The Great Gatsby in UPM

“Whenever you feel like criticizing any one,” he told me, “just remember that all the people in this world haven’t had the advantages that you’ve had.” —Nick Carraway (quoting his father)

The Great Gatsby ........

Watching the play on Thursday night was a fun thing to do . However, I would still have some comments to make.

The up-side of the play....

I would say that the entire play was a great one. The actors, the dancers and the crews was fantastic. They were working fast and great. The actors  were so into their acting and I was shocked to see how my girl / bestie / classmate / was so good in portraying the character , Daisy. The flow of the show was very good. You can see that they worked very hard to put on the show. The falling down , the laughter and the pun was clear and very real.  I got so happy that the actors played the characters so well. The ending was so good as Carraway focussed his emotions at one point that made me teared.( Not every play does that)

The Down side of the Play. 

I don’t really like the start of the show. An opening should be interesting and eye-catching. But the opening was a little blunt. I can’t fake my thoughts about them. I would expect that the music faculty would play something from the Jazz Era instead of Jason Mraz (Lucky). It is not what I would expect. I need more soul too. A little more of Aretha Franklin. The momentum of the entire play was a little slow.  I felt happy that the end of the play was better than the beginning.The voice projection was a little bad. But the character . Baker was good at the voice projection.

A "Revolutionary Outrage": The Importance of Being Earnest as Social Criticism ( JEREMY LALONDE)

I propose that The Importance of Being Earnest allows for two readings: one can assume the role of the narrator of "The Portrait of Mr. W.H." (Wilde) or that of Lady Bracknell. Both readings have their limits and privilege the performance either of class or of sexuality in the play. In "The Portrait of Mr. W.H.," Wilde's narrator undertakes a project that is essentially one of recovery – a counter-reading in the face of the heterosexist narratives that have effaced the homosexual desire at the heart of Shakespeare's sonnets. This same assumption informs the arguments of Christopher Craft, Patricia Behrendt, and Joel Fineman; they look in Earnest for representations of a fully formed gay masculinity – a "Uraniste" in Ernest (Behrendt 172–73). They begin with a "positivist desire for proof in the pudding" (Craft 120) and find a current of same-sex desire running through the play that destabilizes various heterosexual assumptions. But it all begins with the assumption that there are representations of gay masculinities in the play; it begins with a theory, like Wilde's narrator's project – that there was a boy actor named Willie Hughes who was the object of Shakespeare's desire. Reflecting on this theory, the narrator reviews Shakespeare's sonnets and finds his proof in the pudding: "Every poem seemed to me to corroborate Cyril Graham's theory. I felt as if I had my hand upon Shakespeare's heart, and was counting each separate throb and pulse of passion. I thought of the wonderful boy-actor, and saw his face in every line" ("Portrait" 323).

Later, the narrator reflects on his scholarly project and declares that "the one flaw in the theory is that it presupposes the existence of the person whose existence is the subject of dispute" (334). In the context of Earnest, this person is the fully formed, self-identified male homosexual – a type of masculinity that was only emerging through events like the Wilde trials.

It is the argument of Alan Sinfield's book-length study, The Wilde Century, that the codes of behavior we have come to view as stereotypes of male homosexuality were constituted primarily through Wilde's exposure in the trials of 1895 and do not necessarily prefigure the trials. In his introduction, Sinfield argues explicitly against reading Earnest as a play about homosexual desire although he remains sympathetic toward the impulse to provide such a reading:

Many commentators assume that queerness, like murder, will out, so there must be a gay scenario lurking somewhere in the depths of The Importance of Being Earnest. But it doesn't really work. It might be nice to think of Algernon and Jack as a gay couple, but most of their dialogue is bickering about property and women; or Bunburying as cruising for rough trade, but it is an upper-class young heiress that we see Algernon visiting, and they want to marry.

