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The Birth of the ModernPolitical Theater orTheater & Theatricalityin the Age of RevolutionProf. CHRISTOPHER CARTMILLGallatin School of Individualized StudySEMINAR TITLE: “ROMANTICS AND REVOLUTIONARIES:The Birth of the Modern Political Theater” K20.1375SEMINAR MEETING TIMES: Mondays and Wednesdays, 11:00-12:15PMLOCATION: 1 Washington Place, room 527OFFICE: 715 Broadway, room 415OFFICE HOURS: Mondays, 9AM-11AM

**Please make an appointment in advance, either in person, or via phone or email.

EMAIL: cjc10@nyu.edu PHONE: 917.305.1930

“Eternal Spirit of the chainless Mind!Brightest in dungeons, Liberty! thou art;

For there thy habitation is the heart . . ..”Lord Byron from “Sonnet on Chillon” June, 1816

Course Description:In this course we will undertake a critical and dramaturgical investigation of theatricality and itssocial and political nexus during the Age of Revolution — late 18th century to 1848)— as well asits contemporary resonances and heirs. This will include textual analysis, and an examination ofsocial, historical, cultural and performance history.

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Romantics&Revolutionaries

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Course Goals:Students will demonstrate an understanding of each of the following content areas through written work, classdiscussions, and oral presentations: Scholarly and critical interpretations of the plays/performances/art work. The interplay between written texts and performance. An appreciation of the cultural, social, intellectual, literary and theatrical influence andlegacy of the Revolutionary and Romantic eras.

Students will also demonstrate proficiency in each of the following skills: Use of academic research methods and resources. Critical and comparative reading and writing skills. Development of substantial written and possibly oral interpretative argumentation. Incorporation of historical and scholarly sources to support literary interpretation. Articulation of the student’s own critical responses to dramatic literature.

Required Texts:i. POLITICS AND THE ARTS: LETTER TO M. D’ALEMBERT ON THE THEATRE by Jean-

Jacques Rousseau, translated by Alan Bloom, Cornell University Pressii. POLITICAL ACTORS: REPRESENTATIVE BODIES AND THEATRICALITY IN THE AGE

OF THE FRENCH REVOLUTION by Paul Friedland, Cornell University Pressiii. NEO-CLASSICISM AND ROMANTICISM: ARCHITECTURE, SCULPTURE, PAINTING,

DRAWING, edited by Rolf Toman, Ullmann and KonemannAvailable at the BLUE STOCKING BOOKS, 172 Allen Street, NYC (212.777.6082)

iv. Supplementary Reading Materials: HAND-OUT & RESERVES

Course Requirements:1. Participation:

a. Class participation is a vital part of this course. It is crucial for you — and your grade — aswell as for your fellow classmates, that you come to class ON TIME and prepared. Obviously, ifyou are not here, you cannot participate.

Participation means being attentive, being involved in and aware of what is going on in class,taking part in the in-class discussion and/or assignment; being courteous and receptive to otherpeople’s views and opinions. Participation does NOT include falling asleep, having conversationswith your neighbor outside the main class discussion, packing up your books towards the end ofclass whilst discussion is still in progress, speaking out of turn, being inconsiderate or rudetowards others, their views and/or opinions.

MAN WAS BORN FREE BUT ISEVERYWHERE IN CHAINS. HOW DID

THIS TRANSFORMATION COME ABOUT?by Jean-Jacques Rousseau

ART IS INFINITE — FINITEARE ALL ARTIST’SKNOWLEDGE AND

ABILITY.Caspar David Friedrich

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b. In the spirit of our era of study, EACH student will be called upon to lead a class discussion.The student is expected to, with the input of the professor, to pose questions, focus discussion andkeep things moving and on point. The professor will arrange the class and student match-up inadvance of the day the student is to lead. THIS WILL BE PART OF YOUR GRADE!

2. Attendance Policy:Attendance at all classes is expected of all students, and all class sessions are conducted with thisunderstanding. Attendance will be taken at every class. Although an occasional absence may beunavoidable, it in no way excuses a student from meeting the requirements of the course. Thestudent is responsible for the material covered and the assignments given on the day of theirabsence. It is always a courtesy to let your instructor know IN ADVANCE (in person, by note,phone or email) if you know you will be absent on a particular day for a particular reason. Pleasenote that unexcused absences will affect the class participation grade.

