English 579: Restoration and Early 18th-Century Drama

M W 3:00-4:15 Tompkins G117

http://www4.ncsu.edu/unity/users/m/morillo/public/579.html


Dr. J. Morillo
morillo@unity.ncsu.edu
Office = Tompkins 270. Office phone = 513-8040
Office Hours: tba

Description: We will study a variety of representative Restoration plays from the dominant genre of libertine comedy, but also some tragedy, tragi-comedy, and sentimental comedy.  We will explore works by men and women playwrights during this vibrant time for the theater, and how the theater responded to and helped shape the broader cultural contexts of the English Restoration period, from 1660 to the 17-teens. We will consider the parallel development of drama and theories of drama by playwrights as well as critics in a time when the drama was often the center of religious, political, and aesthetic controversy. How did the theatre of this period respond to  the cultural concerns and needs of the time, including the roles of the sexes and questions of individual and state power?

Required Texts:

PRINT, NCSU BOOKSTORE
Broadview Anthology of Restoration and Early Eighteenth-Century Drama: An Anthology. Ed. J. Douglas Canfield. Ontario, CA: Broadview Press,  2001.
*note that there is also a concise version, but you need to get the full version

ONLINE TEXTS

Dryden, John, Essay of Dramatick Poesie (1668), ed. Jack Lynch: http://andromeda.rutgers.edu/~jlynch/Texts/drampoet.html
Collier, Jeremy, A Short View of the Immorality and Profaneness of the English Stage (1698)
Addison, Josesph and Richard Steele The Tatler and The Specator (1709;1711) http://meta.montclair.edu/spectator/

ELECTRONIC RESERVES via  D. H. Hill Library Reserve Room.
They are on reserve as electronic files. Works may be added to this collection over the course of the semester. The library puts all electronic reserve texts into .PDF files. That means you need the Adobe Acrobat reader to read them. The program can be downloaded for free from the library's reserve site. If you have any problem reading the online files talk to Dr. Morillo.
To access this free resource from off campus you must have a working unity id and password in the campus computer system. Starting at the library homepage  http://www. lib.ncsu.edu
Under Services choose Reserves
then search under instructor name  Morillo
The complete list of E RESERVE works is subject to change and is one or more pages. Each link will load a pdf file into Acrobat reader.
    Works Available on E Reserve:

Carlson, Marvin, "The Restoration and Eighteenth Century in England,in Theories of the Theatre (1993)
Centlivre, Susannah, The Busie Body (another ed. of the complete play)
Congreve, William, "Concerning Humour in Comedy" (1695)
Dryden, John, "Of Heroic Plays" (1672)
----. "The Grounds of Criticism in Tragedy" (1679)
Farquhar, George, "A Discourse Upon Comedy" (1702) in Complete Works
Harth, Phillip, "Political Interpretations of Venice Preserv'd"
Howe, Elizabeth, "Introduction: the Restoration Theatre," in The First English Actresses (1992)
Kelsall, Malcolm, "Introductin to Venice Preser'ved"
Kinney, Suz-anne, "Confinement Shapes the Invention"
Nagler, George, Source Book in Theatrical History (in two files)
O'Neill, John. "The Rehersal," from George Villiers, Second Duke of Buckingham
Stayan, J. L, "The Restoration Stage" and "The Georgian Theatre" in The English Stage (1996)

Other Resources:

NCSU Electronic BOOKS, Early English Books Online

http://www.lib.ncsu.edu/  
then pick catalog search via author, title, or key word
in this e-book form you can find
Dennis, John, The Dignity and Usefulness of the Stage (1698), his reply to Collier's call to censor theater further

The Voice of the Shuttle
http://vos.ucsb.edu   chose Literature--English--Restoration and 18th Century--18th-Century Resources--Authors, Works Projects

18th-Century Studies Discussion List "Selected Readings,"links to current scholarly essays, bibliographies of current publications
http://www.personal.psu.edu/special/C18/sr/sr.htm

The Resotration Comedy Project
http://alojamientos.us.es/restoration/

Theatre Database
http://www.theatredatabase.com/18th_century/restoration_and_18th_century_english_dramatic_criticism.html

World of the London Theatre Project (U. Florida class projects)
http://www.nwe.ufl.edu/~pcraddoc/lonmen1.html

RESEARCH RESOURCES: Books on Restoration Theater, Culture, History


Course Requirements/ % of Grade:
Late papers are accepted only one class late, and with full grade penalty. Any papers arriving later than that will not be accepted. Papers are due at the start of class, in class, printed out on paper.

How I Figure Your Grades

You must complete all the required work to pass the class. No opting out of assigned work.  I will grade plus/minus.

