230486 U.S. American Drama (S) (SoSe 2020)

This course provides an introduction to the literary genre of American drama. The objective is to familiarize students with classical themes of U.S. American drama, to provide them with the skills to analyze drama, and to teach them how to contextualize literary texts. The course program will sketch a selective history of U.S. American plays from the early 20th century to the first decade of the 21st century. The class will interpret plays by Arthur Miller, Edward Albee, Ntozake Shange amomg others. Each selected drama will be accompanied by a secondary text that provides further literary, cultural, and historical contextualization. The thematic focus lies on issues like the American dream, utopia, identity, family, gender, race, and language. Students will be required to attend regularly and give oral presentations.