This course focuses on the history and development of American drama in the 20th century. The aim is to help you become conversant with the genre as it has evolved. The course will introduce you to the characteristics specific to this genre in which the text is only one of many forms of signification. It will emphasize the fact that a play text is no more complete than a musical score – both require performance for their full realization. Topics for orals and papers will reflect this emphasis on performance. If it works out we will make a theatre visit to see the work of one of the playwrights studied in this course (e.g. Arthur Miller’s The Price at the Mark Taper Forum).
English 469V: Major English Writers: Virginia Woolf
This upper-division seminar introduces students to the work of Virginia Woolf, one of the leading modernist writers of her generation. The seminar will concentrate on her development as a novelist and feminist, while using her letters, diaries and essays to provide background information on her life and views. In focusing on the work of this major author, the seminar will introduce students to the wealth of scholarship surrounding Virginia Woolf and the Bloomsbury Group.
English 696: Seminar in Literary Theory, Criticism, and Research
This seminar is designed for students qualified for admission to the MA program in English. An English MA candidate may not be enrolled in any other 600 level course without completion of or concurrent enrolment in English 696. Its purpose is to train graduate students in basic literary research methods (including techniques of bibliography, an introduction to important literary reference works, and the writing of research papers), and preeminently in literary theory. The course will concentrate on major twentieth century theories of literature and literary criticism. The writing of theoretically informed research papers will be an integral part of the course.
