Contemporary American Drama
In previous English courses, students have examined some of the great dramas of Western literature, including classical and Shakespearean texts. How has this genre evolved in the 21st century? Who are some of the major names in American theater? What themes and trends characterize recent drama? How do playwrights explore issues of class, race, and gender? Is the “American Dream” still a focus? In this course, students will explore these and other questions as they study a number of representative works. They will meet iconic characters such as Blanche DuBois, who always depends on “the kindness of strangers”; Dr. Vivian Bearing, an expert on John Donne; and Father Flynn, who may be guilty of a terrible crime—or just the victim of the malevolence of Sr. Aloysius. When possible, the class will view live or filmed versions of these plays to see what choices directors made in taking them from the page to the stage or camera. The course will also have a creative component as students will perform scenes from course texts as well as compose and present original works.
Reading list:
Tennessee Williams, A Streetcar Named Desire (1951)
Margaret Edson, Wit (1999)
David Auburn, Proof (2001)
John Patrick Shanley, Doubt (2005)
Lynn Nottage, Ruined
Other texts by authors possibly including August Wilson, John Guare, Neil Simon, Sarah Jones, Sarah Ruhl, Tracy Letts, etc.
“Make It New!”: American Modernist Poetry
In the unsettling aftermath of World War I (1914-1918), American poets invented fresh ways to sing the loves, yearnings, and anxieties of a new generation. Inspired by the invention of cubism by painters like Picasso and Braque and the birth of jazz and modern music at the hands of composers like Jelly Roll Morton and Igor Stravinsky, American poets sought forms and themes that would, as Ezra Pound championed, “Make it new!” Hilda Doolittle (H.D.) explored how classical myth related to modern love (”You are as gold / as the half-ripe grain / that merges to gold again”). William Carlos Williams discovered poetry in his daily routine as physician, husband and father, famously making a poem from a kitchen note: “This Is Just to Say // I have eaten / the plums / that were in / the icebox // and which / you were probably / saving / for breakfast // Forgive me / they were delicious / so sweet / and so cold.” Marianne Moore imagined an octopus’ take on things (”it is frightful to have everything afraid of one”), while T.S. Eliot pondered, “Do I dare disturb the universe?” Students will enjoy and explore the work of these poets and more. They will learn about the strange times during which these women and men lived: an era of phonograph records and flappers, steamships and Chaplin films. Students will write their own poems and creative responses. As we read poems closely and creatively, we will be guided by the idea that there is no one right way to explore these poems!
Reading list:
T.S. Eliot, The Waste Land (1922)
William Carlos Williams, Spring and All (1923)
Gertrude Stein, Tender Buttons (1914)
Jean Toomer, Cane (1923)
Shakespeare, The Sonnets (1609)
Other texts include poems and prose by Marianne Moore, Langston Hughes, Wallace Stevens, Mina Loy, Ezra Pound, Hart Crane, and others. This class will feature a visit to the Museum of Modern Art or a performance of music by Stravinsky or Schoenberg.