17348

SoSe 15: V-Modernity and Alterity in the Literatures of Medieval Britain I:Early English Drama

Neil Cartlidge

Comments

This module aims to provide a broad introduction to the rich tradition of English play-making and performance up to the middle of the sixteenth century. It presents a selection of primary texts designed to illustrate the diversity of the social and intellectual contexts in which English plays were performed, including both "medieval" mystery plays (focusing particularly on the York cycle and the plays of the so-called Wakefield master) and also dramas more characteristic of the Tudor period, such as the "morality" tradition that includes Mankind, Everyman and Mundus et Infans, and early comedies like Gammer Gurton's Needle. Primary Texts: York mysteries: Richard Beadle and Pamela M. King (eds), York Mystery Plays: A Selection in Modern Spelling (Oxford, 2009) OR Clifford Davidson (ed.), The York Corpus Christi Plays (Kalamazoo, 2011) [available online via TEAMS: http://d.lib.rochester.edu/teams] Wakefield Master: A.C. Cawley (ed.), The Wakefield Pageants in the Towneley Cycle (Manchester, 1975) [out of print, but widely available second-hand; the plays in question are often anthologised (see below)] Morality plays: G.A. Lester (ed.), Three Late Medieval Morality Plays: Mankind, Everyman, Mundus et Infans (New York, 1981; often reprinted) [still in print; also widely available second-hand; these texts again often anthologised] Gammer Gurton: ed. Charles Whitworth (London, 1997) OR in Four Tudor Comedies, ed. William Tydeman (Harmondsworth, 1984) OR in Five Pre-Shakesperean Comedies, ed. Frederick S. Boas (Oxford, 1970) OR in Walker, Anthology of Tudor Drama (see below) Anthologies: Greg Walker (ed.), The Oxford Anthology of Tudor Drama (Oxford, 2014) Greg Walker (ed.), Medieval Drama: An Anthology (Oxford, 2000) Bevington, David (ed.) Medieval Drama (New York, 1975) Suggested preliminary reading: Twycross, Meg, 'The theatricality of medieval English plays,' in The Cambridge Companion to Medieval English Theatre, ed. Richard Beadle and Alan J. Fletcher (Cambridge, 2008), pp. 26-74 close

13 Class schedule

Regular appointments

Fri, 10:00 - 12:00 13 Class schedule

Fri, 2015-04-17 10:00 - 12:00

Lecturers:
Prof. Neil Cartlidge