Reading and Composition: Irish Drama in a Comparative Context

4 units
MWF 11-12
109 Dwinelle
Instructor: Thomas Walsh

This course satisfies the second half or the “B” portion of the Reading and Composition requirement for the Bachelor’s Degree. Courses taken to fulfill this requirement must be taken for a letter grade.

 The primary focus of this course is the improvement of your writing. Since R1B is an intensive college writing course, issues of development and style are presented at an advanced level. Further, students are to receive attention to their writing through detailed comments on their essays and through discussion in class and during office hours.

Your writing for this course will analyze and interpret significant dramatic and poetic texts from Ireland. We will read Irish dramatic texts alongside some Greek tragedies. Of importance to our reading are: 1.) the development of Irish drama in its historical context; 2.) the place of Irish drama as a response to Greek drama; and 3.) the dramatic artistry of the plays themselves. The course will examine the form and nature of drama and performance.

 Required Texts:
Diane Hacker and Nancy Sommers. A Pocket Style Manual. 6^th ed. Bedford/St. Martins. ISBN-10: 0-312-542542.
John P. Harrington, ed. Modern Irish Drama (Norton Critical Editions). 2nd ed. New York and London: W. W. Norton & Company, 2008. ISBN-978-0-393-93243-0.
Seamus Heaney. The Burial at Thebes: A Version of Sophocles’ Antigone. New York: Farrar, Strauss, and Giroux, 2004. ISBN-10: 0-374-11721-7.
—–. The Cure at Troy: A Version of Sophocles’ Philoctetes. New York: Farrar, Strauss and Giroux, 1991. ISBN 0-374-52289-8.
Sophocles. Antigone. Trans. J. E. Thomas. Clayton, DE: Prestwick House, 2005. ISBN 978-1-58049-388-8.
Euripides. Medea. Trans. Rex Warner. Mineola, NY: Dover Thrift Editions, 1993. ISBN-13: 978-0486275482.

COURSE-READER: Prepared by the instructor, this text will be available during the first week of classes.

NOTE: Only the above editions and translations will be used in this course. Other editions and translations are not acceptable.

 Prerequisite: Successful completion of the “A” portion of the Reading and Composition requirement or its equivalent. Students may not enroll nor attend R1B/R5B courses without completing this prerequisite.