डॉ. बी. आर. अम्बेडकर विश्वविद्यालय दिल्ली 
| Course Type | Course Code | No. Of Credits |
|---|---|---|
| Discipline Elective | SUS1EN272 | 4 |
Semester and Year Offered: Winter semester 2016
Course Coordinator and Team: TBD
Email of course coordinator: TBD
Pre-requisites: None
Aim: The course has been designed keeping in mind AUD’s vision of dismantling hierarchies in all forms. The choice of plays in different languages will expose students to a range of dramatic literary expressions. The course includes plays by Indian, Norwegian, African, Irish, Swedish, German, French and Italian playwrights. By engaging students with plays produced in both Europe and postcolonial societies the course tries (a) to interpret and understand some of the preeminent dramatic forms, concepts and texts of the modern world, (b) to engage with drama and dramatics cross-culturally, (c) to make students realise the importance of non-European forms so as to dismantle Eurocentrism, while simultaneously making them respect and appreciate the European genius, and (d) to explore how some of the dramatic and theatrical traditions of the West were appropriated, subverted and refashioned in postcolonial societies.
Brief description of modules/ Main modules:
Module I| Naturalist and Realist European Drama
Ibsen, Henrik.A Doll’s Housein A Doll’s House and Other Plays. Trans. Peter Watts.
Penguin Classics, (1879) 2003.
Strindberg, August. Miss Julie inMiss Julie and Other Plays. Trans. Michael Robinson.
Oxford and NY: OUP, (1998), 2008.
Module 2: Epic Theatre
Brecht, Bertolt. Mother Courage and Her Children, 1939. Trans. Eric Bentley. NY:
Grove Press, 1966.
Module 3: Modern European Drama (Existentialist and Absurd Drama)
Beckett, Samuel. “Waiting for Godot: A Tragi-comedy in Two Acts”. The Complete
Dramatic Works. Faber &Faber, 2006.
Sartre, Jean Paul.No Exitin No Exit and Three Other Plays. London: Vintage, 1976
Dario Fo.Accidental Death of an Anarchist. London: Metheun, 1970/1991
Module 4: Postcolonial Drama
NgugiwaThiong’o, and MicereGithaeMugo.The Trial of Dedan Kimathi.Heinemann, 1976
Suggested Readings:
- Jean-Paul Sartre, “Existentialism and Humanism,” in Stephen Priest, ed., Jean Paul Sartre: Essential Writings. London: Routledge, 2002.
- Christina Howells, ed. The Cambridge Companion to Sartre. Cambridge: CUP, 1992.
- Martin Esslin.The Theatre of the Absurd. Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1961
- Albert Camus. The Myth of Sisyphus. Hamish Hamilton, 1955
- Friedric Jameson. The Antinomies of Realism. London: Verso, 2013.
- Rene Walleck. “The Concept of Realism in Literary Scholarship” in Concepts of Criticism. 1963
- D Grant. Realism. London; Metheun, 1970.
- Bill Ashcroft et al, ed. “Introduction”, The Empire Writes Back.
- Ania Loomba, Colonialism/Postcolonialism.
- Dennis Walder, Post-colonial Literatures in English: History, Language,Theory.
- Robert Young, Colonial Desire: Hybridity in Theory, Culture and Race .
- PadminiMongia, ed. Contemporary Postcolonial Theory: A Reader.
Tentative Assessment schedule with details of weightage:
| S.No | Assessment | Date/period in which Assessment will take place | Weightage |
| 1. | Class Test | Early Feb | 5% |
| 2. | Mid Semester Exam | As per AUD Academic Calendar | 25% |
| 3. | Assignment | End March | 5% |
| 4. | Viva | Last fortnight of classes | 15% |
| 5. | End Semester Exam | As per AUD Academic Calendar | 40% |
| 6. | Class Participation and discussion | Throughout the semester | 10% |