BIS 371 (LN 11167)

Twentieth-Century American Literature:

Drama

David S. Goldstein, Ph.D.

The United States produced some of the world's greatest drama during the Twentieth Century.  In this course, we will analyze several of the most influential plays from the 1930s to the 1990s to see how some great artists--Lorraine Hansberry, David Henry Hwang, Tony Kushner, Arthur Miller, Eugene O'Neill, Tennessee Williams, and August Wilson--convey their observations about some of the deepest human issues of their time or any other.

By the end of this course, you should be able to analyze, with detail and complexity, some of the key concepts in the study of literature, especially drama, and to apply the interdisciplinary methods of American studies to such analyses. In other words, you are developing, simultaneously, historical and cultural knowledge and the skills to understand it. You also will hone your speaking and writing abilities and your use of technology in the pursuit of understanding and the communication of ideas.

This course is not meant to be a complete survey of twentieth-century American literature, an impossible task. Rather, we will read selectively but carefully, making connections from the chosen works to others and to forces and events in America's most recent century, focusing on the genre of the play.

I strongly recommend that Interdisciplinary Studies students take BIS 300 before enrolling in this course.  Previous coursework in textual studies (e.g., literature or cinema) is helpful but unnecessary.

Some plays deal with mature subject matter that might make some students uncomfortable. Students who are not easily offended or who feel able to deal with emotional discomfort for the purpose of learning are welcome in this course.  Note, also, that university work typically entails encounters with materials and ideas that some may view as offensive in some way.  It is impossible for any one person to anticipate every way in which a member of a learning community will respond to any given stimulus.  As a professional, I promise to do my best to select materials that offer significant learning opportunities, and to explicate the learning outcomes that I hope for through the use of such materials.  You have a right to know why you are doing the work that I assign, and I have the responsibility to make my goals clear.  Your responsibility is to try to work through whatever discomfort or confusion or even offense that you might feel in order to learn as much as you can from the experience.  I recognize students' responses--cognitive, emotional, and evaluative--to be valid.  Ultimately, however, I ask you to recognize that stressing your mind makes it stronger, just as stressing a muscle makes it stronger.  Also, please recognize that I do not necessarily like or agree with materials that I present.  I present them only because I think that they offer learning opportunities.  Please do not assume that I advocate a point of view represented in the materials that I assign.

Students in this course will be required to attend one play at a professional theater in Seattle on the evening of Thursday, April 26, at a deeply discounted student rate of approximately $10.00 per ticket.

Course texts (available in the UWB Bookstore [save your receipts for a patronage refund] and in library reserve/reference). Note: Click here <http://tinyurl.com/6pamk> to order books online. Click on the link for the appropriate quarter, then enter the line number (LN) shown at the top of this page for "UW SLN Code" (leave other spaces blank) and hit 'enter.' All items have been ordered; contact the bookstore if some materials are not listed.

• Hansberry, Lorraine. A Raisin in the Sun. 1959. New York: Vintage, 1994. (ISBN 0679755330)
• Hwang, David Henry. M. Butterfly. 1988. New York: Plume, 1993. (ISBN 0452272599)
• Kushner, Tony. Angels in America, Part 1: The Millennium Approaches. 1993. New York: Theatre Communications Group, 1993. (ISBN 1559360615)
• Miller, Arthur. Death of a Salesman. 1949. New York: Penguin, 1976. (ISBN 0140481346)
• O'Neill, Eugene. A Long Day's Journey into Night, 2nd ed. 1941 (1956). New Haven, CT: Yale Nota Bene. (ISBN 0300093055)
• Williams, Tennessee. A Streetcar Named Desire. 1951. New York: New Directions, 1984. (ISBN 0811216020)
• Wilson, August. Fences. 1987. New York: Plume, 1996. (ISBN 0452264014)
  

Grading: Your grade will be based on these assignments, which are described on separate pages online (links will be activated when ready):

Essay (1000-1250 words, due in midquarter learning portfolio at 1:05 p.m. on Apr. 26; final, graded version due in final portfolio at 1:05 p.m. on May 29)	30%
Group discussion leadership (dates to be assigned )	30%
Learning portfolio (including a reflective paper of 600-1000 words, due in Catalyst at 1:05 p.m. on May 29 [ungraded midquarter portfolio due in Catalyst at 1:05 p.m. on Apr. 26])	10%
In-class and online contribution	30%
TOTAL	100%

A note about grades: I know that students often need to juggle school, work, family, and other obligations. I never second-guess students' priorities, and I never think less of students who choose to devote more time and effort to one of these other obligations rather than to an assignment or the course as a whole. I respect the maturity of students who establish their priorities, make difficult choices, and accept the consequences of those decisions. Also, remember that your grade is based solely on my professional assessment of the quantity and quality of your work, not on your effort or on my opinion of you as an individual.

For an explanation of the University of Washington grading system, see <http://www.washington.edu/students/gencat/front/Grading_Sys.html>.  Your weighted grades on assignments will be converted to grade points according to the course grade scale in the "Course Documents" area of Blackboard.

Schedule:

Reserves list (except as noted, in the "Course Documents" area of Blackboard ):

• Caldwell, Benjamin. "Birth of a Blues!"  1989.  Black Drama database.  2005.
• Cohn, Ruby. "Twentieth-Century Drama." Columbia Literary History of the United States. Ed. Emory Elliott, et al. New York: Columbia UP, 1988. 1101-25.
• "Policy on Academic and Behavioral Conduct." Online < http://www.uwb.edu/students/policies/academicconduct.xhtml >.

This page last updated April 6, 2007.

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