Winter 2005 Advance Course Information

This information effective for Winter 2005. Check with instructor the first day of class for any changes.

Theater Arts

[THEA-163G]

163G. Special Studies in Individual Playwrights: Artaud

Note: Preliminary Syllabus

TTh 12-1:45, TA J102
Instructor: Kimberly Jannarone
E-mail: kmj@ucsc.edu
Phone: 459-3490
Office: J16 Theater Arts Center

Description: This course will examine the work of one of the most influential figures in modern theater, Antonin Artaud. We will look at Artaud through three critical lenses: one, as an influence on modern and contemporary theater; two, as a subject and site of psychoanalytic and social criticism; and three, as a theater practitioner. Thus, we will be exercising cultural, historical, and analytical approaches to his work. The course will strengthen your critical abilities as well as deepen your understanding of the work of Artaud.

We will focus on intensive reading and writing as well as creative projects throughout the quarter.

Weekly Schedule

Week One

January 4 Tuesday
January 6 Thursday
Overview and background
Read: Surrealist manifestos, essays by Artaud

Week Two

January 11 Tuesday
January 13 Thursday
Establishing the Terms
Read: Letters to Jacques Rivière, early poems

Week Three

January 18 Tuesday
January 20 Thursday
Artist of his Times
Read: The Seashell and The Clergyman, Eighteen Seconds, Jet of Blood
See: The Seashell and The Clergyman

Week Four

January 25 Tuesday
January 27 Thursday
Artaud as Theater Practitioner
Readings from Artaud: The Théâtre Alfred Jarry

Week Five

February 1 Tuesday
February 3 Thursday
Artaud as Theater Practitioner
Readings from Jannarone, Innes

Week Six

February 8 Tuesday
February 10 Thursday
Artaud as Theater Practitioner
Readings from Artaud: The Cenci and supporting documents

Week Seven

February 15 Tuesday
February 17 Thursday
Artaud as Case Study
Readings from Artaud: Van Gogh, The Man Suicided by Society

Week Eight

February 22 Tuesday
February 24 Thursday
Artaud as Case Study
Readings from Artaud: Voyage to the Land of the Tarahumaras

Week Nine

March 1 Tuesday
March 3 Thursday
Artaud as Case Study
Readings from Derrida, Blanchot, Deleuze and Guattari
Readings from Artaud: last poems
Viewing of My Life and Times with Antonin Artaud

Week Ten

March 8 Tuesday
March 10 Thursday
New Artaud Interpretations/Uses
Class projects

Final Exams: March 15-18, Tuesday-Friday

Reading List

Readings will include works by:

Peter Bürger, Theory of the Avant-Garde
Renato Poggioli, Theory of the Avant-Garde
Paul Mann, Theory-Death of the Avant-Garde
Susan Sontag, from Under the Sign of Saturn
Martin Esslin, Antonin Artaud
Christopher Innes, Avant-Garde Theater
Jacques Derrida, Writing and Difference
Maurice Blanchot, "Artaud"
Michel Foucault, from Madness and Civilization
Deleuze and Guattari, from Anti-Oedipus
Peter Brook, from The Empty Space
Jerzy Grotowski, from Towards a Poor Theater
Selected texts from The Living Theater, Carolee Schneeman, Richard Schechner

By Artaud:

Selected Works of Antonin Artaud, trans. Helen Weaver, trans. Susan Sontag
Collected Works of Antonin Artaud, excerpts
The Theater and Its Double

Films:

My Life and Times with Antonin Artaud
Napoléon (excerpts)
The Passion of Joan of Arc (excerpts)
The Seashell and the Clergyman
Akropolis

Assignments/Grading

Weekly reading responses
1 short paper
1 15-page paper and annotated bibliography
Final project
Attendance and participation
One in-class presentation

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