An Important Note on Reading
We use the word “read” in a variety of ways, and we will be practicing a variety of reading methods in this subject. You will be skimming, dipping into, appreciating and on occasion thoroughly dissecting diverse genres of written texts.
When we say read a play carefully, we mean:
- Read through the entire play quickly, as if you were an audience member watching it take place before you (i.e., read sequentially and don’t worry about every detail or go back over a scene studiously—though try to attend to as many clues and dimensions of the script as you can). Consider the play’s sequence and impact.
- Re-read slowly and analytically, looking for meanings, patterns, poetry, characterization and themes, and studying the sections that confused you. Consider the play’s artistry and ideas, and the moment-by-moment unfolding of the action.
Assigned Readings
This table lists the required readings for individual class sessions, plus selected supplemental readings pertaining to individual class topics. A list of some other supplemental readings is provided after the table.
Please feel encouraged to ‘read ahead’ of the dates if you have the time; the sooner you have the reading materials in your mind, the better!
| LEC # | TOPICS | REQUIRED READINGS |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Introduction-to an experiment and a century. Genesis meets Galileo |
Brecht, Bertolt. The Life of Galileo. Translated by R. Manheim and J. Willett. New York, NY: Arcade Publishing, 1994. ISBN: 9781559702546. Look at Baker, Jonathan. “Notes on History of Cosmology.” (PDF) (Courtesy of Jonathan Baker. Used with permission) Optional Life of Galileo scene breakdown (PDF) Book of Genesis. The Holy Bible, King James Edition, 1611. (PDF) |
| 2 | Discussion of Brecht’s Galileo |
Jacob, Margaret C. “The New Science and Its New Audience.” Chapter 1 in Scientific Culture and the Making of the Industrial West. New York, NY: Oxford University Press, 1997. ISBN: 9780195082203. Hill, Christopher. “Introduction,” and “Narrative of Events.” In The Century of Revolution, 1603-1714. New York, NY: W.W. Norton, 1982, pp. 1-10. ISBN: 9780393300161. Bucholz, Robert, and Newton Key. “The Early Stuarts and the Three Kingdoms, 1603-1642.” Chapter 7 in Early Modern Englad 1485-1714: A Narrative History. pp. 201-237. Optional For “prequel” knowledge of the 16th-century, look at Bucholz and Key, Chapter 6, “Merrie Olde England? ca. 1603.” pp. 152-200. To sample the writing of Galileo, see Kreis, Steven. “Galileo, The Starry Messenger (1610).” The History Guide: Lectures on Early Modern European History. |
| 3 | Contextualizing Galileo; varieties of history, improvisatory cosmologies |
Spur, John. “England 1649-1750: Differences Contained?” Chapter 1 in Cambridge Companion to English Literature, 1650-1740. Edited by Steven N. Zwicker. New York, NY: Cambridge University Press, 1998, pp. 238-264. ISBN: 9780521564885. [Preview in Google Books] Passages written by Simplicissimus, Thomas Mun, and Thomas Hobbes. In “The Seventeenth Century.” Chapter IV in The Western Tradition: From the Renaissance to the Atomic Age. Edited by Eugen Weber. Boston, MA: D.C. Heath & Co., 1959, pp. 362-421. Optional Zwicker, Steven, N., ed. Cambridge Companion to English Literature, 1650-1740. New York, NY: Cambridge University Press, 1998. ISBN: 9780521564885. [Preview in Google Books] \> - Chapter 4: Munns, Jessica. “Theatrical Culture 1: Politics and Theatre.” |
| 4 |
Interpreting historical documents Special guest: historian Ann McCants |