(vi)

Sinfield is almost certainly responding to Craft, Behrendt, and Fineman when he argues that identifying a fully constituted homosexual subject in the play is anachronistic. In his essay, "'Effeminacy' and 'Femininity': Sexual Politics in Wilde's Comedies," he isolates one particularly anachronistic claim that is made by Fineman and rearticulated by Craft – that Bunbury "was not only British slang for a male brothel, but is also a collection of signifiers that straightforwardly express their desire to bury in the bun" (Fineman, qtd. in Sinfield "'Effeminacy'" 34). "Bun" does not signify "buttock" in any of the dictionary records that Sinfield reviews – that is, until it assumes that meaning in United States sometime in the 1960s (35).

https://muse.jhu.edu/login?auth=0&type=summary&url=/journals/modern_drama/v048/48.4lalonde.html

Oscar Wilde and (THE IMPORTANCE OF BEING EARNEST)

Who was Oscar Wilde?

Oscar Wilde was an Anglo-Irish playwright, novelist, poet, and critic. He is regarded as one of the greatest playwrights of the Victorian Era.

In his lifetime he wrote nine plays, one novel, and numerous poems, short stories, and essays.

Wilde was a proponent of the Aesthetic movement, which emphasized aesthetic values more than moral or social themes. This doctrine is most clearly summarized in the phrase 'art for art's sake'.

Besides literary accomplishments, he is also famous, or perhaps infamous, for his wit, flamboyance, and affairs with men. He was tried and imprisoned for his homosexual relationship (then considered a crime) with the son of an aristocrat.

Fast Facts

Birth name: Oscar Fingal O'Flahertie Wills Wilde
Birth date: October 16, 1854
Birth place: Dublin, Ireland
Nationality: Irish

Educated:    Trinity College (Dublin)

                  Magdalen College (Oxford)

Father: Sir William Wilde (eye doctor)
Mother: Jane Francesca Elgee (poet and journalist)
Siblings: brother William, sister Isola
Spouse: Constance Lloyd
Children: two sons - Cyril and Vyvyan

Occupation: Playwright, novelist, poet, editor, critic
Period: Victorian era (1837–1901)
Literary movement: Aestheticism

Famous Works:

·         The Picture of Dorian Gray (novel)

·         The Importance of Being Earnest (play)

·         The Ballad of Reading Gaol (poem)

Died: November 30, 1900 (aged 46) in Paris, France
Resting place: Le Pére Lachaise Cemetery, Paris, France

Jack Worthing, the play’s protagonist, is a pillar of the community in Hertfordshire, where he is guardian to Cecily Cardew, the pretty, eighteen-year-old granddaughter of the late Thomas Cardew, who found and adopted Jack when he was a baby. In Hertfordshire, Jack has responsibilities: he is a major landowner and justice of the peace, with tenants, farmers, and a number of servants and other employees all dependent on him. For years, he has also pretended to have an irresponsible black-sheep brother named Ernest who leads a scandalous life in pursuit of pleasure and is always getting into trouble of a sort that requires Jack to rush grimly off to his assistance. In fact, Ernest is merely Jack’s alibi, a phantom that allows him to disappear for days at a time and do as he likes. No one but Jack knows that he himself is Ernest. Ernest is the name Jack goes by in London, which is where he really goes on these occasions—probably to pursue the very sort of behavior he pretends to disapprove of in his imaginary brother.

Jack is in love with Gwendolen Fairfax, the cousin of his best friend, Algernon Moncrieff. When the play opens, Algernon, who knows Jack as Ernest, has begun to suspect something, having found an inscription inside Jack’s cigarette case addressed to “Uncle Jack” from someone who refers to herself as “little Cecily.” Algernon suspects that Jack may be leading a double life, a practice he seems to regard as commonplace and indispensable to modern life. He calls a person who leads a double life a “Bunburyist,” after a nonexistent friend he pretends to have, a chronic invalid named Bunbury, to whose deathbed he is forever being summoned whenever he wants to get out of some tiresome social obligation.

At the beginning of Act I, Jack drops in unexpectedly on Algernon and announces that he intends to propose to Gwendolen. Algernon confronts him with the cigarette case and forces him to come clean, demanding to know who “Jack” and “Cecily” are. Jack confesses that his name isn’t really Ernest and that Cecily is his ward, a responsibility imposed on him by his adoptive father’s will. Jack also tells Algernon about his fictional brother. Jack says he’s been thinking of killing off this fake brother, since Cecily has been showing too active an interest in him. Without meaning to, Jack describes Cecily in terms that catch Algernon’s attention and make him even more interested in her than he is already.

