The Art of Tragedy
Fordham University
Department of English
Professor Keri Walsh
ENGL 2000: Texts and Contexts Fall 2013
Course Description: In this section of Texts and Contexts, we take three ancient Greek plays as our starting point for reflecting on the extreme artistic, intellectual, and ethical demands of tragedy over the last two and a half millennia. We begin by examining Sophocles’s influential Oedipus the King and Antigone in the context of Aristotle’s theories of tragedy. We turn next to Euripides’s Medea, a play about a woman who kills her own children to avenge herself on an unfaithful husband. Drawing on Nietzsche and other theorists of tragedy to interpret Medea’s choices, we analyze modern adaptations by playwrights and filmmakers. In the second half of the course, we study two plays by William Shakespeare. Students will write a review of a live performance of Richard III and analyze the choices the director and actors have made in bringing the play to the stage. Finally, students write a paper about Shakespeare’s Hamlet in modern adaptation.
Course Attributes: Eloquentia Perfecta 2, Fordham College/Rose Hill, Texts & Contexts
Required Course Texts:
Aristotle, Poetics, Penguin Classics, Translated and Introduced by Malcolm Heath (ISBN-10: 0140446362 / ISBN-13: 978-0140446364)
Sophocles, The Three Theban Plays, Penguin Classics, Translated by Robert Fagles and Introduction by Bernard Knox (ISBN-10: 0140444254 / ISBN-13: 978-0140444254)
Euripides, Medea and Other Plays, Oxford World’s Classics, Translated by James Morwood and edited by Edith Hall, (ISBN-10: 0199537968/ ISBN-13: 978-0199537969)
Cherríe Moraga, The Hungry Woman: A Mexican Medea and Heart of the Earth: A Popul Vuh Story (ISBN-10: 097053440X / ISBN-13: 978-0970534408)
William Shakespeare, Richard III, Folger Shakespeare Library (Simon & Schuster), (ISBN-10: 0743482840 / ISBN-13: 978-0743482844)
William Shakespeare, Hamlet, The New Folger Library (Simon & Schuster), (ISBN-10: 074347712X / ISBN-13: 978-0743477123)
In addition to the required textbooks, short Critical Readings will be posted on Blackboard and shared by e-mail. Students are responsible for printing them out and bringing them to class. Short critical readings are marked with an asterisk (*) in the syllabus, as follows:
*Nicole Loraux, The Mourning Voice
*Froma Zeitlin, Playing the Other
Overview of Assignments
There are two exams and three major writing assignments for this course.
Midterm Exam—This exam will cover Aristotle’s Poetics and Sophocles’s plays Oedipus the King and Antigone
September 19 in class
10% of final grade
Essay #1—Lens Essay on Medea (4-5 pp). You will develop an argument about one of the Medea adaptations we will examine, using a theoretical text (Loraux, Nietzsche, or Zeitlin) to provide a framework for your argument:
Due Monday, October 21 in class
20% of final grade
Essay #2—Theatre Review of Richard III (2-3 pp). You will attend a live performance of Richard III in New York and write a response to it following the genre conventions of the theatre review:
Due Thursday, November 7 in class
10% of final grade
Essay #3—Hamlet in Adaptation Paper (5-7 pp) You will analyze an adaptation of Hamlet and develop an argument about how one of the original play’s major themes is treated in the work that is adapted from it:
Due Monday, December 9 by e-mail (to kwalsh36@fordham.edu)
30% of final grade
Final Exam—This is a comprehensive exam that will cover all material from the course, including the material already covered on the Midterm exam (Dec 12 / Dec 16):
December 12 at 1:30 (for 2:30 PM section R32)
December 16 at 1:30 (for 4:00 PM section R23)
20% of final grade
Course Participation: Includes your positive contribution to the classroom setting, attendance, preparation, sensitive and engaged participation in discussion, punctuality, meeting deadlines, and always having the readings with you in class:
10% of final grade
Technical Matters for submitting your essays:
v All essays should be typed (word processed), double-spaced in 12-pt. Times New Roman with 1-inch margins. Number your pages starting on p.2 & staple all pages together (hint: buy a stapler!).
v Use MLA in-text citation method with a Works Cited list at the end.
v Give your essay a title that reflects your main ideas. Never settle for a title like “Essay #2.”
v SAVE YOUR WORK often, and print out hard copies occasionally. Computer disaster is not an acceptable excuse for late or incomplete work.
UNIT ONE: GREEK ORIGINS AND ECHOES
Thur Aug 29 – Introduction
Mon Sept 2 – Labor Day, University closed
Wed Sept 4 - Aristotle, Poetics (entire book, including Heath’s introduction)
Thur Sept 5- Sophocles, Oedipus the King (p. 131-185, up to line 526)
Mon Sept 9- Sophocles, Oedipus the King (p. 186-251)
Thur Sept 12- Sophocles, Antigone (p. 35-90, up to line 655)
Mon Sept 16- Sophocles, Antigone (p. 91-128)
Thur Sept 19- MIDTERM EXAM
Mon Sept 23- Euripides, Medea (entire play)
Thur Sept 26- CRITICAL READING: *Zeitlin, “Playing the Other”
Mon Sept 30- CRITICAL READING: *Loraux, “The Mourning Voice,” *Nietzsche, The Birth of Tragedy
Thur Oct 3- Lars von Trier, Medea (screening)
Mon Oct 7- Cherríe Moraga, The Hungry Woman (Act I)
Thur Oct 10- Cherríe Moraga, The Hungry Woman (Act II)
Mon Oct 14—Columbus Day, class cancelled
UNIT TWO: SHAKESPEARE IN PERFORMANCE
Thur Oct 17 – Richard III (Act I)
Mon Oct 21- Richard III (Act II)--Essay #1 Due (Lens Essay on Medea)
Thur Oct 24- CRITICAL READING: *Garber, Shakespeare’s Ghost Writers
CRITICAL READING: *Charnes, Notorious Subjects
Mon Oct 28- Richard III (Act III)
How to Write a Theater Review
Wed Oct 30 – Excursion to see Richard III on Broadway
Thur Oct 31- Richard III (Act IV)
Mon Nov 4- Richard III (Act V)
Thur Nov 7- Hamlet (Act I)-- Essay #2 Due (Review of Richard III)
Mon Nov 11- Hamlet (Act II)
Thur Nov 14- Hamlet (Act III)
Mon Nov 18- CLASS CANCELLED
Thur Nov 21- Hamlet (Act IV)
Introduction to your Final Paper Assignment
Mon Nov 25- Hamlet (Act V)
Further Tips for your Final Paper Assignment
Thur Nov 28—Thanksgiving, Class Cancelled
Mon Dec 2 – Hamlet 2
Thur Dec 5—Course conclusion
Class time will be given to fill out online Evaluation (SEEQ) forms: Please bring a device on which
to do so.
Mon Dec 9--Essay #3 Due (Hamlet in Adaptation)
(submitted by e-mail to kwalsh36@fordham.edu by midnight)
FINAL EXAM:
Section R32—2:30-3:45 Class (D Block): Thursday December 12, 1:30 PM
Section R23—4:00-5:15 Class (E Block): Monday December 16, 1:30 PM
| texts_and_contexts_the_art_of_tragedy_final_syllabus_r23_fall_2013.pdf |