Shakespeare, William. King Lear. Edited by R. A. Foakes. London, UK: Arden Shakespeare, 1997. ISBN: 9780174434603. [Preview in Google Books] Tate, Nahum. The History of King Lear. Timeline examples General year-by-year: Grun, Bernard. The Timetables of History: A Horizontal Linkage of People and Events. 4th revised ed. New York, NY: Simon & Schuster, 2005. ISBN: 9780743270038. Years 1598-1689. History and culture: Daems, Jim. “Chronology of Key Historical and Cultural Events.” In Seventeenth-Century Literature and Culture. New York, NY: Continuum International Publishing Group, 2006, pp. 104-115. ISBN: 9780826486592. |
| 5 | A Tale of Two Lears |
Selections in The Oxford Illustrated History of Shakespeare on Stage. New York, NY: Oxford University Press, 2001. ISBN: 9780192802132. \> - Wiggins, Martin. “The Kings Men and After.” Dillon, Janette. “Theatre and Controversy, 1603-1642.” In The Cambridge History of British Theatre. Vol. 1, Origins to 1660. Edited by Jane Milling and Peter Thomson. New York, NY: Cambridge University Press, 2004. ISBN: 9780521650403. [Preview in Google Books] Spend some time blogging with Samuel Pepys |
| 6 | Special event: evening film screening of Stage Beauty (Dir. Richard Eyre, 2004) | |
| 7 | Scenes read in class, more discussion of two versions of Lear within their theatrical context |
Jacob, Margaret C. “The Cultural Meaning of Cartesianism: From the Self to Nature (and Back to the State)” and “Science in the Crucible of the English Revolution.” Chapters 2 and 3 in Scientific Culture and the Making of the Industrial West. New York, NY: Oxford University Press, 1997. ISBN: 9780195082203. Specific assignments for each student from the writings of Bacon, Boyle, Burton, and Descartes. Bacon, Sir Francis. “Part L. Of Studies” from The Essayes or Consels (1625); and Preface through Part XCIX and Part CXXX from The New Organon. In Francis Bacon: A Selection of his Works. New York, NY: Macmillan, 1977 (reprint). ISBN: 9780024245304. Boyle, Robert. Excerpt from “A Defense of the Doctrine Touching the Spring and Weight of the Air.” Oxford England, 1662. (PDF) Boyle, Robert. Selections from The Sceptical Chymist. Chestnut Hill, MA: Adamant Media Corp, 2001. ISBN: 9780543916587. Burton, Robert. Selections from The Anatomy of Melancholy: What it Is, With all the Kinds, Causes, Symptomes, Prognostickes and Severall Cures of It. (Download from Project Gutenberg) Descartes, René. Selections from Meditations on First Philosophy. Translated by Donald A. Cress. Indianapolis, IN: Hackett, 1979. ISBN: 9780915144570. |
| 8 | Five “men of science”: Bacon, Burton, Descartes, Boyle and Hobbes. Expert group presentations on each of these natural philosophers |
Brockett, Oscar G., and Franklin J. Hildy. “Engligh Theatre to 1642.” Excerpt from The History of the Theater. 9th ed. Boston, MA: Allyn and Bacon, 2003, pp. 113-114 and 126-137. Lindley, David. “The Stuart Masque and its Makers.” In The Cambridge History of British Theatre. Vol. 1, Origins to 1660. Edited by Jane Milling and Peter Thomson. New York, NY: Cambridge University Press, 2004. ISBN: 9780521650403. [Preview in Google Books] Jonson, Ben. “Mercury Vindicated from the Alchemists at Court.” (PDF) |
| 9 |
Jonsonian masque and court culture Special theatrical guest: Michael Krass, costume designer and head of design at NYU Playwrights Horizons Theater School |
Massinger, Philip. The Roman Actor. Royal Shakespeare Company Classics Series. London, UK: Nick Hern Books, 2002. ISBN: 9781854596970. The Petition of Right (1628) (PDF) Sanders, Julie. “Introductory Biographical and Historical Outline” and Chapter 1 “Caroline Drama and Dramatists.” In Caroline Drama. Tavistock, UK: Northcote House, 1999. ISBN: 9780746308776. |
