L.008.32201 Theatre of the Absurd

Lehrende: Sophie Andersen

Veranstaltungsart: Proseminar

Orga-Einheit: Anglistik/Amerikanistik

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Semesterwochenstunden: 2

Unterrichtssprache: Englisch

Min. | Max. Teilnehmerzahl: - | 40

Voraussetzungen und Empfehlungen:
Introduction to Literary Studies

Literatur:
Students are asked to purchase the following texts:
Waiting for Godot, Samuel Beckett
The Birthday Party, Harold Pinter
Far Away, Caryl Churchill
Pinter’s Old Times will be made available on PAUL / e-shelf.
A reader with additional texts will be made available at the tdm shortly before the beginning of the semester.

Kommentar:
This seminar will introduce students to the Theatre of the Absurd, an innovative dramatic ‘school’ which emerged shortly after the Second World War. The Theatre of the Absurd reflects humanity’s fear within the rapidly changing post-war society and branches out in two different directions: existentialist plays represented by Samuel Beckett and absurdist plays with Harold Pinter as the main representative in the British context. We will study a wide range of absurdist plays, including Beckett’s Waiting for Godot as well as Pinter’s The Birthday Party and Old Times. With Caryl Churchill’s Far Away we will also focus on a more contemporary approach to the Theatre of the Absurd.
Based on Martin Esslin’s defintion of the absurd, students will analyse the selected plays from different literary perspectives to obtain a general understanding of how absurdist plays work. We will discuss the plays’ dramatic plot structures and techniques, their character constellations, setting and important themes, bearing in mind the cultural and social developments. The plays will be read as dramatic texts but we will also take possible stage performances of certain scenes into consideration. Therefore, it is important that students are familiar with and show an interest in the genre of drama. For the success of the seminar it is essential for students to read the plays in question and participate actively in course discussions. If necessary, knowledge of the primary texts will be tested by unannounced quizzes.

Wichtige Hinweise:
- This seminar covers the Teilmodul "Methodische Grundlagen – Periods and Texts". It will contain an introduction to reading strategies and term
paper writing. This will include the set-up, formatting and revising of papers as well as citing sources and compiling bibliographies.
- Course requirements will be announced in the first session of the semester.
- Students must have read Beckett’s Waiting for Godot before the first session of the semester.
- Knowledge of the texts may be tested by unannounced quizzes.