AJL24257 The Theatres of Václav Havel - I

Filozofická fakulta
jaro 2020
Rozsah
0/2/0. 6 kr. Doporučované ukončení: zk. Jiná možná ukončení: z.
Vyučující
James Joseph Little, M.Phil., Ph.D. (přednášející)
Garance
doc. PhDr. Jana Chamonikolasová, Ph.D.
Katedra anglistiky a amerikanistiky – Filozofická fakulta
Kontaktní osoba: Tomáš Hanzálek
Dodavatelské pracoviště: Katedra anglistiky a amerikanistiky – Filozofická fakulta
Rozvrh
St 14:00–15:40 G32
Omezení zápisu do předmětu
Předmět je nabízen i studentům mimo mateřské obory.
Předmět si smí zapsat nejvýše 10 stud.
Momentální stav registrace a zápisu: zapsáno: 0/10, pouze zareg.: 0/10, pouze zareg. s předností (mateřské obory): 0/10
Jiné omezení: Předmět si nemohou zapsat studenti Bc. studia AJ
Mateřské obory/plány
Cíle předmětu
Students on this course will study the dramatic writing of one of Central and Eastern Europe’s most important cultural figures in the context of modern European and American drama. Working from an understanding of the political situation in which Havel wrote, we will read his plays alongside those by playwrights who inspired Havel to start his own theatre career (Ionesco; Beckett), compare his work to that of writers with whom he had important working relationships (Beckett; Stoppard) and analyse his dramatic writing alongside that of his Central and Eastern European antecedents and contemporaries (Brecht, Čapek, Mrożek). In addition, we will investigate parallels between Havel’s work and other modern dramatic representations of self-alienation (Adamov; Pinter). The course will run in two parts: Part I in the spring semester; Part II in the winter semester. Students are welcome to take one or both parts.
Výstupy z učení
This comparative approach will allow us to examine broader questions related to Havel’s dramatic style: Can Havel be included as part of what Martin Esslin termed the ‘theatre of the absurd’? How do Havel’s representations of key intellectual topics of the 20th century such as self-alienation and a perceived estrangement from language compare to those of his theatrical contemporaries? How might we imagine future stagings of Havel’s work?
Osnova
  • Week 1: Introducing the Theatre of the Absurd
    Week 2: Samuel Beckett, Waiting for Godot (1953)
    Week 3: Havel, The Garden Party (1963)
    Week 4: Beckett, Eleutheria (1947)
    Week 5: Karel Čapek, R.U.R (1921)
    Week 6: Sławomir Mrożek, Tango (1968)
    Week 7: Havel, The Memorandum (1965)
    Week 8: Eugène Ionesco, The Lesson (1951)
    Week 9: Havel, The Increased Difficulty of Concentration (1968)
    Week 10: Bertolt Brecht, The Threepenny Opera (1928)
    Week 11: Havel, The Beggar’s Opera (1975)
    Week 12: Final paper presentation and discussion
Metody hodnocení
Students will be assessed on an end-of-term essay of 3,000 words, written according to MLA style. Active participation in class discussion and the giving of a presentation is required in order to receive a credit for the course. Discussion questions will be sent out prior to class. Aside from week 1, each class will feature a short presentation (10–15 minutes) by members of the class. It is crucial that you bring the primary texts (in print or digital form) to class so we can discuss them each week.
Vyučovací jazyk
Angličtina
Informace učitele
Reading
All texts except for Žantovský’s biography of Havel will be available online as PDFs. You can access course reading through the course page of the Masaryk University Information System, under the Study Materials tab, in the Learning Materials folder. It is crucial that you bring the primary texts (in print or digital form) to class so we can discuss them each week.

It is strongly recommended that you read the following book before the course starts: Michael Žantovský, Havel: A Life (London: Atlantic Books, 2014).

Primary texts
These are recommended editions containing the plays we will study. You are more than welcome to bring other editions to class if you so please.

Bertolt Brecht, The Threepenny Opera (New York: Grove Press, 1964)
Samuel Beckett, The Complete Dramatic Works (London: Faber, 1986)
Samuel Beckett, Eleutheria, trans. by Barbara Wright (London: Faber, 1996)
Karel Čapek, R.U.R. (Rossum’s Universal Robots) (London: Penguin, 2004)
Martin Esslin, ed., Absurd Drama (London: Penguin, 1967)
Václav Havel, The Beggar’s Opera (Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 2001)
—, The Garden Party and Other Plays (New York: Grove, 1993)
—, Selected Plays, 1984–87 (London: Faber, 1994)
Eugène Ionesco, Four Plays (New York: Grove, 1958)
Sławomir Mrożek, Striptease; Tango; Vatzlav (New York: Grove Press, 1981)

Secondary Texts
Starred texts are highly recommended.
Michael Y. Bennett, Reassessing the Theatre of the Absurd: Camus, Beckett, Ionesco, Genet, and Pinter (New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2011)
Martin Esslin, The Theatre of the Absurd (Harmondsworth: Pelican, 1968)*
Patrice Pavis, Dictionary of the Theatre: Terms, Concepts, and Analysis (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1998)
Michael Žantovský, Havel: A Life (London: Atlantic Books, 2014)*
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Studijní materiály
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