English 435 - The Play of Ideas

Plot is never the only motor driving drama forward, though it is the most conspicuous.  This class focuses on a long tradition of playwrights using argument--instead of, or alongside plot--to structure their plays.  Readings in drama (mainly from the eighteenth century to the present) will be supplemented by consideration of the “dramatic” traditions in philosophy and in philosophical poetry.  We will also pay particular attention to those playwrights who have written simultaneously in dramatic and essayistic forms.  Why (and when) is thought theatrical?  Featured playwrights include Addison and Steele, Ibsen, Shaw, Brecht, Churchill, and Kushner.

Junior/Senior seminar. Limited to 15 students.  Fall semester.  Professor Grobe.