Interview, in groups of three, one of your
classmates and prepare to report
the following information to the rest of the class:

Course Introduction



“Modern European Drama” :"

- What is the tragedy of the modern family? How are family members expected to “perform”? And can the theater even begin to portray the comedy and tragedy (or tragicomedy) that is modern life?

- So-called Anti-Aristotelian dramas, or the plays written and produced between ca. 1870 and 1930, address these and many other questions. This course covers Naturalist Drama to the roots of the Theater of the Absurd.

- We will read and consider the performance histories of Scandinavian, Irish, French, and Italian theater: Ibsen, Strindberg, Ernst Rosmer (Elsa Bernstein), Shaw (Mrs. Warren's Profession), Wedekind, and  Pirandello. Students will leave with a profound appreciation for the development of modern Europe and its playhouses. Satisfies 1b (pre-1900); Drama; multinational; class

- Students will leave with a profound appreciation for the turbulent world of the modern playhouse.

Unit I: Drama before 1900 and the Naturalists


1.    Henrik Ibsen, Doll's House (Signet )
2.    Henrik Ibsen, Hedda Gabler
3.    A. Strindberg, The Father
4. A. Strindberg, Miss Julie
5. Elsa Bernstein, Twilight

Freud, Dora

Unit II: Twentieth-Century Families and Performances

Brecht and Artaud (pdf/online)

6. Shaw, Mrs. Warren's Profession
7. Wedekind, Spring Awakening  
8. L. Pirandello, Six Characters in Search of an Author

Course Objectives


(pre-1900, Drama, multinational, gender issues, 300-level course)

-    Historical/Literary Epochs: Sophisticated Command of “Modern European Drama” ca. 1870-1950 (Naturalist Drama & Theater of the Absurd)

-    Genre: Ability to distinguish between Drama as Text and Performance

-    Comparative Prowess: Contrasts and Similarities between Scandinavian, French, Irish, English, German and Italian Plays

-    Appreciation for Gender Issues in Modern Drama and Culture

-    Scholastic Growth and Maturity (from Consumer to Producer of Knowledge)



Course Requirements:











What do you like about modern family life? What do you think could change about modern family life?
Positive:
-gender + class roles are more flexible
- single/gay parenting okay, less emphasis on nuclear family
- respect between parents/kids important
- parents more accepting
- family shame not as important

Negative:
- pressure on kids at young age
- seems like parents have less responsibility
- too much independence, not enough interdependence

Who or what is a good mother in your opinion?
 Discussion Questions Doll House

Janelle: Is it plausible that Nora changes her mind about T. so quickly, or has this been coming a long time? Is it conscious or unconscious?

Melissa: Why does Mrs. Linde encourage Krogstad to leave the letter?

Andrea: At the end of the play, Nora mentions the way she wanted Torvald to act when he read Krogstad's letter.  That would be the miracle.  However, afterwards he ends with "the greatest miracle-?" What are they referring to? Immediately before that, the play shows that Torvald is filled with hope. Hope referring to what?
Review

1. Concepts you need to know/understand:

- the woman question

- the New Woman

2. Major interpretive questions in

- Doll House: How can audiences justify Nora leaving her children?

- Hedda Gabler: In what ways does she represent challenges facing all modern women?

3. Naturalist drama

- detailed scenery, usually a domestic space in the late 1800s ( = nineteenth century)

- love triangle

- characters related by marriage and birth


Discussion of Freud's Dora

What Dora says about Family and Sexuality around/before 1900 in Europe

- Affairs, syphilis accepted if not common

- Family life: men dominant and controlling even when they're wrong; women have to take care of them (49)

- Children exposed to (but not always understanding) the sexual games of adults

- The phenomenon of substitute mothers: Dora takes care of Frau K.'s kids (see also Aunt Julie in HG, Anne-Marie in DH)

- Sexual awareness in women associated with manliness

- Women have limited options of escape from this situation: suicide, hysteria, marriage, debauchery


Student Questions:

1. What feminist ideas and attributes do you think stand out the most in Dora?

2. Is Freud misogynist?

3. Why does Freud connect Dora's dream to bedwetting? (64) What do her dreams mean?

 4. Is Freud guilt of counter-transference (being attracted to the patient)?
Why is it important that Dora cannot receive the help and protection from Freud that she needs? What does it say about women's ability to find an escape from cycles of abuse around 1900?

Why does it matter that Isolde wants to be her father's wife? Does that make her the Old Woman?
Review: The Father

Is Laura a New Woman?

- controls the household

- wants her daughter to stay at home

>> The Captain's plans for his daughter's education are, however, progressive

Consider the label fatal woman or femme fatale for Laura

The Fate of Men in Naturalist Drama

 


 
Fear that Ibsen and Strindberg represent: women who embrace their independence turn women into men (old fear)


What do the dreams mean (79 and 80)?

Is she a New Woman before she sleeps with Jean? What about after?

What exactly happens in the end? What is Strindberg trying to say about women and class?
Student Questions

Mike: In what ways do the characters of Mrs. Warren and Laura from The Father share a similar methodology on their daughters? Does the father figure in a family help to misconstrued or define the ways mothers look at their children's futures?

Andrea:   Do you think Mrs. Warren desires for Vivie to be the 'old woman' she herself couldn't be? And also, why do you think Mrs Warren doesn't tell Vivie about her half brother?

Francesca: Could she have prevented her daughter from following in her footsteps as far as being alone and making her life revolve around work?  Does the fact that Viv grew up with no known family but her mother have an effect on her decisions and her way of life?

Rachel: Viv is clearly has many qualities of a"new woman". If she hadn't gone to school and been exposed to culture, do you think that she would still have those qualities and made herself out to be the person that she is? Why or why not?

Dan: Why is Frank so insensitive to his father on p. 45?

What does this play tell us about the future/options for the New Woman? and the men around her? p. 61, 86


What is the children's tragedies of the play?



Review the draft by commenting on how well it addresses the assignment (see below). What questions might the student address more clearly? Also comment on the student's style. Where does citation need more work, and in what ways might the writing be improved?

Part of Assignment: Share how you located each item (What search terms did you use? Or did you find this piece in a footnote of another work?). In what ways does it address your research question (it's possible that it may only relate tangentially)? Most importantly, you need to summarize the material, as in an annotated bibliography:

•    What is the argument?
•    What main points does the author make?
•    What type of evidence does he or she use?
•    What audience is this piece directed towards?
•    What scholastic debate or intellectual tradition is this piece a part of? What kind of bias might the author have?

- The conclusion should argue what this research has done to change your perspective on the primary literary work. What additional angle does this piece give you on your chosen book? Or, is your own response more valuable than the criticism or extra-literary material you found? If so, what is that reader’s response?

CONTENT (50 points possible)

 

 

originality

clarity and sophistication of thought / coherence

introduction prepares readers for what follows

conclusion

 

argumentative thesis

creative title

 

paragraph structure

 

2 sources

logical structure / progression of ideas

 

text as performance

STYLE (50 points possible)

 

 

TOTAL (100 points possible)