Each unexcused absence after the first will diminish your attendance grade by anentire letter. Only legitimate absences will be excused: illness, family or personal emergencies,or religious observances. Students must indicate the need for an excused absence, prior at leastthree hours prior to the class that will be missed, either by phone, voicemail, email or in person.

NOTE: MORE THAN THREE UNEXCUSED ABSENCES WILL CONSTITUTEFAILURE IN THE CLASS.

3. Punctuality:Please note:LATECOMERS WILL NOT BE ADMITTED INTO CLASS.*

The doors close at 11:05am. If you are late, you will bemarked absent and the absence will be considered “Unexcused.”Talk to anyone. This professor is hardcore — verging on psychotic —about this one. Get your latte early ‘cause he means it. We may be talkingabout freedom but you are not that free.

4. Food & Beverages:Soft beverages -- potables such as your latte, coffee, tea, soda, water, SunnyD, etc. --)areacceptable classroom accessories. Alcoholic beverages (whiskey, wine, beer, piña colada, mead,etc. are forbidden. Food of any kind will NOT be allowed, unless you have enough for everyonein the class and you have obtained the approval of the professor, who has a strong dislike of goatcheeses and anything with raisins in it.

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5. Written Assignments:A. EXAM BRIEF: (A five part brief given at the end of each class and due at the start of the

NEXT class. Exam Briefs are to be hand written. They will be returned to the student.The five parts include:

a. First Thought/Best Thought2-4) Questions on Readings, Context Talks & Discussion5) Connections Paragraph.

Each student’s prompts will be collated and will influence the midterm grade and will befigured into the final grade.

B.) MID-TERMA 5 – 8 page answer to one of 8 - 10 questions presented by the professor a week beforeMid-terms are due. SEE MID-TERM

C.) FINAL PROJECT/PAPERA 8 - 10 page project paper with a topic to the chosen in collaboration with the professor.SEE FINAL PROJECT

6. Mid-Term ExamThe Mid-Term Exam will be an open book, take-home essay exam 5 to 8 pages. Midterms willbe due by 5:00 p.m. Wednesday, 9 MARCH 2011. *Late work will not be accepted.

All papers must be typed, doubled-spaced, using size 12 of either of the following fonts only :Times New Roman or Arial. Papers composed in any other font will not be accepted. Writtenwork must follow the guidelines laid out in the MLA Stylebook.

*LATE WORK WILL NOT BE ACCEPTED.*

7. Final ProjectEach student will be responsible for undertaking individualresearch on some aspect of theatricality and its expressionin politics and culture.Students may choose to either:

Consider our Era! The professor desires that the student should GET CREATIVE. THINKGRAND. THINK WILDLY. THINK, not just OUTSIDE THE BOX, but OUTSIDE THEGALLATIN FINAL PAPER UNIVERSE. In collaboration with the professor, each studentwill choose a topic and examine some aspect, question, manifesto, concern, criticism, culturalfallout, interchange, spark, fire, interest, biography, memoir, tele-play, blog, multi-mediaextravaganza, dance/theater piece, research, polemic, diatribe, translation, examination,scientific discovery, etc. inspired by ideas presented in the plays and in the course. We’ll name it.You’ll do it. Students are encouraged to start thinking in their area of focus as it perhapsintersects with the class. Sound vague? It will not as the course continues. Keep asking

THE ORIGINAL WRITER IS THEONE WHO DOES NOT IMITATEOTHERS, BUT THE ONE WHOMNO ONE CAN TRULY IMITATE.

Francois Rene de Chateaubriand

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questions and I’ll help you find it. THIS IS INDIVIDUALIZED STUDY AFTER ALL. TheProject will be due by 5:00pm, Monday, 5 May 2010. Here are some test balloons:

a.) Further investigate the production history and cultural/political impact of a notable and/ornoteworthy production or productions from the class reading.

b.) Theatricality in other artistic forms – closely related to the ideas in point. Considertheatricality in non-theatrical literature, visual arts or even science. -- i.e., Dickens’ A Tale ofTwo Cities”, the works of Jacob Lawrence, the fashion designs of Vivien Westwood, theperformance videos of Lady GaGa —- and/or other media.

c.) Explore the relationship between theatricality and a contemporary electronic media --television, internet, podcasts, blogs, etc.

d.) Compare this era’s ‘revolutionary theatricality’ with the influence of theatricality of anotherculture. --(e.g., Chinese theater of the same era.)

f.) Contemporary Broadway’s indebtedness or betrayal of ‘revolutionary theatricality.’

g.) Investigate the cultural or political impact, if any, of a modern or relatively modern theatricalwork e.g. The Cradle Will Rock, Angels in America, etc.

h.) OR CHOOSE TO TAKE A FINAL EXAMINSTEAD!!!!! WHA?!

