In class this morning

The first assignment for today was to "take a half hour or so to reread the summaries of the fourth and fifth sections and post a couple of questions and comments about each on the Forum." I find only two questions on part 4 -- "Is having multiple plots, like the English, or a singulaf plot, like the French,  best? Explain"; "Is there any reason why the French rarely wrote comedies?" -- and on part 5 -- "So what is Neander saying? Is rhyme good in some genres and not in others?" and "It kind of makes you wonder if the suspension of disbelief can be extended to language as well. If we are transported to some exotic locale by a piece of theater, is it hard to believe that the inhabitants of the unfamiliar environment speak in rhyme? I am (of course) inclined to answer that question with a "yes", and by virtue of that I have to agree with any argument that supports the use of rhyme as counter-productive to the construction of a believable theater environment (unless used in song or some other format, separate from the main dialogue of the piece)." None of those questions, it seems to me, can be answered by attending to Dryden's writing.

If anyone has questions that actually might be illuminated by attending to what Dryden says, we'll discuss them.

The second part of the assignment for today was to "go to the library and find one of the general literary histories or one of the anthologies that includes a general introduction (both are listed on the course Web site) that has a discussion of Restoration and eighteenth century comedy." Two people actually found one of those.

Take the time we'd have spent in class this morning to read the five sets of recommendations, and choose a play you want to read and find out about over the spring break. Send an email to the class list (hunt3236@stu.ca) claiming your play and saying why you're convinced we should read it and find out about it. Once a play's been claimed by an email, you will need to choose a different one, so make sure you read your incoming email before you send your choice.

There will be a prompt for the work over the spring break later today. We won't meet on Friday.