Gwendolen and her mother, Lady Bracknell, arrive, which gives Jack an opportunity to propose to Gwendolen. Jack is delighted to discover that Gwendolen returns his affections, but he is alarmed to learn that Gwendolen is fixated on the name Ernest, which she says “inspires absolute confidence.” Gwendolen makes clear that she would not consider marrying a man who was not named Ernest.

Lady Bracknell interviews Jack to determine his eligibility as a possible son-in-law, and during this interview she asks about his family background. When Jack explains that he has no idea who his parents were and that he was found, by the man who adopted him, in a handbag in the cloakroom at Victoria Station, Lady Bracknell is scandalized. She forbids the match between Jack and Gwendolen and sweeps out of the house.

In Act II, Algernon shows up at Jack’s country estate posing as Jack’s brother Ernest. Meanwhile, Jack, having decided that Ernest has outlived his usefulness, arrives home in deep mourning, full of a story about Ernest having died suddenly in Paris. He is enraged to find Algernon there masquerading as Ernest but has to go along with the charade. If he doesn’t, his own lies and deceptions will be revealed.

While Jack changes out of his mourning clothes, Algernon, who has fallen hopelessly in love with Cecily, asks her to marry him. He is surprised to discover that Cecily already considers that they are engaged, and he is charmed when she reveals that her fascination with “Uncle Jack’s brother” led her to invent an elaborate romance between herself and him several months ago. Algernon is less enchanted to learn that part of Cecily’s interest in him derives from the name Ernest, which, unconsciously echoing Gwendolen, she says “inspires absolute confidence.”

Algernon goes off in search of Dr. Chasuble, the local rector, to see about getting himself christened Ernest. Meanwhile, Gwendolen arrives, having decided to pay Jack an unexpected visit. Gwendolen is shown into the garden, where Cecily orders tea and attempts to play hostess. Cecily has no idea how Gwendolen figures into Jack’s life, and Gwendolen, for her part, has no idea who Cecily is. Gwendolen initially thinks Cecily is a visitor to the Manor House and is disconcerted to learn that Cecily is “Mr. Worthing’s ward.” She notes that Ernest has never mentioned having a ward, and Cecily explains that it is not Ernest Worthing who is her guardian but his brother Jack and, in fact, that she is engaged to be married to Ernest Worthing. Gwendolen points out that this is impossible as she herself is engaged to Ernest Worthing. The tea party degenerates into a war of manners.

Jack and Algernon arrive toward the climax of this confrontation, each having separately made arrangements with Dr. Chasuble to be christened Ernest later that day. Each of the young ladies points out that the other has been deceived: Cecily informs Gwendolen that her fiancé is really named Jack and Gwendolen informs Cecily that hers is really called Algernon. The two women demand to know where Jack’s brother Ernest is, since both of them are engaged to be married to him. Jack is forced to admit that he has no brother and that Ernest is a complete fiction. Both women are shocked and furious, and they retire to the house arm in arm.

Act III takes place in the drawing room of the Manor House, where Cecily and Gwendolen have retired. When Jack and Algernon enter from the garden, the two women confront them. Cecily asks Algernon why he pretended to be her guardian’s brother. Algernon tells her he did it in order to meet her. Gwendolen asks Jack whether he pretended to have a brother in order to come into London to see her as often as possible, and she interprets his evasive reply as an affirmation. The women are somewhat appeased but still concerned over the issue of the name. However, when Jack and Algernon tell Gwendolen and Cecily that they have both made arrangements to be christened Ernest that afternoon, all is forgiven and the two pairs of lovers embrace. At this moment, Lady Bracknell’s arrival is announced.

Lady Bracknell has followed Gwendolen from London, having bribed Gwendolen’s maid to reveal her destination. She demands to know what is going on. Gwendolen again informs Lady Bracknell of her engagement to Jack, and Lady Bracknell reiterates that a union between them is out of the question. Algernon tells Lady Bracknell of his engagement to Cecily, prompting her to inspect Cecily and inquire into her social connections, which she does in a routine and patronizing manner that infuriates Jack. He replies to all her questions with a mixture of civility and sarcasm, withholding until the last possible moment the information that Cecily is actually worth a great deal of money and stands to inherit still more when she comes of age. At this, Lady Bracknell becomes genuinely interested.

