Seagull Reader: Plays Book

Final Update: Teaching the literature class (Introduction to Drama) for which this was the text has been some of my best experience as a teacher. For one, it was a lit class and I normally teach expository writing. Duh! Of course literature is more fun than writing essays! But also, I had never truly appreciated drama before, aside from a cool Shakespeare class in college. (And if you're wondering, NO, I did not feel particularly qualified to teach this going into it... thank goodness for department chairs who are in a pinch! How else do we adjuncts get any experience?) Whether or not I ultimately liked them all, every single play in this reader is fascinating, relevant, urgent, and unique. Never before had I really understood drama as a such a strong, effective mouthpiece for social change. I'd recommend them all, but the plays that absolutely must not be missed are: Ibsen's A Doll House, Hansberry's Raisin in the Sun, and... do I even need to mention Hamlet?


Recent update: Just finished A Doll House and found it spectacular. What a shock-- a very pleasant one-- to come to the ending where our oppressed protagonist finds freedom in a twist of feminism I hadn't expected. I'm surprised to read in the introduction that Ibsen himself wasn't a feminist. Luckily it's the play, and not Ibsen's beliefs, that is more commonly read and discussed.


The good news: I'll be teaching my first Literature class next term! The questionable news: It's Intro to Drama! Not exactly my favorite literary form. I guess you have to watch what you wish for. Meanwhile, I'm brushing up on my Sophocles, Shakespeare, Wilde, etc.