ENG3630 Drama: Cultural Materialism, Chekhov, Baker

Studies in Drama pairs the works of major playwrights with foundational critical readings from a particular theoretical school. This iteration of the course reads naturalist playwrights Anton Chekhov and Annie Baker in conjunction with Marxist/Cultural Materialist theorists, including Antonio Gramsci, Walter Benjamin, Stuart Hall, and Donna Haraway.

Credits

4 sh

Course Types

Expression, Literature, Advanced Studies

Course Outcomes

1. Students will:
   1. Read in-depth the plays of Anton Chekhov and Annie Baker, as well as a number of essays by major Marxist/Cultural Materialist theorists/critics; also analyze in-depth socially conscious films in the Naturalist mode.
2. 2. Consider how the interpretation of drama differs from the interpretation of other genres of writing, as well as how the medium of theatre differs from the medium of film.
3. 3. Interpret texts and films both in discussion and in writing through close reading, intertextual analysis, historical contextualization, and through applied theory.
4. 4. Consider the relationship between theories and texts by adopting different versions of this theoretical lens to examine the works of these modern dramatists.
5. 5. Explore the relationship between the analysis of these plays and the performance of these plays.
6. 6. Draw continuities across the plays of these two writers (and “socially conscious” films) and the theories that have been labeled “Marxist” and “Cultural Materialist.”