LIT 3041 () Studies in Drama: Theory of Comedy/Practice of Comedy Fall 2006

Class: MWF 12:50-1:40,

Office: Immediately after class, TUR 4111

Theory of Comedy/Practice of Comedy looks at why we think of certain plays as comic by setting up some of the best-known theories and criticism of comedy to frame discussions and readings of some of the best-known European comedies from classical Greece to the present. In turn we will use the comedies to test the helpfulness of the theories. That is, we will be considering the supposed motives and motifs of comedies, the supposed origins and techniques of comedies, some of the subgenres of comedies, and the multiple and sometimes conflicted effects of comedies in order to ask how they entertain us, what they represent, what they tell us, and so on.

We will begin the course with a brief overview of criticism based on a collection of readings; then we will test three basic theories with Aristophanes' Lysistrata. After that we will alternate theoretical and critical frames with ancient to contemporary comedies in order to examine not only what the theories purport to explain but also the changes in comedies and in comic theories through time. We will conclude by reading some recent comedies but with all of these hypotheses and applications in mind as we attempt to compare and contrast the theories' helpfulness in understanding how these comedies work. We will cover the equivalent of a major critical piece or a comedy each week of the course.

Grades will be based on a combination of weekly pop tests, 500-word reaction papers, and 750-word takehome essays, dropping the lowest grade (75% of the grade), and a 3000-word paper on an assigned topic on the last several plays that comes due at the end of the term (25% of the grade). The essays and paper should be tightly argued, fully exemplified and interpreted, and stylishly written. All but the in class tests must be typed.

The development of the course should be from lecture towards discussion, with students gaining independence and proficiency in understanding the critical theories and interpreting the plays, and arguing articulately both orally and in writing for their understandings and interpretations. Students will thus be responsible for contemplating as well as reading every critical selection and play assigned before the class meets to discuss it so that you can listen profitably to the lectures on the backgrounds and participate knowledgeably in discussions of the works.

This course abides by the University's policies on plagiarism and academic honesty. Except for grave illness or death in the immediate family, I neither accept late work nor grant incompletes. For a student to earn credit for the course, that student must complete all work.

August 23 Packet: Bergson, Cook, Clark, Morreall

25 Packet: Plato, Aristotle, Hobbes; Schopenhauer, Hazlitt; Freud, Kris

28 Aristophanes: Lysistrata

September 1

6 Packet: Frye. Plautus: Miles Gloriosus (The Swaggering Soldier)

11 Packet: Gl'Intronati: Gl'Ingannati (The Deceived)

18 Packet: Barber, Bakhtin, Bristol

Shakespeare: Twelfth Night

25 Packet: Review Superiority Theory. Jonson, Kernan

27 Jonson: The Alchemist

October 2

9 Moliere: The Misanthrope

16 Packet: Corman

Packet: Etherege: The Man of Mode

23 Packet: Review Incongruity Theory of Schopenhauer, Hazlitt.

Goldoni: Mirandolina; La Locandiera (Mine Hostess)

30 Review Relief Theory of Freud, Kris

Wilde: The Importance of Being Earnest

November 1

6 Packet: Esslin

Beckett: Waiting for Godot

9 Paper on Godot due by noon, Clark's Mailbox

13 Pinter: The Homecoming

20 Fo: Accidental Death of an Anarchist

December 1 Stoppard: Travesties

14 Thursday. Final Paper due by 9:00 a.m. Clark's mailbox.

Both the texts and the course packet are available at Goerings' Book Store.

Ira Clark