Jack informs Lady Bracknell that, as Cecily’s legal guardian, he refuses to give his consent to her union with Algernon. Lady Bracknell suggests that the two young people simply wait until Cecily comes of age, and Jack points out that under the terms of her grandfather’s will, Cecily does not legally come of age until she is thirty-five. Lady Bracknell asks Jack to reconsider, and he points out that the matter is entirely in her own hands. As soon as she consents to his marriage to Gwendolen, Cecily can have his consent to marry Algernon. However, Lady Bracknell refuses to entertain the notion. She and Gwendolen are on the point of leaving when Dr. Chasuble arrives and happens to mention Cecily’s governess, Miss Prism. At this, Lady Bracknell starts and asks that Miss Prism be sent for.

When the governess arrives and catches sight of Lady Bracknell, she begins to look guilty and furtive. Lady Bracknell accuses her of having left her sister’s house twenty-eight years before with a baby and never returned. She demands to know where the baby is. Miss Prism confesses she doesn’t know, explaining that she lost the baby, having absentmindedly placed it in a handbag in which she had meant to place the manuscript for a novel she had written. Jack asks what happened to the bag, and Miss Prism says she left it in the cloakroom of a railway station. Jack presses her for further details and goes racing offstage, returning a few moments later with a large handbag. When Miss Prism confirms that the bag is hers, Jack throws himself on her with a cry of “Mother!” It takes a while before the situation is sorted out, but before too long we understand that Jack is not the illegitimate child of Miss Prism but the legitimate child of Lady Bracknell’s sister and, therefore, Algernon’s older brother. Furthermore, Jack had been originally christened “Ernest John.” All these years Jack has unwittingly been telling the truth: Ernest is his name, as is Jack, and he does have an unprincipled younger brother—Algernon. Again the couples embrace, Miss Prism and Dr. Chasuble follow suit, and Jack acknowledges that he now understands “the vital Importance of Being Earnest.”

http://www.sparknotes.com/lit/earnest/summary.html

What is drama????

1. Definition : a literary composition that tells a story, usually of human conflict, by means of dialogue and action, to be performed by actors; play; now often specif., any play that is not a comedy. the art or profession of writing, acting in, or producing plays. plays collectively: Elizabethan drama.

Types of Drama

Tragedy- a play written in a serious, sometimes impressive or elevated style, in which things go wrong and cannot be set right except at great cost or sacrifice.  Aristotle said that tragedy should purge our emotions by evoking pity and fear (or compassion and awe) in us, the spectators.

The tragic pattern: 1. a theme of fatal passion (excluding love) as a primary motive

2. an outstanding personality as center of conflict (classical tragedy demanded a “noble” character)

3. a vital weakness within the hero’s character (his tragic flaw which precipitates the tragedy)

4. the conflict within the hero is the source of tragedy.  However, since Nietzsche, the tragic flaw is often found to be in the universe itself, or in man’s relationship to it, rather than in the hero himself.

Comedy- a play written in a kindly or humorous, perhaps bitter or satiric vein, in which the problems or difficulties of the characters are resolved satisfactorily, if not for all characters, at least from the point of view of the audience.  Low characters as opposed to noble; characters not always changed by the action of the play; based upon observation of life.  Comedy and tragedy are concerned more with character, whereas farce and melodrama are concerned more with plot.

Melodrama- a play in which the characters are types rather than individuals, the story and situations exaggerated to the point of improbability or sensationalism and the language and emotion over-emphasized

Farce- a comedy in which story, character, and especially situations are exaggerated to the point of improbability; the situation begins with a highly improbable premise, but when that is accepted everything that follows is completely logical.  Fast moving; uses such theatrical devices as duplications, reversals, repetitions, surprises, disguises, chance encounters, often many doors and closets.

Tragic Comedy or Drama- a play with the sincerity and earnestness of tragedy but without its inevitability of impending disaster, and with the kindly and tolerant attitude of comedy but without its underlying spirit of humour; uses tense situations and moments of extreme conflict, but the tragedy is averted and transcended.

Other kinds of plays- 1.Classical tragic-comedy; noble characters but happy ending.

