THD 304-01 - Studies in Drama II: Ibsen/Strindberg/Chekhov (Fall)

4 credits (Fall)

Cross-listed as: GLS 304-01. Ibsen/Strindberg/Chekhov. Modern drama begins with the late nineteenth-century Scandinavian playwrights Henrik Ibsen and August Strindberg and the Russian Anton Chekhov. Like their contemporaries Kierkegaard, Marx, Nietzsche and Freud, the three “classical modern” dramatists explore the construction of personal identity and relations with others, the structure of reality, the phenomena of time and change, the ethics of freedom and responsibility. We will study representative plays from the major stages in each playwright’s development, including Ibsen’s early epic poetic dramas (Brand and Peer Gynt), the realistic so-called “well-made plays” of modern life (Doll House, Ghosts, Rosmersholm, Wild Duck, Hedda Gabler), and the final experiments with ironic “Romantic” myth and Expressionism (Masterbuilder, When We Dead Awaken); Strindberg’s Greater Naturalism in the “battle of the sexes” plays (Miss Julie and The Father), the Inferno spiritual crisis, and the expressionistic late plays, To Damascus, Dance of Death, Dream Play and Ghost Sonata; Chekhov’s farces and the great ironic dramas Sea Gull, Uncle Vanya, Three Sisters and Cherry Orchard.

Prerequisite: Previous coursework in literature or permission of the instructor (courses in philosophy, history, religious studies, art, anthropology, English and European cultures and literatures would also be appropriate).
Instructor: Mease