Percentages for each required graded category are figured via a percentage of a 12-pt. scale in which an A+ =12 and
an F=0 points. For example, a B+ on paper 1 would net you 9 x .15 or 1.35 points toward the final 12.  Or, a C in participation nets you 5 x .10 or .5, an A on the final paper nets you 12 x ..20 or 2.4 points.
I then add up the percentage points for each required category to determine your grade from 0 to 12.  For example, an 8.2 final score = B for the class.

Expected participation: come to class on time, with the appropriate texts, having read and thought about them enough to have something specific and intelligent to say or write about them. There may be quizzes to check that you are doing the readings.

Attendance: You are allowed 3 absences. If you are absent, unexcused, more than 3 times over the course of the semester, your absences will count progressively against your final grade. Every 3 absences beyond the allowed 3 loses you a half letter grade on your final grade. Anyone who misses the first two classes can be immediately dropped from the class. For the definition of an unexcused absence, see http://www.ncsu.edu/policies/academic_affairs/pols_regs/REG205.00.4.php

Plagiarism: Anyone convicted will receive an F for the paper, or the course at my discretion. And yes, I have caught people in the past--in this course, in fact.

Disabilities:
Reasonable accommodations will be made for students with verifiable disabilities. In order to take advantage of available accommodations, students must register with Disability Services for Students at 1900 Student Health Center, Campus

            Box 7509, 515-7653. http://www.ncsu.edu/dss/

Academic Integrity Assumption
Universities are unique communities committed to creating and transmitting knowledge. They depend on freedom - individuals' freedom to explore ideas and to explore and further their own capabilities. Those freedoms depend on the good will and responsible behavior of all the members of the community, who must treat each other with tolerance and respect. They must allow each other to develop the full range of their capabilities and take full advantage of the institution's resources.


Readings

We will be reading a play a week for 12 weeks, plus secondary works and criticism. Always have finished reading the play by Monday of each week We will continue disucsing it along with other readings on Wednesdays.  Date of publication follows each play title.

W. Aug 22
Introduction. 1641-1660, Arts Under Suspicion,  Restoration of the monarchy and a new state of theater.
M. Aug 27
Wycherley, The Country Wife (1675 );  E RESERVE #13: Howe, Introduction: the Restoration Theatre (1-18);    E RESERVE #19: Stayan, "Restoration Stage" (253-4) 
W. Aug. 29
County Wife cont.  E RESERVE #19: Stayan , "The Restoration Stage," (255-6; 260-3, his remarks on The Country Wife
M. Sep. 3
NO CLASS. Read Etherege
W. Sep. 5
Etherege, The Man of Mode (1676)
M. Sept. 10
Man of Mode cont.
W. Sept. 12
Behn, The Rover (1677)
M. Sept. 17
 The Rover cont.
W. Sept. 19

Dryden, An Essay of Dramatick Poesie (1668) http://andromeda.rutgers.edu/~jlynch/Texts/drampoet.html

Sept. 21
First Paper: Close Reading: we don't meet in class on Fridays, but papers will be due in a folder on my office some Fridays   Excellent prior papers
M. Sept. 24
student group acting performances
W. Sept. 26
more performances
M. Oct. 1
Dryden, Marriage a la Mode (1671)
W.Oct. 3
Marriage a la Mode cont.
M. Oct. 8
Dryden, All for Love (1677); E RESERVE #11: Dryden, "The Grounds of Criticism in Tragedy"  All for Love is Dryden's version of the story from Shakespeare's Antony and Cleopatra
W. Oct. 10
All for Love cont.
M. Oct. 15
Otway, Venice Preserv’d (1682E RESERVE #12:  Kelsall, Introduction to Venice Preserv'd
W. Oct. 17
Venice Preserved cont. E RESERVE # 15  Harth "Political Interpretations of Venice Preserv'd"
F. Oct. 19
Second Paper due at my office, noon
M. Oct 22
Collier,  Short View of Immorality and Profaneness of the Stage (1696) (url); Dennis, The Dignity and Usefulness of the Stage (16xx)
W. Oct. 24
Collier controvery cont.
M. Oct. 29
Cibber, Love's Last Shift (1696)
W. Oct. 31
 Love's Last Shift cont.                                              
M. Nov. 5
 Vanbrugh, The Relapse (1696)                      
W.Nov. 7
The Relapse cont.
M. Nov.12
Farquhar, The Beaux's Strategem (1707)      E RESERVE #7: Farquahar, A Discourse Upon Comedy     Research Proposal Due
W. Nov. 14
 Beaux's Strategem  cont.
M. Nov. 19
t.b.a
W. Nov. 21
Thanksgiving
M. Nov. 26
Addison, Cato: A Tragedy (1713)   Addison, Spectators no. 39, 40, 42, 44
W. Nov. 28
Cato cont.
M. Dec. 3
Centlivre, A Bold Stroke for a Wife (1718)
W. Dec. 5
Bold Stroke cont.


F. Dec. 7
Research Paper Due


 


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