PMA 1127, First-year Writing Seminar:
The Prison Plays: Crime, Punishment, and Western Dramatic Literature
Cornell University, Fall 2015 & Spring 2016
Right now the United States incarcerates more of its citizens than any other country in history, and is culturally saturated with narratives of penality, from Prison Break to Orange is the New Black. Yet even a cursory look at theatre history reveals that crime and punishment are nearly ubiquitous preoccupations in Euro-American cultures. In this time-traveling course, students will examine the history of prison drama to try and understand why we remain so fixated on the “criminal element” today. At the same time, students will develop their critical, creative, and persuasive writing skills through peer and instructor review and a multi-draft essay process. Dramatists covered include: Aeschylus, Euripides, Shakespeare, Galsworthy, Brecht, Williams, Wallace, Puig, and Parks.
The Prison Plays: Crime, Punishment, and Western Dramatic Literature
Cornell University, Fall 2015 & Spring 2016
Right now the United States incarcerates more of its citizens than any other country in history, and is culturally saturated with narratives of penality, from Prison Break to Orange is the New Black. Yet even a cursory look at theatre history reveals that crime and punishment are nearly ubiquitous preoccupations in Euro-American cultures. In this time-traveling course, students will examine the history of prison drama to try and understand why we remain so fixated on the “criminal element” today. At the same time, students will develop their critical, creative, and persuasive writing skills through peer and instructor review and a multi-draft essay process. Dramatists covered include: Aeschylus, Euripides, Shakespeare, Galsworthy, Brecht, Williams, Wallace, Puig, and Parks.
| sample syllabus |