| 10 | The Roman Actor (performed 1626, published 1629) |
Ford, John. “‘Tis Pity She’s a Whore.” In ‘Tis Pity She’s a Whore and Other Plays. Edited by Marion Lomax. New York, NY: Oxford University Press, 1999. ISBN: 9780192834492. [Preview in Google Books] Butler, Martin. Theatre and Crisis: 1632-1642. New York, NY: Cambridge University Press, 1984, chapters 1-3. ISBN: 9780521246323. Selections from William Prynne’s Histriomastix. \> - Prologue |
| 11 | ‘Tis Pity She’s A Whore (written late 1620s; published 1633) |
Read one of the following for the comparative short essay: Ford, John. “The Broken Heart.” In ‘Tis Pity She’s a Whore and Other Plays. Edited by Marion Lomax. New York, NY: Oxford University Press, 1999. ISBN: 9780192834492. [Preview in Google Books] Shirley, James. The Cardinal. Manchester, UK: Manchester University Press, 1986. ISBN: 9780719016257. [Preview in Google Books] Behn, Aphra. “The Rover.” In The Rover and Other Plays. Edited by Jane Spenser. New York, NY: Oxford University Press, 1998. ISBN 9780192834515. |
| 12 | Paper writing: discussion of thesis statements based on your play-reading. Scene work. | Enjoy reading Richard Brome’s comedy The Antipodes. Edited by David Scott Kastan and Richard Proudfoot. London, UK: Nick Hern Books, 2000. ISBN: 9781854596031. |
| 13 | The Antipodes (c. 1636, printed 1640) | |
| 14 | Reflections upon your essays, historical meltdown, and what came after; with reference to The Broken Heart, The Cardinal, The Rover |
Seaver, Paul S. Wallington’s World. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 1985, preface and chapters 1 and 2. ISBN: 9780804714327. Marvell, A. “An Horatian Ode upon Cromwell’s Return from Ireland.” (PDF) Butler, Martin. “The Condition of the Theatre in 1642.” Chapter 18 in The Cambridge History of British Theatre. Vol. 1, Origins to 1660. Edited by Jane Milling and Peter Thomson. New York, NY: Cambridge University Press, 2004. ISBN: 9780521650403. [Preview in Google Books] Hill, Christopher. “Religion and Ideas.” Chapter 10 in The Century of Revolution, 1603-1714. New York, NY: W.W. Norton, 1982, pp. 139-160. ISBN: 9780393300161. Morton, A. L. “Religion and Politics in the English Revolution.” Chapter I in The World of the Ranters. London, UK: Laurence and Wishart, 1970. ISBN: 9780853152200. |
| 15 | The Puritan Revolution. Discussion of research and extensive essay composition |
Churchill, Caryl. “Light Shining in Buckinghamshire.” In Plays: One. London, UK: Methuen, 1985. ISBN: 9780413566706. [Preview in Google Books] The Grand Remonstrance (PDF) (Greivances presented to King Charles I of England by the English Parliament on 1 December 1641) |
| 16 | Light Shining in Buckinghamshire |
Clare, Janet. “General Introduction: The Theatre and Cultural Revolution.” In Drama of the English Republic, 1649-1660. Manchester, UK: Manchester University Press, 2002. ISBN: 9780719044823. ———. “Theatre and Commonwealth.” Chapter 19 in The Cambridge History of British Theatre. Vol. 1, Origins to 1660. Edited by Jane Milling and Peter Thomson. New York, NY: Cambridge University Press, 2004. ISBN: 9780521650403. [Preview in Google Books] |
| 17 | Special event: theatrical field trip to see Richard Goodwin’s “Two Men of Florence” at the Huntington Theater Company | |
| 18 | Playwriting, day one | |
| 19 | Playwriting, day two | |
| 20 | Sharing of documents and paper ideas | |
