THEATRE HISTORY – RESEARCH

YMCI LIBRARY

LIBRARY CATALOGUE:

            The Library Catalogue uses Library of Congress headings which you will find on the counter in Reference (big red books).  You MUST spell “theater” the American way or no information will appear!  Use the Subject search> Theater history.  Most of our holdings are in the #792 section on the shelves and in the Reference section.

REFERENCE BOOKS:

NEW CENTURY CLASSICAL HANDBOOK.  Ed. C.B. Avery.  New York, 1962.

OXFORD COMPANION TO CLASSICAL CIVILIZATION.  Ed. Hornblower, Simon and Antony Spawforth.  New York, 1998.

DICTIONARY OF THE THEATRE.  Ed. Taylor, J. T.  Penguin, 1966.

OXFORD ILLUSTRATED HISTORY OF THE THEATRE.  Ed. Brown, J. R.  Oxford University Press, 1997.

Chambers, E. K.  THE MEDIAEVAL STAGE.  New York:  Dover Edition, 1996.

SCHOLARLY JOURNALS:

            These may now be accessed via the York Mills Online Databases. Try the Extended ASAP Academic Index  and the Literature Resource Centre.

INTERNET RESOURCES:

General Theatre History Sites:

Theatre History on the Web

http://ascc.artsci.washington.edu/drama/jack.html

Theater General

http://www.georgetown.edu/murphy/netsearch/general.html

Drama West

http://members.iinet.net.au/~kimbo2/Dramawest/links/history.htm

Voice of the Shuttle Theatre Page

http://vos.ucsb.edu/shuttle/english2.html#drama

WWW Virtual Library

http://vl-theatre.com

Theatre History links

http://www.artslynx.org/theatre/history.htm

History of Drama –Emory University

http://www.cc.emory.edu/ENGLISH/DRAMA/

McCoy's Guide to Theater Resources on the Internet:

http://www.stetson.edu/departments/csata/thr_guid.html#Start

Classical Greek & Roman Theatre:

Dr. Janice Siegel’s Illustrated Lectures:

http://lilt.ilstu.edu/drjclassics/lectures/theater/ancient_greek_theater.shtm

http://lilt.ilstu.edu/drjclassics/lectures/theater/ancient_Greek_drama.shtm

Reed Lectures on Greek Drama:

http://homer.reed.edu/Theater.html

Greek Theatre Bibliography:

http://members.tripod.com/DemKoutsogiannis/biblio.htm

Didaskalia:

http://didaskalia.berkeley.edu/Didintro.html

Classical Drama Sites:

http://www.showgate.com/medea/cldrama.html

Perseus – Tufts University:

http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/

Skenotheke – U. of Saskatchewan:

http://www.usask.ca/antharch/cnea/skenotheke.html

Mediaeval Theatre:

Univ. of Toronto – REED:

http://www.chass.utoronto.ca/~reed/stage.html

Tarleton Library Theatre Links:

http://www.tarleton.edu/~library/theater_il.html

Mediaeval Theater Texts:

http://www.mhhe.com/socscience/stage/wilson2/links/chap3.htm

Mediaeval Drama Links – U. of Leeds:

http://www.collectorspost.com/Catalogue/medramalinks.htm

Luminarium:

http://www.luminarium.org/medlit/plays.htm

Italian Theatre History:

Italian Theatre Overview:

http://www.mi.cnr.it/WOI/tidbits/theatre.html

Commedia dell Arte:

http://comedie-italienne.net

http://comedie-italienne.net/commedia1.htm

Commedia dell’arte:

http://www.delpiano.com/carnival/html/commedia.html

Elizabethan Theatre:

http://www.uni-koeln.de/phil-fak/englisch/shakespeare/spear.html

Univ. of Reading Globe research Database:

http://www.rdg.ac.uk/globe/

Mr. William Shakespeare and the Internet:

http://daphne.palomar.edu/shakespeare/default.htm

Univ. of Warwick – Elizabethan Theatre:

http://www.warwick.ac.uk/fac/arts/Theatre_S/ba/year2/sst/elizabethan/links.html

17^th Century Theatre  - France:

Paul Halsall’s Modern History Sourcebook.  Click on Absolutism, then the Library of Congress site linked from France & the Ancien Regime. 

http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/mod/modsbook05.html

Molière site:

http://www.site-moliere.com/intro.htm

Comédie Française:

http://www.comedie-francaise.fr/index9.htm

Italian Theatre History:

Italian Theatre History:

http://www.montevallo.edu/thea/Theatre_Resource/theatre_history/Theahis_5.html

Italian Theatre Overview:

http://www.mi.cnr.it/WOI/tidbits/theatre.html

Commedia dell Arte:

http://comedie-italienne.net

Commedia dell’arte:

http://www.delpiano.com/carnival/html/commedia.html

Commedia dell’ arte:

http://mx7.xoom.com/_XMCM/half_mask/members.xoom.com/half_mask/home.html

Renaissance & Masque:

Luminarium:

http://www.luminarium.org/lumina.htm

Race and Politics in the Jacobean Masque:

http://www.uni-bayreuth.de/departments/anglistik/ST-Masque.htm

The English Court Masque:

http://www.artsci.washington.edu/drama/flortext.html

Theatre of the Absurd:

Theatre of the Absurd:

http://www.honors.unr.edu/~fenimore/wt202/sosnowski/

Absurdism:

http://www.levity.com/corduroy/absurd.htm

Existentialism:

http://www.helsinki.fi/~mqsalo/existe.htm

http://www.theatrehistory.com/french/sartre002.html

 Japanese Kabuki Theatre:

http://asnic.utexas.edu/asnic/countries/japan/kabuki.html

http://www.fix.co.jp/kabuki/kabuki.html

Chinese “Opera”:

http://chineseculture.about.com/culture/chineseculture/msub113.htm

http://www.gio.gov.tw/info/culture/cultur12.html

• What do you learn about Old English society, its world view and values?
• Look at the “kennings” (compound words) in the poem. How does this affect the way the audience listens to the poem? (all poetry was oral) In what way is this like modern poetry?
• How does the half-line structure affect meaning?
• Note any similarities you see between Old English art & poetry. (Hint: look at the style as well as content)

Resources:
http://www.georgetown.edu/irvinemj/english016/beowulf/beowulf.html

• What similarities with Old English poetry do you notice?
• What differences do you notice?
• What do you find out here about the English sense of humour?
• What do you learn of the mediaeval spirit and world view? (Note especially the juxtaposition of sacred and secular.)

Read Sumer is icumen in:

• In what way does does this song remind you of Chaucer?
  (Go to http://www.soton.ac.uk/~wpwt/harl978/sumer.htm
  Read about this song & see the manuscript!)

Look at the Bayeux Tapestry:

• What similarities do you find between Middle English poetry and the tapestry?
  (Go to http://hastings1066.com/ See the tapestry and read about it.)
  

The Latin Influence on the English Language

..

       In the 1500's and 1600's, thousands of Latin and Greek-derived words were added to the English language. Scholars thought that English did not have "proper" scientific or intellectual terms and regularly borrowed terms from Latin or constructed English derivatives from classical roots. Dr. Johnson published his Dictionary in 1755; today, 65% of formal English comes from classical roots.

Here's how Latin derivatives were constructed:

ASSIGNMENT:

        In groups of three, each person will assume the role of a doctor or a lawyer or a professor. Each person will find 3 English derivatives made from each of the Latin roots given to your group (9 derivatives per person;) these derivatives must be associated with your professional role. As well, each person must create 3 new words for the English language (1 from each Latin root) suitable for use in your chosen profession. (Total of 12 derivatives per person: 3 roots per group)

• Group A Latin Roots: PORTA, PORTAT- carry, having been carried; CID(E), CIS- cut, kill, having (been) cut; PATI, PASS- suffer, having suffered.
• Group B Latin Roots: DUC(E), DUCT-lead, having (been) lead; DOC, DOCT- teach, having (been) taught; FER, LAT- carry, bear, having (been) carried.
• Group C Latin Roots: DIC, DICT- speak, having (been) spoken; GRAD, GRESS- step, walk, having stepped, walked; FORM(A), FORMAT- shape, having (been) shaped.
• Group D Latin Roots: FAC(E), FACT- make, having (been) made; AUDI, AUDIT- hear, having (been) heard; CRED, CREDIT- believe, trust, having (been) believed, trusted.
• Group E Latin Roots: VID(E), VIS- see, having (been) seen; AG(E), ACT- act, drive, having (been) acted, driven; MIT(T), MISS- send, having (been) sent.