                                   2. Classical comic-tragedy; low characters but ends badly

                                   3. Satire

                                   4. Vaudeville

                                   5. Mime

                                   6. Propaganda plays (or didactic drama)

The history of the drama (dramatic literature) might be seen as a constant alteration between the two poles of the classic mode and the romantic mode.

The history of theatre (performance of drama) might be seen as a constant alteration between the two poles of stylized presentation and realistic representation.  Below is one interpretation of the relative positions of certain artistic movements in the theatre on a continuum between theatricality and realism:

theatrical                     1. Constructivism           5. Romanticism                    actualistic

presentational              2. Surrealism                  6. Realism                          representational

nonillusionistic            3. Expressionism            7. Naturalism                        illusionistic

stylized, frankly          4. Symbolism                                                    realistic, creating the    artificial                                                                                                 illusion of reality

Henrik Ibsen (1828–1906)

Henrik Ibsen (1828-1906) published his last drama, "When We Dead Awaken", in 1899, and he called it a dramatic epilogue. It was also destined to be the epilogue of his life's work, because illness prevented him from writing more. For half of a century he had devoted his life and his energies to the art of drama, and he had won international acclaim as the greatest and most influential dramatist of his time. He knew that he had gone further than anyone in putting Norway on the map.

Henrik Ibsen was also a major poet, and he published a collection of poems in 1871. However, drama was the focus of his real lyrical spirit. For a period of many hard years, he faced bitter opposition. But he finally triumphed over the conservatism and aesthetic prejudices of the contemporary critics and audiences. More than anyone, he gave theatrical art a new vitality by bringing into European bourgeois drama an ethical gravity, a psychological depth, and a social significance which the theater had lacked since the days of Shakespeare. In this manner, Ibsen strongly contributed to giving European drama a vitality and artistic quality comparable to the ancient Greek tragedies.

It is from this perspective we view his contribution to theatrical history. His realistic contemporary drama was a continuation of the European tradition of tragic plays. In these works he portrays people from the middle class of his day. These are people whose routines are suddenly upset as they are confronted with a deep crisis in their lives. They have been blindly following a way of life leading to the troubles and are themselves responsible for the crisis. Looking back on their lives, they are forced to confront themselves. However, Ibsen created another type of drama as well. In fact, he had been writing for 25 years before he, in 1877, created his first contemporary drama, "Pillars of Society".

_________________________________________________________________________________

His Work

·             1850 - Catiline (Catilina)

·         1850 - The Burial Mound also known as The Warrior's Barrow (Kjæmpehøjen)

·         1851 - Norma (Norma)

·         1852 - St. John's Eve (Sancthansnatten)

·         1854 - Lady Inger of Oestraat (Fru Inger til Østeraad)

·         1855 - The Feast at Solhaug (Gildet paa Solhoug)

·         1856 - Olaf Liljekrans (Olaf Liljekrans)

·         1857 - The Vikings at Helgeland (Hærmændene paa Helgeland)

·         1862 - Digte - only released collection of poetry

·         1862 - Love's Comedy (Kjærlighedens Komedie)

·         1863 - The Pretenders (Kongs-Emnerne)

·         1866 - Brand (Brand)

·         1867 - Peer Gynt (Peer Gynt)

·         1869 - The League of Youth (De unges Forbund)

·         1873 - Emperor and Galilean (Kejser og Galilæer)

·         1877 - Pillars of Society (Samfundets Støtter)

·         1879 - A Doll's House (Et Dukkehjem)

·         1881 - Ghosts (Gengangere)

·         1882 - An Enemy of the People (En Folkefiende)

·         1884 - The Wild Duck (Vildanden)

·         1886 - Rosmersholm (Rosmersholm)

·         1888 - The Lady from the Sea (Fruen fra Havet)

·         1890 - Hedda Gabler (Hedda Gabler)

·         1892 - The Master Builder (Bygmester Solness)

·         1896 - John Gabriel Borkman (John Gabriel Borkman)

·         1899 - When We Dead Awaken (Når vi døde vaagner)

References :"Biography of Henrik Ibsen (1828-1906)."Biography of Henrik Ibsen. N.p., n.d. Web. 18 Oct. 2014. <http://www.gradesaver.com/author/henrik-ibsen/>.

 "Arthur Miller Biography." Bio.com. A&E Networks Television, n.d. Web. 18 Oct. 2014. <http://www.biography.com/people/arthur-miller-9408335>.

