English 295.02--Literary Studies Seminar
(see links at end for syllabus and assignments)
Restoration Theater and Crisis: The Drama of Behn, Otway, and Lee
Instructor: Stephan Flores
Tues.-Thurs. 11 a.m. - 12:15 p.m.; Renfrew 132
Office hours: T-TH 9- 10 a.m.; TH 3:30-4
Course description: This class shall focus primarily on the drama of three of the most intriguing, productive, and popular playwrights of late-seventeenth century British theater: Aphra Behn, Nathaniel Lee, and Thomas Otway. Each of these dramatists wrote provocative, often subversive, satirical comedies and tragedies during a time of significant social and political crisis during the latter part of Charles II's reign (1670s-1680s). Behn was the first professional woman playwright, Lee is noted for his impassioned, self-destructive heroes and lovers, and one critic describes Otway as "one of the most brilliant--and one of the most disturbed&emdash;of Restoration playwrights." We will consider at least two plays by each writer, and perhaps a couple of plays by such contemporaries as John Dryden and Thomas Southerne. Aside from much discussion in class, coursework includes succinct journal entries, a critical summary, two critical responses, an essay and a longer critical project.
Required texts:
Four Restoration Marriage Plays, eds. Michael Cordner and Ronald Clayton (Oxford, 1995)
Behn, Aphra. The Rover, second edition, ed. Anne Russell (Broadview, 1999)
Behn, Aphra. The Rover, Part II
Lee, Nathaniel. Lucius Junius Brutus, ed. John Loftis (Nebraska, 1967)
Lee, N. The Rival Queens, ed. P. F. Vernon (Nebraska, 1970)
Otway, Thomas. Venice Preserved, ed. Malcolm Kelsall (Nebraska, 1969)
Otway, T. The Orphan, ed. Aline Taylor (Nebraska, 1976)
Other secondary works of criticism on reserve.
Requirements:
1. One critical summary (single-spaced, about 800 words) of a critical essay on one of the plays/playwrights. We'll divvy up the criticism to cover a range of topics and texts; individual summaries are due on the day that we discuss the text in question.
2. Six succinct journal entries (one side of a 4x6 inch card). I'll divide the class into two groups so that each group will have different due dates for these entries, in response to different texts. The journal entry prompts you to write a sharply focused observation on some problematic aspect of the text in question. Your entry should emphasize issues of critical analysis and judgment, and it should also implicitly invite dialogue on the question or problem. These cards are due at the beginning of class on the due date, and will usually be read and receive a written response (on the card's other side) in class by a student from the other peer group. These exchanges provide immediate feedback to your ideas from your classmates, and may serve to initiate further class discussion. I shall also collect your entries and evaluate them.
3. Two critical responses (500 words, single-spaced, titled) that prompt you to identify and to address interpretive and critical issues presented by particular plays and related secondary criticism. Your observations and analyses should be succinct and sharply focused, with potential for substantial further development.
4. Participation in class and group discussion (including informal writing), and also opportunities for reading aloud/performance. Please take advantage of the opportunity small groups may provide to discuss your reactions, share your insights and research, and to listen and reply to others' ideas. I may call from time to time upon groups to facilitate class discussion. I hope group work will enable you to move the class in directions you find most helpful, give you opportunities to develop critical skills through collaboration, and prevent me from dominating class discussion while still providing occasions for sharing my perspectives with you. Because class size is limited, we'll have good opportunities for conversations in which everyone participates.
5. One graded, double-spaced essay (Essay 1, 6-7 pp.). More on this later, but in general this essay enables you to explore an interpretive/contextual problem, try out a critical approach/hypothesis, and to express ideas prompted by your reading, by recent scholarship, and by our discussion. I am interested in seeing the ways that you select, define, and engage questions and contradictions, and I attend to the clarity, imagination, and grace that you demonstrate in presenting your topic, thesis, and argument. I do not always expect essays to conclude by "solving" such problems or by "proving" your thesis; I do hope that you address interesting topics in thoughtful and useful ways. Your essay should draw upon (acknowledge, build on, respond to, incorporate) at least one substantial critical essay (preferably recent) on the text, and perhaps consider relevant cultural or historical scholarship. Please feel invited to confer with me during the writing process.
6. One critical project (8-10 pp.) that enables you to analyze some aspect of the plays and the issues that they represent with focus and depth. This flexible assignment is designed to provide you with an opportunity to learn about your subject in various and productive ways that work to discover and to express your sense of the significance of the problem or topic that you want to address and to explore.
7. Due dates: All required work is due at the beginning of class on the due date--work turned in later will be marked late and graded accordingly. All required graded written work will be downgraded one notch (for example, B+ to B, converted to points for each assignment) for each weekday late (not just days classes meet but counting just one day for a weekend). Work more than a week late will not be accepted. I will grant short extensions for medical and family emergencies--but talk with me as soon as possible to request an extension. ALWAYS KEEP EXTRA COPIES OF YOUR WORK.
8. Attendance is required--your participation is a crucial part of a collective learning experience. Excellent attendance and participation is rewarded; poor attendance is penalized. If you have no absences by the term's end (excused or not), you will receive three bonus points; with one absence, you will receive two bonus points. But four absences will lower your semester total by 12 points with five point reductions for each additional absence (for example, five absences=minus 17 points and so on); more than six absences will cause you to fail the class, regardless of your semester point total. Almost all absences will be counted--excused or not--if something extraordinary occurs, talk to me.
9. Grades: Six journal entries (5 points each); One Critical Summary of a critical essay (20 points); Two Critical Responses (25 points each); Essay 1 (100 points); Prospectus for Critical Project (5 points); Critical Project (125 points). These required assignments add up to a maximum of 330 points. Thus 297-330 points equals an A, 264-296 equals a B, 231-263 equals a C, 198-230 equals a D, and anything below 198 merits an F. I shall also reserve a potential five bonus points based on my perceptions of the strength of your participation and efforts over the semester.
10. Office hours. I encourage you to confer with me--especially before assignments are due--to talk about your interests, intentions, and writing strategies. I also expect you to meet with me early in November to review your progress. My office is not accessible to the handicapped, so please let me know if you need to meet me elsewhere. If you cannot make my regular hours, we'll arrange another time. I also welcome communicating with you by E-mail (sflores@uidaho.edu), and I expect that you will also have an e-mail address so that I can communicate with you and with the class in this fashion from time to time.