.Final Projects will be due by 5:00 p.m. Monday, 9 May 2011.*Late work will not be accepted.

8. Research and the Internet(or, Why you are Not Allowed to use GOOGLE for this Class)Students must be very careful when using the Internet as a research resource, as most sites arenot monitored or reviewed for accuracy. Students will be able to use approved electronicresources, such as the intensive databases available via Bobst Library. AND DON’T EVENGET ME STARTED ON WIKIPEDIA!In addition to issues surrounding accuracy and quality in regard to internet sources and theircontents, please also see paragraph 1 of section 11: ACADEMIC HONESTY

9. Final Grade:Class Participation: 30%Written Work 20%Mid-term Essay 20%Final Project or Exam 30%

EVERY GENERATIONNEEDS A NEWREVOLUTIONThomas Jefferson

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10. Grading Scale:“A” An “A” grade signifies consistently solid and high achievement in the course.“B” A “B” grade reflects work of good to very good quality.“C” A “C” grade denotes that the student has attained an acceptable level of

competence. At best, the student has demonstrated a basic understandingof the course material.

“D” A “D” signifies that the student’s work has been only minimally adequate.“F” An “F” reflects that the student’s work has unsatisfactory and unworthy of credit.

11. Academic Honesty and Integrity:All students are expected to be honest in their academic work and to display integrity in thedemonstration of their achieved competencies. Cheating, which is the willful decision on the partof a student to be dishonest in the representation of the work of others as his/her own, isunacceptable behavior. If a student is found guilty of deliberate plagiarism in the submission of aproject, he/she will receive a grade of zero in the examination or on the project. Other penaltiesmay be imposed as mandated by university policies and as directed by circumstances.

12. Faculty Bio:Go to www.christophercartmill.com for more information about your professor. In themeantime, — for the purposes of our class — you may address the professor in one of thefollowing forms; Professor, Professor Cartmill, Citizen Cartmill, Christopher.

FANTASY, ABANDONED BY REASON, PRODUCESIMPOSSIBLE MONSTERS; UNITED WITH IT, SHEIS THE MOTHER OF ALL THE ARTS AND THE

ORIGIN OF MARVELS Francisco de Goya

AS LONG AS I DON’TWRITE ABOUT THE

GOVERNMENT,RELIGION, POLITICS,

AND OTHERINSTITUTIONS, I AM

FREE TO PRINTANYTHING.

Pierre-Augustin Caron deBeaumarchais

NO ONE MAKES AREVOLUTION BY

HIMSELF; AND THEREARE SOME

REVOLUTIONS WHICHHUMANITY

ACCOMPLISHESWITHOUT QUITE

KNOWING HOW . . .Amantine Aurore LucileDupin a.k.a. George Sand

TO SAY THE WORDROMANTICISM IS TOSAY MODERN ART —THAT IS, INTIMACY,

SPIRITUALITY, COLOR,ASPIRATION

TOWARDS THEINFINITE,

EXPRESSED BYEVERY MEANS

AVAILABLE TO THEARTS.

Charles Baudelaire

OPINIONS ARE MADETO BE CHANGED – ORHOW IS TRUTH TO BE

GOT AT?Lord Byron

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Course Schedule: Spring 2011WEEK ONE — FOUNDATIONS

1. Monday, 24 January —CLASS INTRODUCTIONChoice and the “Fearful Trouble of Change”

2. Wednesday, 26 January —(excerpt) POLITICAL ACTORS: REPRESENTATIVE BODIES ANDTHEATRICALITY IN THE AGE OF THE FRENCH REVOLUTION(2002) by Paul FriedlandThe Revolution in Theatrical Representation

WEEK TWO — THE SHADOWS OF ENLIGHTENMENT

3. Monday, 31 January —THE LETTER TO M. D’ALEMBERT ON THE THEATER (1758) byJean-Jacques Rousseau [Swiss]Theater, Morality and the Mountaineers

