IBS2101 – Ibsen's Works: History, Text, Reception

This course is designed to provide an introduction to Ibsen’s dramatic production, emphasizing its historical context. The plays will be analysed as part of and influenced by social, political and cultural forces, and as part of changing aesthetic and artistic norms.

Selected works will be examined against the background of changing literary, theatrical and cultural paradigms in Ibsen’s own time. Special attention will be paid to Ibsen’s renewal of the dramatic tradition. We will investigate his plays as dramatic texts as well as through through historical performances and selected episodes of their receptions from Ibsen’s time.

Upon completing the course the students should be able to

• Discuss the developments within Ibsen’s dramatic canon
• Analyse Ibsen’s works in relation to its historical context
• Apply basic theatre historiographical methods related to literature, theatre, and reception in examinining Ibsen’s works

Students who are admitted to study programmes at UiO must each semester register which courses and exams they wish to sign up for in Studentweb.

If you are not already enrolled as a student at UiO, please see our information about admission requirements and procedures.

This course consists of 14 units, a total of 28 hours, lasting for one semester. The form of teaching combines intensive lecture / seminar teaching, workshops, screening of performances, and class activities. Additional screenings and group activities are to be expected as preparation for coursework.

A qualifying assignment must be approved by the teacher before the student can take the final exam.

Active classroom participation is expected.

A student who has completed compulsory instruction and coursework and has had these approved, is not entitled to repeat that instruction and coursework. A student who has been admitted to a course, but who has not completed compulsory instruction and coursework or had these approved, is entitled to repeat that instruction and coursework, depending on available capacity.