Arthur Miller (1915–2005)

Arthur Miller was born to a Jewish family in New York in 1915. His grandparents had come to America from Poland. When the family business failed, they moved to Brooklyn, where A View from the Bridge is set. There, Arthur worked in a warehouse to earn money for his university fees.

He began to write plays while he was a student at the University of Michigan and continued to do so after he graduated in 1938 and became a journalist. He received much acclaim from All My Sons in 1947; Death of a Salesman (1949) - which won the Pulitzer Prize - and The Crucible (1952) confirmed him as a great playwright.

Between his years as a journalist and making his name as a writer, Miller worked in the Brooklyn shipyards for two years, where he befriended the Italians he worked alongside. He heard a story of some men coming over to work illegally and being betrayed. The story inspired A View from the Bridge, which was written in 1955. It was originally a one-act play, but Miller re-worked it into a two-act play the following year.

Miller's first marriage ended in divorce in 1956. He then married the actress Marilyn Monroe, but they divorced in 1961. His third marriage was to a photographer, Inge Morath.

Most of his work is set in the America of the day and portrays realistic characters and events. He deals with political and moral issues and weaves in ideas from Greek tragedy. He is interested in how personal relationships dictate the way one leads one's life and about people's struggles to do what is right.

Miller died in 2005 at the age of 89. Today, he is regarded as one of the greatest dramatists of the 20th century.

_________________________________________________________________________

His Works

Plays

The Golden Years

The Man Who Had All the Luck

All My Sons

Death of a Salesman

An Enemy of the People

The Crucible

A View from the Bridge

After the Fall

A Memory of Two Mondays

Incident at Vichy

The Price

The Creation of the World and Other Business

The Archbishop’s Ceiling

The American Clock

Playing for Time

The Ride Down Mt. Morgan

Broken Glass

Mr. Peters’ Connections

Resurrection Blues

Finishing the Picture

One-Act Plays

A View from the Bridge (one-act version)

A Memory of Two Mondays

Fame   /    The Reason Why   

Two Way Mirror:   

Elegy for a Lady  

Some Kind of Love Story

Danger: Memory!   

I Can’t Remember Anything 

Clara

The Last Yankee

Reference : "Arthur Miller Biography." Bio.com. A&E Networks Television, n.d. Web. 18 Oct. 2014. <http://www.biography.com/people/arthur-miller-9408335>.

Samuel Beckett (1906–1989)

Samuel Beckett was born in Dublin, Ireland, in 1906, the second son of comfortable middle-class parents who were a part of the Protestant minority in a predominantly Catholic society. He was provided with an excellent education, graduating from Trinity College, Dublin, with a major emphasis in French and Italian. His first job was as a teacher of English in the Ecole Normale Superiéure in Paris. In 1931, he returned to Ireland as a lecturer in French literature, and he received his masters degree in French from Dublin and subsequently returned to Paris as a teacher in 1932. He has made Paris his home since that time, except for visits abroad and a retreat to the Unoccupied Zone in Vichy, France, during 1942–44.

Beckett found teaching uncongenial to his creative activities and soon turned all of his attention to writing. During the 1930s and 1940s, his writing consisted of critical studies (Proust and others), poems, and two novels (Murphy and Watt), all written in English. In the late 1940s, he changed from writing in English to writing in French. Part of the reason for this was his basic rejection of Ireland as his homeland. When asked why he found Ireland uncongenial, he offered the same explanation that has been given by other famous Irish expatriates, such as Sean O'Casey and James Joyce. He could not tolerate the strict censorship of so many aspects of life, especially the arbitrary censoring of many works of literature by the Catholic clergy. In addition, the political situation created an oppressive anti-intellectualism. Even after he became famous, he refused to allow some of his plays to be presented in Ireland. In 1958, during the International Theater Festival in Dublin, a play of his compatriot O'Casey was banned, and Beckett, in protest, withdrew his plays, which have not been seen in Ireland since then.

Since the major portion of his dramas were composed in French and first presented in Paris, many critics find difficulty in classifying Beckett's works: should he be considered a French or an Irish writer? The nature of' his characters, even when named Vladimir and Estragon, seems to be more characteristically Irish than any other nationality. Essentially, it should be a moot question because Beckett, when composing in French, was his own translator into English and vice versa. Thus his works do not suffer from another translator's tampering with them, and his great plays now belong to the realm of world literature.