4. Wednesday, 2 February — AT THE MET MUSEUM(excerpt) ON THE SUBLIME AND BEAUTIFUL (1756-57) by EdmundBurke [English] Come prepared to discuss Burke’s theories (a foundation formuch Romantic thought) as we see works at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.There will be three “tours” so that our groups and discussion stay intimate —11am, 1:30pm and 3pm. Admission will be free for you. “Substantiating Shadows”

WEEK THREE — REHEARSING FOR REVOLUTION— 1784

5. Monday, 7 February —LA FOLLE JOURNÉE, ou LE MARIAGE DE FIGARO (1784) by Pierre-Augustin Caron de Beaumarchais [French]Serious Comedy — Laughing Their Heads Off, Literally

6. Wednesday, 9 February —KABALE UND LIEBE (1784) by Friedrich Schiller [German]Politics and Passion

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WEEK FOUR — A HOLY MADNESS?

7. Monday, 14 February —IL DISSOLUTO PUNITO, ossia il DON GIOVANNI (1787) libretto byLorenzo da Ponte & music by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart [Italian] &(excerpt) LES 120 JOURNÉES DE SODOM, ou L’ECOLE DELIBERTINAGE (c.1789) and A DIALOGUE BETWEEN A PRIEST AND ADYING MAN by Donatien Alphonse-François, Marquis de Sade[French]“There Are No Bad Words, Only Bad Deeds”

8. Wednesday, 16 February —(excerpt) POLITICAL ACTORS: REPRESENTATIVE BODIES ANDTHEATRICALITY IN THE AGE OF THE FRENCH REVOLUTION(2002) by Paul Friedland AND THE PERSECUTION ANDASSASSINATION OF JEAN-PAUL MARAT AS PERFORMED BY THEINMATES OF THE ASYLUM OF CHARENTON UNDER THEDIRECTION OF THE MARQUIS DE SADE (1963) by Peter Weiss(English version by G. Skelton, verse adaptation by A. Mitchell)[German/English]Revolution as Passion Play

WEEK FIVE —HEROES AND ANTI-HEROES

21 February — OFF (President’s Day)

9. Wednesday, 23 February —(excerpt) POLITICAL ACTORS: REPRESENTATIVE BODIES ANDTHEATRICALITY IN THE AGE OF THE FRENCH REVOLUTION(2002) by Paul FriedlandAND DANTONS TOD (1835) by Georg Büchner [German]“Rebel, Rebel!” and Short Revolutionary Lives

WEEK SIX — BLOOD AND TEARS

10. Monday, 28 February —ANDRÉ (1792) by William Dunlap [American] ANDROBESPIERRE (1793) by Robert Southey [English] “The World Turned Upside Down”

11. Wednesday, 2 March —LOVERS’ VOWS (1798) by Elizabeth Inchbald [English]The Sense of Sensibility

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WEEK SEVEN — OUTLIERS

12. Monday, 7 March —THE INDIAN PRINCESS, or LA BELLE SAUVAGE (1808) by JamesNelson Barker with music by John Bray [American]Melo-Drama and the Shaping of Democratic Tastes

13. Wednesday, 9 March —EL SI DE LAS NIÑAS (1806) by Leandro Fernández Moratín [Spanish]Reactionaries and Inquisitors

Wednesday, 9 March — Midterms are due. (5PM)

March 14-20 — OFF (Spring Break)

WEEK EIGHT — ART IS LONG AND OUR LIFE IS FLEETING

14. Monday, 21 March —MARIA STUART (1800) by Friedrich Schiller [German]Storm & Stress in Weimar

15. Wednesday, 23 March —FAUST: DER TRAGÖDIE ERSTER TEIL (1808)by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe [German] “Right Down to Hell You’ll Go”

WEEK NINE — THE DREAMER WAKES

16. Monday, 28 March —PRINZ FRIEDRICH VON HOMBURG (1811) by Heinrich von Kleist[German]The Dream of Victory

17. Wednesday, 30 March —SARDANAPALUS (1821) by George Gordon, Lord Byron [English]Artist as Liberator

WEEK TEN — THE BURDENS OF GENIUS

18. Monday, 4 April —WOE FROM WIT (1823) by Aleksandr Sergeyevich Griboyedov[Russian] OR BORIS GODUNOV (1825) by Aleksandr SergeyevichPushkin [Russian]Decemberists in April

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19. Wednesday, 6 April —MOZART AND SALIERI (1830) by Alexandr Sergeyevich Pushkin[Russian]Pushkin and Genius

WEEK ELEVEN — ON THE BOULEVARD OF CRIME

20. Monday, 11 April —ALICE, or THE SCOTTISH GRAVE DIGGERS (1829) by Réné-CharlesPixérécourt [French]Terror and Macabre Pleasures on the Boulevard of Crime

21. Wednesday, 13 April —LES ENFANTS DU PARADIS (1945)directed by Marcel Carné [French]“Shut Up! We Can’t Hear the Pantomime!”

