Vertiefungsseminar Studying Drama Mo 12:30-14:00

-Enter Ariel, invisible.- Reading William Shakespeare’s The Tempest is an extraordinary experience. Already the short quote above challenges the very practice of understanding dramatic texts. In how far can Ariel, the air spirit, enter the scene invisible? If The Tempest is performed on stage, how can invisibility be mediated to the audience? What kind of ontological difference must be figured out between the body of an actor -acting out” Ariel and the -real” body of the invisible Ariel? This seminar proceeds from the assumption that -studying drama” always also means -reading drama”. Far too often, the theoretical debate concerning dramatic texts revolves around their performance on stage. On the contrary, this seminar understands -studying drama” as taking dramatic texts seriously as an exceptional type of written narrative texts. This includes taking dramatic characters seriously instead of only seeing them as metaphors or symbols for something the author or playwright -truly wanted to say”. Further, stage directions and the dialogue between dramatic characters are understood as narrative techniques which establish an autonomous fictional ontology. Only then, specific questions that these fictional worlds pose may be answered. Such questions are -How does humor work in drama?”, -How are societal and political concepts like power, justice and violence negotiated?”, and ultimately: -How can we find any sense or meaning in a dramatic text, if it is not an allegorical representation for something that might make sense if it is put on stage?” Focal texts: Oscar Wilde - The Importance of Being Earnest (Avon) Samuel Beckett - Endgame (Suhrkamp, dreisprachig) Sarah Kane - Cleansed (details on edition will be given in class) The Importance of Being Earnest and Endgame will be available at the Stern Verlag on the campus soon. Anglistik IV: Modern English Literature Universität Düsseldorf WiSe 2015/16 Baudner Eric