Discussing some questions

We'll discuss any of the questions on the forum that we might have talked about on Wednesday morning, if not for the extra bit of spring break we had. What I propose is that we scroll though the questions on the forum and see if people have anything to say about them.

Deciding on some scenes to read more attentively

On the basis of what people had to say about their proposed scenes, we'll make some decisions about an order in which we will attend to them. We'll give each scene (and the play and playwright, of course) one class meeting, starting next Wednesday morning.

Some background on comedy

At the same time, there are a number of texts about comedy that it would be useful to know about. Here are some:

• John Dryden, Preface to An Evening's Love
• Jeremy Collier, A Short View of the Immorality and Profaneness of the English Stage
• William Congreve, "Concerning Humour in Comedy," "Amendments of Mr. Collier's False and Imperfect Citations."
• Richard Steele, Spectator No. 65 [on Sir Fopling Flutter]; John Dennis, "A Defense of Sir Fopling Flutter"
• Oliver Goldsmith, "An Essay on the Theatre; or, A Comparison Between Laughing and Sentimental Comedy"