English Drama in the 17th Century 3301-LB1023
The course is a survey of English drama in the 17th century. It presents the most important playwrights and the most popular dramatic genres of this period, such as a city comedy, a tragicomedy, a revenge tragedy, and later a Restoration comedy and a heroic drama. Apart from these typically dramatic genres, the course also examines examples of courtly masque, that some critics call proto-dramatic, rather than strictly dramatic texts.
The chosen plays and masques are analysed in broader cultural, social and political context of the seventeenth century. Thus, apart from text analysis the course’s aim is to give insight into the functioning of London playhouses and theatrical companies in the Jacobean and then Restoration London, with the growing popularity of children companies, and later the introduction of actresses. It discusses the practice of artistic collaboration of the major playwrights, or, in case of masques, the fruitful though stormy collaboration of the playwright Ben Jonson with the great architect and designer Inigo Jones. Th course also presents instances of the royal censure or “disapproval” of some texts (e.g. Eastward Ho or The Pleasure Reconciled to Virtue) , as well as the Puritan attacks resulting in closing of the theatres in 1642.
Suggested Reading List (a selection of 6-7 plays per semester)
1. George Chapman & Ben Jonson & John Marston, Eastward Ho (1605)
2. Bem Jonson, Volpone (1605)
3. Thomas Middleton, The Revenger's Tragedy (1607)
4. Ben Jonson, The Alchemist (1610)
5. Francis Beaumont & John Fletcher, The Maid's Tragedy
6. John Webster, The Duchess of Malfie (1612)
7. John Webster, The White Devil (1612)
8. Thomas Middleton, A Chaste Maid in Cheapside (c. 1613)
9. Thomas Middleton, Women Beware Women (between 1612-1627)
10. Francis Beaumont & John Fletcher, A King and No King (1619)
11. William Shakespeare, The Tempest (1610-1611)
12. Ben Jonson, Hymenaei, (1606)
13. Thomas Middleton & William Rowley, The Changeling (1622)
14. John Ford, 'Tis Pity She's a Whore, (1629-1633)
15. John Milton, Comus (1634)
16. William Wycherley, The Country Wife, (1675)
17. Aphra Behn, The Rover (1677)
18. Colley Cibber, Love's Last Shift (1696)
19. William Congreve, The Way of the World (1700)
Type of course
Learning outcomes
Student zdobywa podstawową wiedzę na temat: i rozwija swoje umiejętności analityczne.
Kształcenie językowe na poziomie B2+
A student will acquire basic information about:English Drama in the 17th Century and will develop his/her analytical skills.
Bibliography
1. Boas, Frederick S. An introduction to Stuart drama, London: Oxford University Press, 1946.
2. Cox, D. John et al., eds. A new history of early English drama. New York: Columbia University Press, 1997.
3. Fisk, Deborah Payne, ed., The Cambridge Companion to English Restoration Theatre, Cambridge University Press, 2000.
4. Hirschfeld, Heather Anne. Joint Enterprises: Collaborative Drama and the Institutionalization of English Renaissance Theatre. Boston, University of Massachusetts Press, 2004.
5. Hoenselaars, Ton (ed.). The Cambridge Companion to Shakespeare and Contemporary Dramatists, Cambridge University Press, 2012.
6. Knights, Lionel Charles, Drama and society in the age of Jonson. Harmondsworth: Penguin Books, 1962.
7. Leggatt, Alexander. English drama: Shakespeare to the Restoration, 1590-1660, London; New York: Longman, 1988.
8. Loftis, John, ed. Restoration drama: modern essays in criticism New York: Oxford University Press, 1966.
9. Ricks, Christopher B. English drama to 1710, London: Sphere Books Limited, 1971.
10. Ure, Peter. Elizabethan and Jacobean drama: critical essays, Liverpool: Liverpool University Press, 1974.
Additional information
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