What is tragicomedy? From the amphitheatres of ancient Greece and Rome to twenty-first-century television screens, this hybrid dramatic genre has undergone numerous metamorphoses, combining its constituent parts, tragedy and comedy, in new and surprising ways. Is tragicomedy best defined by its mixing of high and low characters and subject matters (kings and clowns). Or does it primarily pertain to structure and plot: the averted tragedy, the compromised comedy? Could tragicomedy be best understood as a mingling or juxtaposition of emotions and affective responses (tears and laughter)? Or might it even index a basic existential reality: the tragicomic nature of human experience? Is tragicomedy, as some have claimed, uniquely suited to our current historical moment? In this class we will explore these questions through a transhistorical selection of plays. Beginning with the Roman dramatist, Plautus, who has a claim as the 'inventor' of tragicomedy, our readings will transport us to renaissance England (Fletcher, Shakespeare), enlightenment Germany (Kleist), twentieth-century European absurdism (Beckett, Pinter), to modern TV series (Fleabag). Alongside these core dramatic works, we will engage a wide selection of critical, theoretical, and philosophical texts. Very often the 'creative' and the 'critical' will overlap, and the writing assignments will afford an opportunity to explore this kind of interpretive hybridity through your own critical practices.
5 units · Letter or Credit/No Credit
What is tragicomedy? From the amphitheatres of ancient Greece and Rome to twenty-first-century television screens, this hybrid dramatic genre has undergone numerous metamorphoses, combining its constituent parts, tragedy and comedy, in new and surprising ways. Is tragicomedy best defined by its mixing of high and low characters and subject matters (kings and clowns). Or does it primarily pertain to structure and plot: the averted tragedy, the compromised comedy? Could tragicomedy be best understood as a mingling or juxtaposition of emotions and affective responses (tears and laughter)? Or might it even index a basic existential reality: the tragicomic nature of human experience? Is tragicomedy, as some have claimed, uniquely suited to our current historical moment? In this class we will explore these questions through a transhistorical selection of plays. Beginning with the Roman dramatist, Plautus, who has a claim as the 'inventor' of tragicomedy, our readings will transport us to renaissance England (Fletcher, Shakespeare), enlightenment Germany (Kleist), twentieth-century European absurdism (Beckett, Pinter), to modern TV series (Fleabag). Alongside these core dramatic works, we will engage a wide selection of critical, theoretical, and philosophical texts. Very often the 'creative' and the 'critical' will overlap, and the writing assignments will afford an opportunity to explore this kind of interpretive hybridity through your own critical practices.
Offered in Autumn 2026 at Stanford University.