WEEK TWELVE — ALL THE WORLD’S A STAGE

22. Monday, 18 April —PREFACE TO CROMELL (1827) by Victor Hugo [French]AND SHAKESPEARE ET RACINE (1823)by Marie-Henri Beyle, a.k.a. Stendhal [French]Shakespeare Almighty & Shakespeare the Modern

23. Wednesday, 20 April —KEAN, ou DÉSORDRE ET GÉNIE (1836) by Alexandre Dumas, père[French]The Romantic Persona — “Mad, Bad and Dangerous to Know”

WEEK THIRTEEN — FAREWELL TO LOVE

24. Monday, 25 April —GABRIEL (1839) by Aurore Lucille Dupin, Baronne Dudevant, a.k.a.George Sand [French]“No Human Can Give Orders to Love.”

25. Wednesday, 27 April —LES CAPRICES DE MARIANNE (1833) by Alfred Louis-Charles deMusset-Pathay [French]From Romanticism to Realism

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WEEK FOURTEEN — LAST WORDS

26. Monday, 2 May —TOUSSAINT LOUVERTURE (1845) by A. de Lamartine [French]VIRGINIA MUMMY (1837) by T.D. Rice [American]“Unconquerable Minds” — Other Faces of Revolution

27. Wednesday, 4 May —CHATTERTON (1834) by Alfred de Vigny [French]Perplexing Alternatives

28. Monday, 9 May — LAST CLASSHistory Repeating?

Monday, 9 May — FINAL PROJECTS ARE DUE (5PM)

Wednesday, 11 May — FINAL EXAM (if you so choose) TBA.

Course Events: Spring 2011YOU MUST ATTEND AT LEAST FOUR OF THE FOLLOWING:

1. (8PM) 21 & 29 January and (2PM) 22 January — PERFORMANCEThe New York City Ballet is celebrating the great Balanchine. While not aRomantic in our sense of the word he does take on Goethe’s FAUST in“Walpurgisnacht Ballet” — with music from Gounod’s 1859/69) operatic versionof FAUST. Also on the same program is a dance to Mikhail Glinka’s 1839 Waltzin B minor. Waltz + Russian = Big “R” Romanticism. ($20-$135)

2. 6:30PM Friday, 28 January — READINGA reading with and for you of Schiller’s POLITICS AND PASSION (KABALEUND LIEBE) with a mix of students (you) and professional actors. A play said andplay read are very different things. You’ll get a lot out of these events. At Gallatin(1 Washington Place, room 401). (Free)

3. 2PM Saturday, 5 February — SCREENINGA very special screening of one of your professor’s favorite films — Ettore Scola’sLA NUIT DE VARENNES. With the great Jean-Louis Barrault, MarcelloMastroianni, Harvey Keitel (as Thomas Paine) and Hannah Schygulla; this film is

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a lovely and heart-breaking story of changing times and the destruction of a bodypolitick. At Gallatin (1 Washington Place, room 401). (Free)

4. 11 February to 12 March — PERFORMANCEAcademy, Emmy, and Tony Award winner Geoffrey Rush (Exit the King,Broadway) comes spectacularly unglued as the lowly civil servant Poprischin,driven mad by bureaucracy in Nikolai Gogol’s darkly comic short story The Diary ofa Madman, adapted for the stage by the astute director Neil Armfield andAustralia’s adventurous Belvoir (Cloudstreet, 2001 Next Wave; Exit the King, Sydney’sBelvoir St Theatre). At BAM. ($20-$35 But your prof. is working on FREE.)

