what are sometimes, absurdly, called “adult situations.” Deal or drop. The more colorful language in the plays, however, should not be mistaken for appropriate language for our discussions.
ATTENDANCE POLICY. Students who miss three or more classes will be assigned the grade “F.” Two late arrivals or early departures count as one absence.
QUIZZES AND GRADING. I will give quizzes at the start of the first class of each week. Formats include short essay, short answer, and fill-in-the blank. No make-ups. Your final grade will represent the average of your quiz grades, minus your lowest grade, which I will drop. I reserve the right to adjust final grades in consideration of in-class performance.
ELECTRONIC DEVICES. Pretend you’re on an airplane: stow all electronic devices, including laptops, cell phones, Blackberries, Blueberries, and Chuckberries, under your desk (or anywhere other than on your desk).
E-MAIL AND WEBSITE. My e-address is alexp@unt.edu. Please use this address sparingly: do not sent chatty memos, bulk memos, or memos informing me of the obvious (for example, stating that you won’t be in class on such-and-such a date). E-mail is not an appropriate medium for intellectual discussion, so please visit me during office hours for discussions of the material. Course information, including syllabus, handouts, announcements, and current grades (updated weekly), will be posted on the course website: http://fp1.centurytel.net/alexpettit/ .
AMERICANS WITH DISABILITIES ACT. Essential competencies for this course include the abilities to read, interpret, and discuss literature; and to answer, in writing, questions about the literature. If you have a disability for which you will require accommodation under the terms of the ADA, please register with the Office of Disability Accommodation and submit your request for accommodation by the second week of class.
SCHEDULE. You are responsible for introductory materials and notes when they are present. All material must be read by the class-meeting for which it has been assigned.
8/26
Introductory piffle
9/2 Ibsen, Ghosts
9/9 Strindberg, Miss Julie
9/16 Williams, Summer and Smoke
9/23 Brecht, The Caucasian Chalk Circle
9/30 Odets, Waiting for Lefty and Till the Day I Die
10/7 Highway, The Rez Sisters
10/14 Kane, Blasted, Crave, and Skin
10/21 Hawthorne, The Scarlet Letter (What? THAT’S not a
PLAY!!!)
10/28 Parks, In the Blood
11/4 Parks, Fucking A
11/11 Valdez, Mundo Mata
11/18 Albee, The Goat; or, Who is Sylvia?
11/25 Wilson, Gem of the Ocean
12/2 Churchill, Drunk Enough to Say I Love You?
Dr.
Pettit
ENGL 5250: Studies in the British Literature of the Eighteenth Century
Fall 2008
Thursdays 6:30-9:20; AUDB 218
Office: AB 206C (T, 5:00-5:55; Th, 5:30-6:25)
TEXTS: It’s your job to track ’em down, on time--locally, on-line, or elsewhere. Other editions of Joseph Andrews and Shamela will suffice; the only acceptable substitute for the assigned Pamela is Eaves and Kimpel edition (Houghton Mifflin-Riverside).
ISBN Author/Ed. Title
Publisher
9780192833433 Fielding, Henry
Joseph Andrews & Shamela
Oxford UP
9781551116112 Black, et al.,
ed. The Restoration & Eighteenth Century
Broadview
9780192834942 Pope, Alexander
Selected Poetry
Oxford UP
9780192829603 Richardson, Samuel Pamela
Oxford UP
CATALOGUE DESCRIPTION. “An appraisal of a significant group of writers or a literary genre of either the Restoration or the 18th century, together with attention to the historical, intellectual[,] and social background.”
WHAT TO EXPECT. The misleading title aside, this class is a survey of literature from the Restoration of the monarchy (1660) up to, but not into, the Romantic period (c. 1780). We will read poems, plays, and prose, moving more or less chronologically. We’ll think about the material, we’ll talk about the material, we’ll write about the material. We’ll consider the proposition that the material matters.
ATTENDANCE POLICY. Students who miss 2 classes cannot receive the grade “A”; students who miss 3 classes cannot receive the grades “A” or “B”; students who miss three or more classes will be assigned the grade “F.” Two late arrivals or early departures count as one absence. This policy is not negotiable.
INCOMPLETES. No.
COURSEWORK.
*. a 250–300 word abstract of your seminar paper, outlining its argument and organization and indicating how your paper will “engage with” extant scholarship on the topic. You must include a working bibliography of primary and secondary sources. I will not grade the abstract; but it is, non-negotiably, a prerequisite for your seminar paper. These are due on 11/20, 6:30, as attachments in MS-Word. No late submissions.
*. an individual meeting with me on 12/4 to discuss your paper in progress.
*. a seminar paper, 12–15 pages long, exclusive of apparatus, in Times New Roman, 12-pt., in which you present an original argument supported by orthodox and recent criticism. The paper must conform fully to the MLA or the Chicago style. Due Thursday, 12/11, 6:30, via e-mail, as attachments in MS-Word. No late papers. Your paper does not count as “submitted” until I have verified receipt, via e-mail.
GRADING. Your final grade will be based primarily on your seminar paper, although I reserve the right to adjust it, one way or the other, in consideration of in-class performance.
ELECTRONIC DEVICES. Pretend you’re on an airplane: stow all electronic devices, including laptops, cell phones, Blackberries, Blueberries, and Chuckberries, under your desk (or anywhere other than on your desk).
E-MAIL AND WEBSITE. My e-address is alexp@unt.edu. Please use this address sparingly: do not sent chatty memos, bulk memos, or memos informing me of the obvious (for example, stating that you won’t be in class on such-and-such a date). E-mail is not an appropriate medium for intellectual discussion, so please visit me during office hours for discussions of the material. Course information, including syllabus, handouts, and announcements will be posted on the course website: http://fp1.centurytel.net/alexpettit/.
AMERICANS WITH DISABILITIES ACT. Essential competencies for this course include the abilities to read, interpret, and discuss literature; and to write sophisticated essays about the literature. If you have a disability for which you will require accommodation under the terms of the ADA, please register with the Office of Disability Accommodation and submit your request for accommodation by the second week of class.
SCHEDULE. You are responsible for introductory and explanatory materials when they are present. All material must be read by the class-meeting for which it has been assigned.
8/28 Introductory piffle
9/4 Black, at al., ed.: all introductory materials; first 6 poems
by Cavendish; Pepys, from The Diary; “In
Context” (Pepys)
9/11 Black, at al., ed.: “Contexts: Mind and God, Faith and Doubt”;
Behn, “The Disappointment”; Rochester,
all selections
9/18 Black, at al., ed.: Wycherley, The Country Wife
9/25 Black, at al., ed.: Dryden, Absalom and Achitophel,
“Mac Flecknoe”
10/2 Black, at al., ed.: Swift, all poems
10/9 Pope: An Essay on Criticism, The Rape of the Lock,
An Epistle to ... Burlington
10/16 Horace Satires 2.1 (photocopy); Pope: The First
Satire of the Second Book of Horace Imitated, Epistle to
Dr. Arbuthnot,
Epilogue to the Satires (Dialogues I & II).
10/23 Richardson, Pamela
10/30 Fielding, Joseph Andrews and Shamela
11/6 Juvenal Satires 10 (photocopy); Johnson, The
Vanity of Human Wishes, “On the Death of Dr. Robert
Levett,” selections from the Rambler and the Idler.
11/13 Gray, all poems (except The Bard)
11/20 Abstracts due via e-mail; Burney, The Witlings
11/27 Thanksgiving; University closed
12/4 Class does not meet; mandatory individual meetings (to be
scheduled)
12/11 Class does not meet; final papers due via e-mail. No late
papers.