LIT3048   Women Playwrights on the International Stage: 1880s-1930s   (20 credits)

Description

This module introduces plays from the 1880-1930s to demonstrate the contribution of women writers to modern drama. Studying plays in the 'Social Realist' tradition, by Elizabeth Robins and others, we examine the tensions attached to being a woman writing in a period marked by dramatic increase in women's activism. We also address plays within Symbolist and Expressionist modes by Rachilde and others who aligned themselves with the primarily male avant-garde, where representations of 'the feminine' are typically highly ambivalent. Plays are studied in conjunction with non-dramatic documents, including texts of pro- and anti-suffrage speeches and examples from the visual arts.

Reading List