English Honors Seminars Department of English University of Iowa (Please note that these are tentative course descriptions and may be subject to change.) Fall 2017 ENGL 4009 and Comedy of Taught by Prof. Alvin “City Comedy Manners” – Snider MW 3:30-4:50 pm Among the plays that flourished on the seventeenth-century stage were city comedy and the comedy of manners, two dramatic types with several features in common. Around 1600, playwrights peopled city comedy with characters with an eye for the main chance, hot in pursuit of money, status, and love during a period of economic expansion and widespread social dislocation. The comedy of manners, which came into its own after 1660, presents characters who navigate the complexities of gender, social mobility, conspicuous consumption, and marriage. Both types exhibit a self-conscious cosmopolitanism that gets contrasted with the idiocy of rural life. Either set in London or standing in its shadow, the plays identify themselves with the city, from their lowest haunts to the most fashionable resorts, and usually profess disdain for the provinces. They adopt a sort of worldly localism, linking themselves to specific urban sites while satirizing city morals and manners no less than provincialism. Over the semester we will discuss the emergence and popularity of these two genres, connections between London theatre and the places it both celebrates and mocks, and transformations of these theatrical conventions towards the start of the eighteenth century. The comedies we study span over 100 years: Jonson, (1598); Every Man in His Humour Middleton, (1605) and (1611); A Trick to Catch the Old One A Chaste Maid in Cheapside Dekker and Middleton, (1611); Molière, (in The Roaring Girl Les Précieuses ridicules The Country Wife translation as “Such Foolish Affected Ladies,” 1659); Wycherley, (1675); Etherege, (1676); Vanbrugh, (1697); and The Man of Mode The Wife Provok’d Congreve, (1700). The Way of the World Class meetings include active participation, presentations, and screening of an entire performance available on DVD and the Web (The The final project is a Country Wife). critical essay that makes use of research, approximately fifteen to twenty pages in length, which students present to the seminar in the form of a short talk before expanding and revising it for final submission. Together with participation, presentations, and the essay,
English Honors Seminars Department of English University of Iowa (Please note that these are tentative course descriptions and may be subject to change.) Fall 2017 ENGL 4009 “City Comedy and Comedy of Manners” – Taught by Prof. Alvin Snider MW 3:30-4:50 pm Among the plays that flourished on the seventeenth-century stage were city comedy and the comedy of manners, two dramatic types with several features in common. Around 1600, playwrights peopled city comedy with characters with an eye for the main chance, hot in pursuit of money, status, and love during a period of economic expansion and widespread social dislocation. The comedy of manners, which came into its own after 1660, presents characters who navigate the complexities of gender, social mobility, conspicuous consumption, and marriage. Both types exhibit a self-conscious cosmopolitanism that gets contrasted with the idiocy of rural life. Either set in London or standing in its shadow, the plays identify themselves with the city, from their lowest haunts to the most fashionable resorts, and usually profess disdain for the provinces. They adopt a sort of worldly localism, linking themselves to specific urban sites while satirizing city morals and manners no less than provincialism. Over the semester we will discuss the emergence and popularity of these two genres, connections between London theatre and the places it both celebrates and mocks, and transformations of these theatrical conventions towards the start of the eighteenth century. The comedies we study span over 100 years: Jonson, Every Man in His Humour (1598); Middleton, A Trick to Catch the Old One (1605) and A Chaste Maid in Cheapside (1611); Dekker and Middleton, The Roaring Girl (1611); Molière, Les Précieuses ridicules (in translation as “Such Foolish Affected Ladies,” 1659); Wycherley, The Country Wife (1675); Etherege, The Man of Mode (1676); Vanbrugh, The Provok’d Wife (1697); and Congreve, The Way of the World (1700). Class meetings include active participation, presentations, and screening of an entire performance available on DVD and the Web (The Country Wife). The final project is a critical essay that makes use of research, approximately fifteen to twenty pages in length, which students present to the seminar in the form of a short talk before expanding and revising it for final submission. Together with participation, presentations, and the essay,