The Drama of Homosexuality
Our focus will be the homosexuality in drama, and the drama of homosexuality, in Anglo-American theatre and culture, from Christopher Marlowe through Angels in America. Thus, in one sense, the course functions as a version of a traditional "survey" course, treating "gay" male characters, authors, themes, and issues in Anglo-American culture from the Renaissance to the present. But the syllabus is not bound by a survey course's promise of coverage and progressive chronology, and we will also be thinking theoretically about homosexuality's "drama"--that is, the connections in this culture (at least at certain moments, at least in certain contexts) between male homosexuality and the category of "the dramatic." The course will therefore examine the emergence of "homosexual" and "gay" as historical categories and will analyze the connection between these categories and theatrically related terms like "flamboyance," "the closet," "outing," "gender trouble," "drag," "playing," "camp," "acts," "identities," "identification," and "performativity." We will also be interested in the identificatory connections between gay men and particular dramatic genres like opera and the musical.