| 21 | Sharing of documents and paper ideas (cont.) | Wycherley, William. The Country Wife. (1675) New York, NY: Cambridge University Press, 1997. ISBN: 9780521565813. [View and download an online version of this play.] |
| 22 | The Country Wife | Read the assigned (and any other) poems: lyrics and narrative odes by Andrew Marvell, John Milton, and Aphra Behn |
| 23 | Poetry of the seventeenth century |
Selections from Browne, Sir Thomas. Hydriotaphia. Kushner, Tony. Death and Taxes: Hydriotaphia and Other Plays. New York, NY: Theatre Communications Group, 1998. ISBN: 9781559361569. [Preview in Google Books] |
| 24 | Individual meetings with instructors | |
| 25 | Tony Kushner’s Hydriotaphia | |
| 26 | Discussion of your learning and sharing of your expertise |
Selections from Shaplin, Adriano. The Tragedy of Thomas Hobbes. Oberon Books, 2009. ISBN: 9781840028881. Background article in MIT Soundings Magazine about this MIT/Royal Shakespeare Company collaboration |
| 27 | Dramatic reading of selections from Adriano Shaplin’s The Tragedy of Thomas Hobbes | |
| 28 | Dramatic reading from The Virtuoso and conclusions |
Supplemental Readings
Image Gallery: Selections from Hooke’s Micrographia and other visuals
Dillon, Janette. “Theatre and Controversy, 1603-1642.” In The Cambridge History of British Theatre. Vol. 1, Origins to 1660. Edited by Jane Milling and Peter Thomson. New York, NY: Cambridge University Press, 2004. ISBN: 9780521650403. [Preview in Google Books]
Dunn, Richard S. “The Puritan Revolution” and “The Century of Genius.” In The Age of Religious Wars, 1559-1689. New York, NY: W.W. Norton, 1970. ISBN: 9780393098914.
Lovejoy, Arthur. “The Principle of Plenitude and the New Cosmography.” Chapter 4 in The Great Chain of Being: A Study of the History of an Idea. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1976 (reprint). ISBN: 9780674361539. [Preview in Google Books]
Shapin, Steven. “The Philosopher and the Chicken: On the Dietetics of Disembodied Knowledge.” In Science Incarnate: Historical Embodiments of Natural Knowledge. Edited by Christopher Lawrence and Steven Shapin. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press, 1998. ISBN: 9780226470146. [Preview in Google Books]
Sociopolitical History
Hill, Christopher. Appendices A-D in The Century of Revolution, 1603-1714. New York, NY: W.W. Norton, 1982, pp. 270-277. ISBN: 9780393300161.
———. The World Turned Upside Down. New York, NY: Penguin, 1984, chapters 1 and 2. ISBN: 9780140137323.
Ridley, Jasper. “Henry VIII and the Religious Revolution.” Chapter 8 in The History of England. London, UK: Routledge, 1981. ISBN: 9780710007940.
History of Science
Keller, Evelyn Fox. “Spirit and Reason at the Birth of Modern Science.” In Reflections on Gender and Science. 10th anniversary ed. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1996. ISBN: 9780300065954.
Wertheim, Margaret. “The Ascent of Mathematical Man.” Chapter 5 in Pythagoras’ Trousers: God, Physics, and the Gender Wars. New York, NY: W. W. Norton & Co., 1997. ISBN: 9780393317244.
Social Science
Foucault, Michel. The Order of Things: An Archaeology of the Human Sciences. New York, NY: Vintage Books/Knopf, 1973; foreward, preface, chapters 1 and 2. ISBN: 9780394719351.
Shapin, Steven. “‘Who Was Then a Gentleman?’ Integrity and Gentle Identity in Early Modern England,” and “A Social History of Truth-Telling: Knowledge, Social Practice, and the Credibility of Gentlemenn.” Chapters 2 and 3 in A Social History of Truth: Civility and Science in Seventeenth-Century England. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press, 1995. ISBN: 9780226750194.
