Erste Sitzung: 18. April 2017
Co-taught by John Roe (University of York) and Lena Steveker, this seminar is meant to provide both an overview of eighteenth-century British drama as well as in-depth knowledge of three canonical plays of this period: John Gay’s The Beggar’s Opera (1728), George Lillo’s The London Merchant (1731) and Richard Brinsley Sheridan’s School for Scandal (1777). Different as they are, Gay’s dramatic opera, Lillo’s bourgeois tragedy and Sheridan’s anti-sentimentalist comedy (which is often regarded as the comic masterpiece of the eighteenth century) represent the scope of the dramatic production of the period, and they comment on various social and cultural developments of the eighteenth century. We will closely read the plays and put them into their cultural, social and historical contexts.
Students are expected to have read The Beggar’s Opera by the beginning of term. There will be tests on textual knowledge in class (one for each play).
Texts: Students must use no other than the following editions:
Gay, John. The Beggar’s Opera. Ed. Vivien Jones and David Lindley. London: Methuen Drama, 2010. ISBN: 9780713673821 (New Mermaid Series).
Sheridan, Richard Brinsley. The School for Scandal. Ed. Ann Blake. 3rd ed. London: Methuen Drama, 2004. 9780713662900 (New Mermaid Series).
The text of George Lillo’s play will be made available via Moodle at the beginning of term. |
