Information Package
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Program of American Culture and Literature (English)

ACL451

MODERN AMERICAN DRAMA

Course Code
ACL451
Semester
Seventh Term (Fall)
Theory+Practice
3 + 0
ECTS
4
Course TypeCompulsory Course
Course LevelBachelor's Degree
Year of Study4
SemesterSeventh Term (Fall)
ECTS4
Name of Lecturer(s)
Learning Outcomes

At the end of this course, the students;

  1. Identify the dramatic movements and the narrative techniques developed in modern America drama during the modern period.
  2. Analyze the relation between the staging techniques and the dramatic texts.
  3. Discuss the dramatics texts selected from modern American drama within American cultural discourse.
Mode of DeliveryFace to face
PrerequisitesNo
Recommended Optional Programme Components
Course DescriptionThis course aims to survey the development of American drama in the first half of the 20th century and to explore the most influential dramatic works of the period. Highlighting the combination of realistic and modernist techniques that characterize modern American drama, this course focuses on the works of distinctive playwrights, such as Langston Hughes, Susan Glaspell, Tennessee Williams, Arthur Miller, Eugene O'Neill, Thornton Wilder, and Lorraine Hansberry, who voiced their social and political concerns through the dramatic form.
Course Contents
WEEK TOPICS
1st Week An Outline of Modern American Theatre
2nd Week Outline of Modern American Theatre (cont.) - William Vaughan Moody, The Great Divide (1906)
3rd Week William Vaughan Moody, The Great Divide (1906)
4th Week Thornton Wilder, Our Town (1938)
5th Week Eugene O'Neill, Desire Under the Elms (1924)
6th Week National Independence Day
7th Week Eugene O'Neill, Desire Under the Elms (1924)
8th Week Midterm Exam
9th Week Arthur Miller, Death of a Salesman (1949)
10th Week Arthur Miller, Death of a Salesman (1949)
11th Week Tennessee Williams, The Glass Menagerie (1944) - Movie Review (in class)
12th Week Tennessee Williams, The Glass Menagerie (1944)
13th Week Lorraine Hansberry, A Raisin in the Sun (1959) - Submission of Drama Review
14th Week Lorraine Hansberry, A Raisin in the Sun (1959)
Recommended or Required ReadingHansberry, Lorraine. A Raisin in the Sun. Wiley, 1992.
Hughes, Langston. Mulatto. University P., 1963.
Miller, Arthur. Death of a Salesman. Penguin, 1996.
Moody, William Vaughn. The Great Divide. HardPress P., 2014.
O'Neill, Eugene. Desire Under the Elms. CreateSpace, 2016.
Williams, Tennessee. A Streetcar Named Desire. Penguin, 2009.
Watt, Stephen, and Gary A. Richardson, eds. American Drama: Colonial to Contemporary. Heinle and Heinle P., 1994.
Wilder, Thornton. Our Town: A Play in Three Acts. Coward McCann, 1938.
Planned Learning Activities and Teaching Methods
  • Lecture
  • Discussion
  • Project
  • Other
Assessment Methods and Criteria
Quantity Percentage (%)
Mid-term 1 40
Assignment 1 10
Practice 1 10
Total(%) 60
Contribution of In-term Studies to Overall Grade(%) 60
Contribution of Final Examination to Overall Grade(%) 40
Total(%) 100
ECTS Allocated Based on Student Workload
Activities Quantity Duration (Hour) Total Workload (Hour)
Midterm exam 1 2 2
Preparation for Quiz 4 1 4
Individual or group work 14 3 42
Preparation for Final exam 1 7 7
Course hours 14 3 42
Preparation for Midterm exam 1 7 7
Laboratory (including preparation)
Final exam 1 2 2
Homework 1 5 5
Quiz 4 2 8
Total Work Load119
Total Work Load / 30 (h)3.96
ECTS Credit of the Course4
Language of InstructionEnglish
Work Placement(s)No

Programme Qualifications / Learning Outcomes

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