UNIVERSIDAD NACIONAL DEL COMAHUE
FACULTAD DE LENGUAS
LITERATURA EN LENGUA INGLESA III
Carrera:Profesorado en Inglés, Plan 502/96 – Ord. 642
Año: 2014, primer cuatrimestre
Profesor Adjunto: María Alejandra Olivares
Asistentes de Docencia: Prof. Mercedes F. Fernández Beschtedt
Prof. Paola A. Formiga
Ayudante: Prof. Andrea Montani
RATIONALE
The students had a first encounter with English Literature in the first literature course,
“Introduccion a la Literatura Inglesa”. They were introduced to the different literary genres
through works belonging to different periods and movements reaching up to the end of the
XIX century. In the field of poetry, lyric and narrative poems were analysed, in particular
ballads, tales within a tale, and sonnets. As regards drama, the study focused on its history,
development and characterization with special emphasis on Elizabethan drama and
Shakespeare. The short story and the novel were introduced through the Romantic Movement
and Realism respectively. The subject “Literatura II” furthers the study of the literary
historical development that the first course on literature initiates. It takes up the study of this
development at the end of the nineteenth century and focuses on the narratives of Modernism
and Postmodernism, the two most disruptive movements of the twentieth century. “Literatura
III”, then, widens the panorama presented in “Introducción” and “Literatura II”, since, mostly
within the historical and cultural framework of Literatura II, it goes deeper into the study of
the genres introduced in “Introducción a la Literatura”, focusing now on drama.
The present course is based on a study of the different dramatic genres – tragedy,
comedy, farce and melodrama. Departing form a characterization of these types of drama, the
course aims at analyzing the way they have developed in the last century. Special emphasis
will be placed on how they have mingled in the particular form of tragicomedy that
constitutes the mode per excellence of twentieth century drama - and on how they have given
way to the parody, intertextuality and pastiche of postmodernist plays. In this way,
Modernism and Postmodernism are brought to focus once more.
OBJECTIVES
To help the students:
1- Develop a critical knowledge of literature, particularly of that produced in the Englishspeaking world in the last century, through the study of drama.
2- Internalize conceptual categories that may enable them to analyse other literary texts.
3- Relate literary production to its historical context.
4- Establish connections with other works, genres and movements studied in previous
courses.
5- Apply theoretical concepts acquired in previous courses to the reading, analysis and
interpretation of other modes of representation.
6- Enlarge their proficiency in the English language by means of:
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- their exposure to the variety and richness of the literary discourse;
- the acquisition of concepts and lexis specific to the literary field;
- the critical discussion of the texts.
THE EYE OF THE BEHOLDER: DRAMA AND THE DRAMATIC
INTRODUCTION
Drama as imitation. The human nature of drama: the subjectivity of the dramatic and conflict.
Plot, story and life. Elements of a play. Tragedy, Comedy, Farce and Melodrama: “high” and
“low” drama.
UNIT I
Tragedy. Suffering, guilt and anxiety: terror taken by the hand. Fear and awe. Confrontation
between the human world/nature and the non-human. The tragic hero. The function of the
chorus. The deviating course of Elizabethan tragedy.
Sophocles’ Oedypus Rex
William Shakespeare’s Macbeth
UNIT II
Comedy. Suffering, guilt and anxiety: laughter as evasion; misery and fun. Indirection, duality
and irony. Scorn and sympathy: the purposive joke and the harmless joke of comedy.
George Bernard Shaw’s Pygmalion
William Shakespeare’s Much Ado about Nothing*
UNIT III
Tragicomedy: the mode per excellence in twentieth century drama. The anti-tragic in the
plays of ideas. The problem of identity: its illusive and unstable character. The inconsistency
of language. The spectator implicated in (the structure of) the drama. Meta theatre: the world
as a stage, life as a dream. The fictive and the real. Melodrama in twentieth century
tragicomedy.
Henrik Ibsen’s A Doll’s House
Pirandello’s Six Characters in Search of an Author
UNIT IV
Tragicomedy and the Theatre of the Absurd. The aesthetics of silence. Inarticulacy as medium
and message. The problem of identity: its illusive and unstable character. The function of
language: nonsense, repetition and cliché. Farce and the Absurd.