_______________________________________________________________________________

His Works

Whoroscope - in 1930 was his debut. It was a poem, poem with seventeen footnotes. Rene Descartes is protagonist of it.

Proust - in 1931, collection of essays about Marcel Proust

More pricks than kicks - in 1934, novel

Murphy - novel in 1938 

Molloy (novel) - 1951

Malone Meurt (novel) - 1951

En attendant Godot (play in two acts) - 1952

L'innommable/The Unnamable (novel) in 1953

Nouvelles et Textes Pour Rien/Stories and Texts for Nothing - 1955

Fin de Partie/Endgame (one-act play) , Acte sans Paroles I/Act without Words in 1957

Comment C'est/How It Is (novel) - 1961

Têtes Mortes (D'un ouvrage abandonné/From an Abandoned Work, Imagination Morte Imaginez/Imagination Dead Imagine, Bing/Ping) - 1967

Premier amour/First Love (novel) 1970 

Ends and Odds: Plays and Sketches 1977

Pas, suivi de Quatre Esquisses/Steps, followed by Four Sketches (plays) 1978

Poèmes/Poems, All Strange Gone Away 1979

Company 1980?

The Expelled 1980

Rockaby and Other Pieces, 1981

Three Occasional Pieces 1982

Disjecta, Worstward Ho 1983

Nohow On (short stories) 1989

As the Story Was Told: Uncollected and Late Prose, 1990

References : "Literary Encyclopedia: Beckett, Samuel."Literary Encyclopedia: Beckett, Samuel. N.p., n.d. Web. 18 Oct. 2014. <http://www.samuel-beckett.net/speople.html>.

William Shakespeare (1564–1616)

William Shakespeare was born in Stratford-upon-Avon, allegedly on April 23, 1564. Church records from Holy Trinity Church indicate that he was baptized there on April 26, 1564. Young William was born of John Shakespeare, a glover and leather merchant, and Mary Arden, a landed local heiress. William, according to the church register, was the third of eight children in the Shakespeare household—three of whom died in childhood. John Shakespeare had a remarkable run of success as a merchant, alderman, and high bailiff of Stratford, during William's early childhood. His fortunes declined, however, in the late 1570s.
There is great conjecture about Shakespeare's childhood years, especially regarding his education. Scholars surmise that Shakespeare attended the grammar school in Stratford. While there are no records extant to prove this claim, Shakespeare's knowledge of Latin and Classical Greek would tend to support this theory. In addition, Shakespeare's first biographer, Nicholas Rowe, wrote that John Shakespeare had placed William "for some time in a free school." John Shakespeare, as a Stratford official, would have been granted a waiver of tuition for his son. As the records do not exist, we do not know how long William may have attended the school, but the literary quality of his works suggests a solid educational foundation. What is certain is that William Shakespeare never proceeded to university schooling, which has contributed to the debate about the authorship of his works..
For the seven years following the birth of his twins, William Shakespeare disappears from all records, finally turning up again in London some time in 1592. This period, known as the "Lost Years," has sparked as much controversy about Shakespeare's life as any period. Rowe notes that young Shakespeare was quite fond of poaching, and may have had to flee Stratford after an incident with Sir Thomas Lucy, whose deer and rabbits he allegedly poached. There is also rumor of Shakespeare working as an assistant schoolmaster in Lancashire for a time, though this is circumstantial at best.
It is estimated that Shakespeare arrived in London around 1588 and began to establish himself as an actor and playwright. Evidently Shakespeare garnered some envy early on, as related by the critical attack of Robert Greene, a London playwright, in 1592: "...an upstart crow, beautified with our feathers, that with his Tiger's heart wrapped in a player's hide, supposes he is as well able to bombast out a blank verse as the best of you: and being an absolute Johannes fac totum, is in his own conceit the only Shake-scene in a country.".
Shakespeare's accomplishments are apparent when studied against other playwrights of this age. His company was the most successful in London in his day. He had plays published and sold in octavo editions, or "penny-copies" to the more literate of his audiences. Never before had a playwright enjoyed sufficient acclaim to see his works published and sold as popular literature in the midst of his career. In addition, Shakespeare's ownership share in both the theatrical company and the Globe itself made him as much an entrepeneur as artist. While Shakespeare might not be accounted wealthy by London standards, his success allowed him to purchase New House and retire in comfort to Stratford in 1611.

