the Drama_--Augier: Attempt to revive the classic
drama: the story of Charlotte Corday, and reading from the play.
Scribe: Improved construction of the play; reading from Valerie.
3. _The Drama at Its Height_--Dumas fils. Comparison of the father and
the son in literature. The son's ambition to reform society through the
stage. The first problem plays. Description of La Dame aux Camelias.
Sardou: Versatility of subjects. Skilful construction of plot. Tendency
to the sensational and the gruesome. Reading from Patric.
4. _The Drama To-day_--Becque: Theory of evolution applied to society;
Les Corbeaux. Brieux: Satire, realism; Blanchette, Les Trois Filles de
M. Dupont. Rostand: Romantic and literary; readings from Cyrano de
Bergerac, L'Aiglon, and Chantecler. Bernstein: Relation of the modern
Jew to the stage; politics and the drama in Paris; Le Voleur, Samson.
BOOKS TO CONSULT--A. Filon: The Modern French Drama. Brander Matthews:
French Dramatists of the Nineteenth Century. Matthew Arnold: Essay on
the French Play in London.
If possible, have an additional paper on some of the interesting French
actors: Coquelin, Mounet-Sully, Rejane, and Bernhardt. Another and
briefer paper may discuss French dramatic criticism, easily the most
brilliant of our time in the whole world of letters. Sarcey, Claretie,
Doumic, and Legouve are among these well-known names. Have some one
speak of the Comedie Francaise and its influence on French drama.
VI--ENGLISH DRAMA OF TO-DAY
1. _Pinero_--His early style as shown in The Profligate, The Amazons,
and Trelawny of the Wells. The important change in his methods revealed
in The Second Mrs. Tanqueray, and His House in Order. The problem play
in English.
2. _Henry Arthur Jones_--Study of The Silver King, Saints and Sinners,
The Middleman, The Liars, and The Masquerader. Comparison of Pinero and
Jones.
3. _Grundy, Wilde, and Carton_--Sidney Grundy: A Fool's Paradise, A
White Lie, The Greatest of These. Discussion of the question of the use
of the stage as a pulpit. Oscar Wilde: Readings from Lady Windermere's
Fan, and The Importance of Being Earnest. Discuss the place of satire in
human life. R. C. Carton: Lord and Lady Algy. Discuss the question
whether comedy at its best may not be the ideal play.
4. _Current Playwrights_--Stephen Phillips: the literary playwright;
contrast the prose and the poetic drama; the author's dignity and grace;
reading from Paolo and Francesca. Barrie
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