Policies: Faithful attendance and regular participation in class are expected.

Students with special needs are welcome to discuss them with me. Some services for students with special needs are available through the Office of Special Advising.

The grade of Incomplete is available only to students who have demonstrated regular and steady progress in the course but for whom unforeseeable and uncontrollable circumstances make impossible the timely completion of the course. Students must petition in writing for a grade of incomplete.

Please consult the Code of Student Conduct and the University's Academic Conduct Regulations. Students suspected of academic dishonesty will be reported to the Dean of Students and the Senate Committee on Academic Conduct. Cheating on any course assignment may result in failure for the course.

Classroom decorum is everybody’s responsibility. Please arrive on time and plan to stay for the full meeting. Turn your cell phone off for the duration of the class meeting. Work to create a classroom environment in which everybody feels comfortable and unthreatened. In addressing your classmates (or your instructor), in class or on the discussion list, you may argue vigorously, indeed passionately, but please maintain the same respect for others as you wish them to maintain toward you.

Major assignments: The following simple formula will determine your final grade for the course:

Schedule: Unless we get very weary very fast, we'll adhere to the following schedule:

August

T   31 Orientation

September

Th   2 Old Comedy: Aristophanes, Lysistrata
      Plato, excerpt from Philebus (handout)
     A good study guide to Lysistrata, which also gives you a sense of the play's structure, is available from the Classics Technology Center.
      The Theatre History website offers good, concise accounts of the origins of comedy in the west and of Greek and Roman comedy

T   7 New Comedy: Plautus, The Pot of Gold
      Aristotle, excerpts from Poetics and Nicomachean Ethics (coursepack)
      Segal, “Etymologies” and “The Song of the Komos” (coursepack)
      Links to websites with pictures and diagrams related to ancient Greek and Roman theatres:      

Th   9 Terence,The Girl from Andros
      Frye, excerpts from "The Mythos of Spring: Comedy" coursepack -- available on reserve at Kresge Library's circulation desk)

T   14 Shakespeare, Twelfth Night
      Morreall, from Comedy, Tragedy, and Religion. E-book available from Voyager on the Kresge Library website: http://www.kl.oakland.edu/.
      The Theatre History website offers a good account of early (pre-Shakespeare) comedy in England

Th   16 Shakespeare, Twelfth Night
      Bergson, excerpts from Of Laughter (coursepack)

T   21 Molière, The Miser
      Hobbes, excerpts from Leviathan and Human Nature (coursepack)
      Addison, Spectator No. 47 in Restoration and Eighteenth-Century Comedy 483-486.

Th   23 Molière, The Miser

T   28 Behn, The Feign'd Courtesans

Th   30 The Feign'd Courtesans

October

T   5 Congreve, The Way of the World
        Congreve, Concerning Humour in Comedy, in Restoration and Eighteenth-Century Comedy 474-481.

Th   7 The Way of the World

T   12 Steele, The Conscious Lovers
        Steele, Spectator No. 65, The Theatre No. 1, and The Theatre No. 3 in Restoration and Eighteenth-Century Comedy 517-525.

Th   14 The Conscious Lovers
        John Dennis, Remarks on The Conscious Lovers
        Hutcheson, Reflections on Laughter, section 3 (coursepack)

T   19 Fielding, Tom Jones, Books 1-3
      Fielding, "Preface" to Joseph Andrews (coursepack)

Th   21 Fielding, Tom Jones Books 4-6

T   26 Fielding, Tom Jones Books 7-9
        Test 1 is due.

Th   28 Fielding, Tom Jones Books 10-12

November

T   2 Fielding Tom Jones Books 13-15
        Remember to VOTE!!!
        Prospectus for term paper is due.

Th   4 Tom Jones Books 16-18

T   9 She Stoops to Conquer
        Goldsmith, An Essay on the Theatre, in Restoration and Eighteenth-Century Comedy 489-492.
        John Dennis, from The Usefulness of the Stage in Restoration and Eighteenth-Century Comedy 506-512.
        Congreve, “Amendments of Mr. Collier’s False and Imperfect Citations” in Restoration and Eighteenth-Century Comedy 513-516.
        Bibliography for term paper is due.

Th   11 She Stoops to Conquer

T   16 Wilde, The Importance of Being Earnest
        Kierkegaard, from Concluding Unscientific Postscript (coursepack)

Th   18 Earnest
        Optional draft of term paper is due.

F   19 8:00 performance of She Stoops to Conquer, Varner Studio Theatre

T   23 Earnest

Th   25 Turkey Day -- go home!

T   30 Churchill, Cloud Nine
        Term paper is due.

December

Th   2 Cloud Nine

M   13 Test #2 is due.

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