ENGL 90920 - Theatrical Realism

Institution:

University of Notre Dame

Subject:

English

Description:

Ever since realism became the dominant mode of the nineteenth-century stage, most avant-garde movements in Western drama have defined themselves against it. But what exactly is realism? Where did it come from, and how does it change? How are spectators persuaded to "recognize" certain conventions, strategies, or content as "realistic"and then to reject those conventions and accept new ones? Is realism inherently conservative as many of its critics argue or does it contain the revolutionary potential that realist playwrights so often claim for it? Now that once-radical antirealist techniques have been adopted by commercial theaters, does realism still exist? And how is the practice of realism on the modern or contemporary stage related to changing conceptions of human nature, human behavior, human society, or the "real world"? This course will investigate the practice and the theory of realism in English-language theater from the late ninteenth to the early twenty-first century. Alongside the plays and criticism of the leading British, Irish, and American realists, we will read the critiques of realism that have emerged in contemporary critical theory. We will situate our study of realism in its historical, political, and economic contexts, and we will also look at the acting and production techniques that made realism possible. Playwrights may include but are not necessarily limited to: George Bernard Shaw, T. C. Murray, J. M. Synge, Sean O'Casey, Teresa Deevy, John Osborne, Arnold Wesker, Edward Bond, Brian Friel, Lillian Helmann, Clifford Odets, Eugene O'Neill, Arthur Miller, Sam Shepard, August Wilson, David Mamet, Conor Macpherson, Tony Kushner. Students will produce one conference-length (10-page) paper and one seminar-length (20-25 page) paper and will be responsible for at least one in-class presentation.

Credits:

3.00

Credit Hours:

Prerequisites:

Corequisites:

Exclusions:

Level:

Instructional Type:

Lecture

Notes:

Additional Information:

Historical Version(s):

Institution Website:

www.nd.edu

Phone Number:

(574) 631-5000

Regional Accreditation:

North Central Association of Colleges and Schools

Calendar System:

Semester

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