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Selected Bibliography

Poetry

The Rape of Lucrece (1594)
The Sonnets of Shakespeare (1609)
Venus and Adonis (1593)

Drama

A Midsummer Night’s Dream (1595)
All’s Well that Ends Well (1602)
Antony and Cleopatra (1607)
As You Like It (1599)
Coriolanus (1608)
Cymbeline (1609)
Hamlet (1600)
Henry IV (1597)
Henry V (1598)
Henry VI (Parts I, II, and III) (1590)
Henry VIII (1612)
Julius Caesar (1599)
King John (1596)
King Lear (1605)
Love’s Labour’s Lost (1593)
Macbeth (1606)
Measure for Measure (1604)
Much Ado About Nothing (1598)
Othello (1604)
Pericles (1608)
Richard II (1595)
Richard III (1594)
Romeo and Juliet (1596)
The Comedy of Errors (1590)
The Merchant of Venice (1596)
The Merry Wives of Windsor (1597)
The Taming of the Shrew (1593)
The Tempest (1611)
The Winter’s Tale (1610)
Timon of Athens (1607)
Titus Andronicus (1590)
Troilus and Cressida (1600)
Twelfth Night (1599)
Two Gentlemen of Verona (1592)

References : "William Shakespeare." Poets.org. Academy of American Poets, n.d. Web. 15 Oct. 2014. <http://www.poets.org/poetsorg/poet/william-shakespeare>.

Trifles Summary

 Plot Summary:

The sheriff, his wife, the county attorney, and the neighbors, Mr. and Mrs. Hale, enter the kitchen of the Wright household. Mr. Hale explains how he paid a visit to the house on the previous day. Once there, Mrs. Wright greeted him but acted strangely. She  expressed in a sad voice that her husband was upstairs, dead.

The audience learns of John Wright’s killing through Mr. Hale’s beggining.of the story. He is the first beside  from Mrs. Wright to discover the body.  Mrs. Wright claimed that she was sleeping soundly while someone strangled her husband. It seems obvious to the male characters that she killed her husband, and she has been taken into custody as the main suspect.

The attorney and sheriff decide that there is nothing vital  in the room: “Nothing here but kitchen things.” The men criticize Mrs. Wright’s housekeeping skills, irking Mrs. Hale and the sheriff’s wife, Mrs. Peters.

The men exit, heading upstairs to investigate the crime scene. The women remain in the kitchen. Chatting to pass the time, Mrs. Hale and Mrs. Peters notice vital details that the men would not care about

• Ruined fruit preserves
• Bread that has been left out of its box. 
• An unfinished quilt.
• A half clean / half messy table top.
• An empty bird cage.

Unlike the men who are looking for forensic evidence to solve the crime, the women in Susan Glaspell's Trifles observe clues that reveal the bleakness of Mrs. Wright’s emotional life. They theorize that Mr. Wright’s cold, oppressive nature must have been dreary to live with. Mrs. Hale comments about Mrs. Wright being childless: “Not having children makes less work – but it makes a quiet house.” To the women, they are simply trying to pass the awkward moments with civil conversation. But to the audience, Mrs. Hale and Mrs. Peters unveil a psychological profile of a desperate housewife.

What Happened to the Bird?

When gathering up the quilting material, they discover a fancy little box. Inside, wrapped in silk is a dead canary. Its neck has been wrung. The implication is that Minnie’s husband did not like the canary’s beautiful song (a symbol of his wife’s desire for freedom and happiness). So, Mr. Wright busted the cage door and strangled the bird.

Mrs. Hale and Mrs. Peters do not tell the men about their discovery. Instead, Mrs. Hale puts the box with the deceased bird into her coat pocket – resolving not to tell the men about this little “trifle” they have uncovered.

The play ends with the characters exiting the kitchen and the women announcing that they have determined Mrs. Wright’s quilt making style. (She “knots it” instead of “quilts it” – a play with words denoting the way in which she killed her husband.)