Samuel Beckett’s Waiting for Godot
Fernando Arrabal’s The Two Executioners*
Harold Pinter’s The Cataker*
Eugene Ionesco’s The Chairs*
UNIT V
Postmodernist drama. The questioning of Liberal Humanism. Parody, pastiche and
intertextuality. Defying the canonical. Revisiting classical dramatic forms.
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Tennessee Williams’ A Streetcar Named Desire
Woody Allen’s God (A Play)
Note: The works and/or topics marked with an asterisk will be discussed by the students in the
practical assignments and the term exams planned for this course.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
INTRODUCTION
BENTLEY, Eric. 1991 (1964). The Life of the Drama. New York: Applause. I, Ch.1, “Plot”
pp. 3-33.
OLIVARES, M. Alejandra, FERNANDEZ BESCHTEDT, Mercedes, FORMIGA, Paola and
MONTANI, Andrea. 2011. Notes on dramatic genres.
RUSH, David. 2005. A Student Guide to Play Analysis. Southern Illinois University Press /
Carbondale. “Introduction” and “Part I”.
UNIT I
BENTLEY, Eric. 1991. The Life of the Drama. New York: Applause. II, Ch. 8, pp. 257-294
“Tragedy”
BRADLEY, A.C., Shakespearean Tragedy, Macmillan, 1985.
BURGESS, Anthony. 1983. English Literature. Longman. Ch. 6, 7, 8 and 9.
HOWARD, Maureen C.2005. “Sophocles’ Oedipus Rex”. Yale-New Haven Teachers
Institute. http:/www.yale.edu/ynhti/comments.html
POPE, Rob. 1998. The English Studies Book. London and New York: Routledge. pp. 179-183
SOULI, Sofia and Michael LACENERE. 1998. Greek Mythology. Athens: Techni
UNIT II
BENTLEY, Eric. 1991 [1964]. The Life of the Drama. New York: Applause. II, Ch. 9, pp.
295-315, “Comedy.”
BURGESS, Anthony. 1983. English Literature. Longman. Ch.14 and 19
MUGGLESTONE, Lynda. 1993. “Shaw, Subjective Inequality, and the Social Meanings of
Language in Pygmalion.” The Review of English Studies, New Series, Vol. 44, No. 175 (Aug.,
1993), pp. 373-385, Oxford University Press. http://www.jstor.org/stable/517281. Retrieved
17/02/2011
POPE, Rob. 1998. The English Studies Book. London and New York: Routledge. Pp. 111-123
RUSH, David. 2005. A Student Guide to Play Analysis. Southern Illinois University Press /
Carbondale. Chapter 7 “Classic Comedy”.
UNIT III
BENTLEY, Eric. 1991 [1964]. The Life of the Drama. New York: Applause. Part II.10
“Tragicomedy”, pp. 316-353. On Pirandello, pp. 132-137 and 182-192. On G. B. Shaw pp.
127-132
FLETCHER, John and McFARLANE, James. 1991. “Modernist Drama: Origins and
Patterns”. In BRADBURY and Mc FARLANE (eds.), Modernism. A Guide to European
Literature, 1890-1930. Penguin. pp. 499-513
GLOVER, David and Cora KAPLAN. 2000. Genders. London and New York: Routledge. Pp.
ix-xxviii and 14-26
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JONHSTON, Brian. “Ibsen’s Cycle as Tragedy”. At http://www.ibsenvoyages.com/etexts/index.html
McFARLANE, James (ed). 1970. Henrik Ibsen. Penguin. pp. 312-319: An excerpt from
Raymond Williams. 1966. Modern Tragedy; pp. 303-306: An excerpt from George Steiner.
1961. The Death of Tragedy
McFARLANE, James. 1991. “Neo-Modernist Drama: Yeats and Pirandello”. In
BRADBURY and Mc FARLANE (eds.), Modernism. A Guide to European Literature. 18901930. Penguin. pp. 561-570
MELANI, Lilia. “The Angel in The House”.
http://academic.brooklyn.cuny.edu/english/melani/novel_19c/thackeray/angel.html
MONTERDE, José Enrique. 1994. “El melodrama cinematográfico”. Revista Dirigido
Número 223. Pp. 52-65
NEWTON, Ken. 2004. “Modern Tragedy, 1870-” The Literary Encyclopedia at
http://www.litencyc.com/
SHAW, George Bernard. 1911. Preface to Three Plays By Brieux In BRANDT, George W.
