This course covers selected works and topics in Armenian literature treated in a broad socio-cultural context. In addition to introducing students to some of the Armenian literary masterpieces, the course offers a lens through which to view the socio-political issues and historical legacies that shape Armenian culture and identity, in Armenia and in diaspora, in today’s globalized world. Lectures, readings and discussions in English. No knowledge of Armenian language is required (students with knowledge of Armenian read in the original).

This course traces the polycentric development of modern Armenian drama. We will take the establishment of professional theater companies in nineteenth-century Constantinople and Tbilisi as a starting point and then turn to twentieth- and twenty-first-century theatrical productions from Yerevan, Beirut, and Los Angeles. At the same time, the course will cover a number of European texts, which have inevitably interested Armenian playwrights, many of whom have studied in France, Germany, and Russia. By placing the Armenian repertoire in conversation with the classics of other canons the course will examine cultural currents and aesthetic movements across national, regional, and world stages. We will consider questions of style and genre as we interpret comedies that treat the themes of marriage, money, and power, tragedies that deal with religious faith and free will, and tragicomedies that explore theater as a form of humanity. Required Texts Modern Armenian Drama: An Anthology, edited by Nishan Parlakian and S. Peter Cowe. ISBN: 0231116306 Waiting for Godot: A Tragicomedy in Two Acts by Samuel Beckett. ISBN: 080214442X

Repeat Rules

Requirements class fulfills