Course Introduction


 


This course will touch briefly on the beginnings of medieval drama exemplified in the Quem Quaeritis trope and proceed to survey representative Latin works in English translation over a period of 1000 years including both devotional and secular selections.Along with analysis of the dramatic texts, this course aims to contextualize the plays and point out the human motives that shaped them on the basis of religious orthodoxy, newly discovered leisure time and public funding, complimentary architectural environments, theatrical ingenuity and public literacy, spirit and taste. Students will read short primary supplements disclosing the private lives of key figures connected with the pageants and cycles as a means to understand their significance in medieval society.

With the assistance of the Internet, key medieval drama Websites such as the York Cycle of Mystery Plays at Toronto 1998, created by Steve Wright of The Catholic University of America, will become important textual and visual resources as will a number of other multi-media sources such as video tapes of the FJU English Department Medieval Drama Festival 2000 and subsequent mini-conference. Of course, the medieval world-view is at the heart of middle English drama, and students will be introduced to a religious consensus that existed at that time and is still evident in the revival of old and emergence of new Passion play summer festivals. With Internet assistance, students will read the reviews and access production materials for two international medieval cycle plays, the York Minster Pageant in the City of York and the Bavarian Oberammergau Passion Play. A brief introduction to the summer outdoor religious pageantry in the United States will be added to demonstrate the contemporary nature and survival of the medieval drama spirit

 
This course will touch briefly on the beginnings of medieval drama exemplified in the Quem Quaeritis trope and proceed to survey representative Latin works in English translation over a period of 1000 years including both devotional and secular selections.Along with analysis of the dramatic texts, this course aims to contextualize the plays and point out the human motives that shaped them on the basis of religious orthodoxy, newly discovered leisure time and public funding, complimentary architectural environments, theatrical ingenuity and public literacy, spirit and taste. Students will read short primary supplements disclosing the private lives of key figures connected with the pageants and cycles as a means to understand their significance in medieval society.
With the assistance of the Internet, key medieval drama Websites such as the York Cycle of Mystery Plays at Toronto 1998, created by Steve Wright of The Catholic University of America, will become important textual and visual resources as will a number of other multi-media sources such as video tapes of the FJU English Department Medieval Drama Festival 2000 and subsequent mini-conference. Of course, the medieval world-view is at the heart of middle English drama, and students will be introduced to a religious consensus that existed at that time and is still evident in the revival of old and emergence of new Passion play summer festivals. With Internet assistance, students will read the reviews and access production materials for two international medieval cycle plays, the York Minster Pageant in the City of York and the Bavarian Oberammergau Passion Play. A brief introduction to the summer outdoor religious pageantry in the United States will be added to demonstrate the contemporary nature and survival of the medieval drama spirit.

 

 


 
 

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