1998. Modern Theories of Drama. A Selection of Writings on Drama and Theatre 1850-1990.
New York: Oxford. Pp. 99-105: “Against the Well Made Play”
UNIT IV
BENTLEY, Eric. 1991 [1964]. The Life of the Drama. New York: Applause. Part II.10
“Tragicomedy”, pp. 316-353.
On the Theatre of the Absurd:
COHN, Ruby (ed.). 1987. Samuel Beckett. Waiting for Godot. Casebook Series, MacMillan.
ESSLIN, Martin. 1961. The Theatre of the Absurd. Penguin. Introduction and chapters I, III,
V, VI: 285-292, VII and VIII
RUSH, David. 2005. A Student Guide to Play Analysis. Southern Illinois University Press /
Carbondale. Chapter 14, “Theatre of the Absurd”.
UNIT V
BAK, John S. 2004. “Criticism on A Streetcar Named Desire. A Bibliographic Survey, 19472003.” Cercles 10. Université de Nancy II-C.T.U. pp. 3-32.
http://www.cercles.com/n10/bak.pdf
HUTCHEON, Linda. 2004 (1988). A Poetics of Postmodernism. History, Theory, Fiction.
London-New York: Routledge, Taylor & Francis. Chapter 8: “Intertextuality, Parody, and the
Discourses of History”
MILLER, Arthur. 1958. Introduction to The Collected Plays. In BRANDT, George W. 1998.
Modern Theories of Drama. A Selection of Writings on Drama and Theatre 1850-1990. New
York: Oxford. Pp. 106-112
RUSH, David. 2005. A Student Guide to Play Analysis. Southern Illinois University Press /
Carbondale. Chapter 16, “Postmodernism”
WHEALE, Nigel (ed.) 1995. Postmodern Arts. London-New York: Routledge. Part I:
“Postmodernism: from Elite to Mass Culture”, pp. 33-56
GENERAL BIBLIOGRAPHY
FORMIGA, Paola. 2002. Notes on different types of drama. Manuscript.
HOBSBAWM, Eric. 1994. Age of Extremes. The Short Twentieth Century. 1914 – 1991,
London: Pantheon, Random House.
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HOLMAN, C. H. 1980. A Handbook to Literature. Indianapolis: Bobbs-Merrill Educational
Publishing.
LETHBRIDGE, Stefanie and Jarmila MILDORF. Basics of English Studies: An introductory
course for students of literary studies in English. Developed at the English departments of the
Universities of Tübingen, Stuttgart and Freiburg. Chapter 3: Drama
http://www2.anglistik.uni-freiburg.de/intranet/englishbasics/PDF/Drama.pdf
LETWIN, David, Joe STOCKDALE and Robin STOCKDALE. 2008. The Architecture of
Drama. Plot, Character, Theme, Genre, and Style. The Scarecrow Press: Lanham, Maryland.
MC NALL BURNS, E., LERNER, R.E., and MEACHAM, S. 1984. Western Civilizations.
New York: Norton & Company.
NICOLL, Allardyce. 1968. British Drama. Harrap.
REQUISITOS
ALUMNOS REGULARES
i.
70% de asistencia
ii.
80 % de trabajos prácticos aprobados.
iii.
Aprobar dos exámenes parciales. Cada uno tendrá su respectivo recuperatorio.
ALUMNOS LIBRES
a- Una monografía o ensayo crítico sobre un tema del programa a convenir con la cátedra.
Este trabajo deberá ser presentado al menos una semana previa al examen.
b- Un examen escrito.
c- Una evaluación oral.
PROMOCION
- 80% de asistencia
- 100% de trabajos prácticos aprobados con un puntaje mínimo de 7 (siete).
- Dos exámenes parciales. En cada uno el alumno deberá obtener al menos 8 (ocho) para
acceder a la promoción.
Para obtener la nota final de la materia, se promediarán los resultados de los trabajos prácticos
con los de los exámenes parciales.
Prof. María Alejandra Olivares
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