5. 2PM Saturday, 12 February — SCREENINGA screening of the 1967 film adaptation of Peter Brook’s award-winningproduction of MARAT/SADE. This will help you to see the play that you arereading and we will discuss the following day. At Gallatin, room TBA. (Free)

6. (11AM) 11 February & (7PM) 12 February — CONCERTBeethoven’s Third Piano Concerto — presented by the New York Philharmonic ofLincoln Center. ($40-$117)

7. (7:30M) 24 February, (8PM) 26 February, (7:30PM) 1 March—CONCERTBeethoven’s great Fifth Symphony! — presented by the New York Philharmonicof Lincoln Center. ($40-$117)

8. 25 February through June . . . — PERFORMANCETom Stoppard’s ARCADIA on Broadway at the Barrymore Theatre. No word onthe quality of this production, but the play is without question your professor’sfavorite play of the 90’s and a stunning contemplation of Romanticism, therelationship of the past to the present and the nature of true genius. (prices vary)

9. 7PM Monday, 28 February — PERFORMANCENOT TO BE MISSED! Gallatin presents a concert staging of George Sand’sGABRIEL! As provocative as last semester’s MAHOMET. We’re reading it laterin the semester so see what the fuss is about for your self. A play said and a playread are different things, it’s true; but a play performed is the real thing! In theJerry H. Labowitz Theatre for the Performing Arts at Gallatin (1 WashingtonPlace). (Free)

10. 24 & 28 February and 4, 8, 10, 16 & 19 March — PERFORMANCECastles, madness and murder — you can’t get much more over-the-top Romanticthan Donizetti’s 1835 opera LUCIA DI LAMMERMOOR based on THE

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BRIDE OF LAMMERMOR by Sir Walter Scott. The Metropolitan Opera atLincoln Center. ($25-$310)

11. 10 March — PERFORMANCEIf you just can’t get enough opera then check out this seldom produced comedicopera by the great Romantic era composer Gioachino Rossini (creator of ILBARBIERE DI SIVIGLIA, based on the play by Beaumarchais). LE COMTEORY has a libretto written by Eugène Scribe (the father of the well-made play).Directed by Barlett Sher who describes the world of LE COMTE ORY as “a placewhere love is dangerous. People get hurt. That can be very funny and verypainful. Rossini captures both — with the most beautiful love music he everwrote.” ($25-$310)

12. 1PM Saturday, 12 March — READINGA reading with and for you of Goethe’s FAUST with a mix of students (you) andprofessional actors. A play said and play read are very different things. You getthe point. At Gallatin (1 Washington Place, room 401). (Free)

13. 9, 12 and 17 March — PERFORMANCEPushkin’s BORIS GODUNOV gets the opera treatment by Modest Mussorgsky inthe Metropolitan Opera’s production. ($25-$310)

14. 22 March to 9 April — PERFORMANCEDonizetti’s 1832 Romantic opera THE ELIXER OF LOVE is reimagined with anAmerican swagger in Jonathan Miller’s inventive production that captures the1950’s Southwest, complete with soda jerks, a Ford Fairlane, and a dusty roadsidediner. The New York City Opera at Lincoln Center. ($12-$140)

15. 6:30PM Friday, 25 March — READINGA reading with and for you of Alexandre Dumas, père’s KEAN, DISORDERAND GENIUS with a mix of students (you) and professional actors. A play saidand play read are very different things. You’ll get a lot out of these events. AtGallatin (1 Washington Place, room 401). (Free)

16. 1PM Saturday, 26 March — READINGTHE HAMLET RAVE — your professor always pays on a bet. No single artisthad more influence on the Romantic movement than did good ol’ BillShakespeare. HAMLET would be an inspiration across Europe and be seen as theessential Romantic Hero — brooding, conflicted. Natalia Razak will be hostingalong with you brooding and conflicted professor, a reading of the MelancholyDane. Join in. There’s something rotten in the state of Denmark and you’ll beable to smell it from Broadway. At Gallatin (1 Washington Place, room 401). (Free)

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17. 5 April to 4 July — EXHIBITIONROOMS WITH A VIEW: THE OPEN WINDOW IN THE 19TH CENTURYThis exhibition will focus on the romantic motif of the open window as firstcaptured by German, Danish, French, and Russian artists around 1810–20. Theseworks include hushed, sparse rooms showing contemplative figures, studios withartists at work, and window views as sole motifs. The exhibition will feature somethirty oils and thirty works on paper by, among others, C. D. Friedrich, C. G.Carus, G. F. Kersting, Adolph Menzel, C. W. Eckersberg, Martinus Rørbye, JeanAlaux, Léon Cogniert, and F. P. Tolstoi. The Metropolition Museum of Art. (Freewith admission to the museum)

18. 6, 9, 13 and 16 April — PERFORMANCEWhy do Romantic era plays make such great operas? Here’s another masterpiecebased on a masterpiece — Ablan Berg’s WOZZECK, based on the unfinished lastplay of Georg Büchner. Only a modernist could handle our Georg. TheMetropolitan Opera. ($25-$310)

19. 2PM Saturday, 9 April — SCREENINGA screening of the 1945 Marcel Carné film, THE CHILDREN OF PARADISE.This film is on many critics lists of the best films of all time. It is also an amazingevocation of the Romantic Era in France and is extraordinarily accurate in itsrecreation of history. We will be discussing the film the next Wednesday so bringsome popcorn and see it with folks. At Gallatin (1 Washington Place, room 401).(Free)

20. 7PM Thursday, 14 April — PERFORMANCEALL ALONG WE’VE BEEN PLAYING WITH FIRE! Our Romantic semesterends with a bonfire of desire and hope as Gallatin presents a concert staging ofGeorge Gordon, Lord Byron’s SARDANAPALUS. You’ve already read it so nowsee it. When you leave, sometimes it’s good just to light a metaphorical match andlet it all go up in flames. Or is it? In the Jerry H. Labowitz Theatre for thePerforming Arts at Gallatin (1 Washington Place). (Free)

21. 7PM Friday, 13 MAY — PERFORMANCESPECIAL TBA. ?? (Free)

AND HERE EXTRA WORKS THAT WERE ALMOST INCLUDED IN THECLASS, SHOULD YOU BE SO INCLINED TO ENJOY AND WONDER ATTHE PROFESSOR’S EDITORIAL CHOICES (AND THEY MIGHT JUSTBRIGHTEN A BOOK LIST):

ARCADIA (1992) by Tom Stoppard [English]

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LES LIAISONS DANGEREUSES (1985)by Christopher Hampton [English], based on the novelof Pierre Chalderos de Laclos (1782) [French]

LA MÈRE COUPABLE, ou L’AUTRE TARTUFFE (1792)by Pierre-Augustin Caron de Beaumarchais [French]

WAT TYLER (1793) by Robert Southey [English]

INCORRUPTIBLE: THE LIFE, DEATH AND DREAMS OF MAXIMILIENDE ROBESPIERRE (1989) by Christopher Cartmill [American]

RUY BLAS (1838) by Victor Hugo [French]

BRUTUS (1731) by François Arouet, a.k.a Voltaire.

THE GROUP (1775) by Mercy Oatis Warren

As well as these works that influenced your professor in creating this class:essays: Writings on the Theater (1760’s) by Denis Diderotspeech: Inaugural Address (1789) by George Washingtonspeech: Against the Charge of Treason (1790) by the Comte de Mirabeauspeech: To Dare Again, Ever to Dare (1792) by Georges Jacques Dantonspeech: The Festival of the Supreme Being (1794) by Maxmilien de Robespierrespeech: On His Refusal to Negotiate with Napoleon (1800) by William Pittplay: De Monfort (1800) by Joanne Bailliespeech: I Am a Shawnee (1810) by Tecumsehplay: The Dog of Montargis (1814) by Réne-Charles Pixérécourtplay: Mademoiselle de Belle-Isle (1839) by Alexandre Dumasplay: Ruy Blas (1838) by Victor Hugospeech: The Black Revolution (1965) by Malcolm Xessay: ‘The Oath: David’ (1978) by Jean Starobinski (trans. by Barbara Bray)speech: First Inaugural Address (1981) by Ronald Reaganspeech: Speech to the Democratic National Convention (1992) by Elizabeth Glaserfilm: Horseman on the Roof (1995) directed by Jean-Paul Rappeneaufilm: Sense and Sensibility (1995) directed by Ang Leeplay: La Chasse (1997) by Christopher Cartmillfilm: Children of the Century (1999) directed by Diane Kurysfilm: Cruel Intentions (1999) directed by Roger Kumblefilm: Quills (2000) directed by Philip Kaufmanplay: The Coast of Utopia (Voyage, Shipwreck, Salvage) (2001) by Tom Stoppardplay: The Laramie Project (2001) by Moisés Kaufmanfilm: Fahrenheit 9/11 (2004) directed by Michael Mooreplay: Stuff Happens (2004) by David Harefilm: Marie Antoinette (2006) directed by Sophia CoppolaMORE?

©copyright 2011 Christopher Cartmill