JUST FOR FUN - Look up the meaning of your name on the Internet.
http://www.behindthename.com/

ENG 3A - DICTIONARY DRAMA  

Word Histories:

Dramatize the changes in usage of an interesting word such as:

Brownie                  Brown George                   slobber

            Novel                      light                                  observer

            Odd                        pitch

• Teams might hold up a sign with date on it, pantomime the action, then read the sentence exemplifying the usage.

• Teams could gain points for cleverness and humour of production, as well as for general interest of chosen word.

Multiple Meanings:

Dramatize all the different uses/meanings of a word.  Start dramatization with the most difficult meaning and proceed to simplest meaning of word.  The first team to guess the word being pantomimed wins a point.

Slug                                     buck                                  pitch

Observe                                obtuse                               kick

Octave                                  make

N.B.  Anglo-Saxon monosyllabic words usually have the most interesting histories and meanings.

Resource:  Oxford English Dictionary.   (YMCI Library - Dictionary stand)

Classical Charades:

            Hold up a sign with Latin root word:  e.g., "scribere" = "to write"

Dramatize the action of derivatives.  First team to guess a derivative gets a point.  Proceed to dramatization of next derivative; e.g., Dramatize:  

Post script                            proscribe                              manuscript

Circumscribe                         conscription                          scriptorium

Resources:  Moore, Bob and Maxine Moore.  NTC's Dictionary of Latin and Greek Origins.  Chicago:  NTC Publishing, 1997.    (YMCI Library - Reference.)

20^TH CENTURY POETRY/SHORT STORIES

Chambers Biographical Dictionary. Ed. Thorne & Collocott. Edinburgh, 1984. 920.02 CHA

Oxford Companion to Canadian Literature.  Ed. W. Toye.  Toronto, 1983.  819.03 OXF

Oxford Companion to American Literature.  Ed. J. Hart.  New York, 1965.  810.3 HAR

Oxford Companion to British Literature.  Ed. P. Harvey.  Oxford, 1967.  820.3  OXF

Bloomsbury Guide to Women’s Literature.  Ed. Claire Buck.  London, 1922.  809.89287 BLO

YMCI LIBRARY CATALOGUE:  1)  Do an Author Search to find books by your author.  2) Do a Subject Search (enter author’s last name as the subject) to find books about your author.  3)  Browse the shelves (some books will not be in the catalogue.)  4)  Browse the Poetry Anthologies (800’s) and the Short Story Anthologies (small shelves in Fiction Section)

YMCI ONLINE DATABASES:

Use the Literature Resource Centre and Extended Academic ASAP and Biography Resource Centre.

INTERNET:  

Google Search: Enter your author’s name in this excellent search engine.

http://www.google.com

The Book Wire Index has links to Author Websites and Reviews:

http://www.bookwire.com/index/book-resources.html

Voice of the Shuttle: This is the best place to begin research in almost any area of the Humanities.

http://vos.ucsb.edu/index.html

English Server at Carnegie Mellon:  links to poems, stories & resources

http://english-server.hss.cmu.edu/

Canadian Literature Archives: links to Canadian authors, hard-to-find.

http://canlit.st-john.umanitoba.ca/Canlitx/Canlit_homepage.html

American Academy of Poets:  “Find a Poet” feature is very helpful.

http://www.poets.org/

Bartleby project:  Columbia University’s online poetry resources

http://www.bartleby.com/

Online Literary Criticism:

http://www.ipl.org/ref/litcrit/

Louisiana State Literature Webliography:

http://www.lib.lsu.edu/hum/authors.html

American Studies Web:  literature links

http://www.georgetown.edu/crossroads/asw/lit.html

Jack Lynch’s Literary Resources on the Net:  academic resources & links

http://andromeda.rutgers.edu/~jlynch/Lit/

Paul Halsall’s Sourcebooks:  primary sources for understanding history.

http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/

Latin American Literature:  Try Retanet at Univ. New Mexico.

http://ladb.unm.edu/retanet/links.html

Irish Literature:  Large list of U.K. authors & links.

http://lang.nagoya-u.ac.jp/~matsuoka/UK-authors.html

Luminarium:  Luminarium’s excellent page on all things Irish.

http://www.luminarium.org/mythology/ireland/

American Writers:

http://lang.nagoya-u.ac.jp/~matsuoka/AmeLit-G.html

Japanese Writers:  Guide to Japan – incl. Literature.

http://lang.nagoya-u.ac.jp/~matsuoka/Japan.html

OTHELLO RESEARCH - YMCI LIBRARY  

Print Resources:

Reference Books

Books that may be borrowed

Check the 942's for English History and the Elizabethan World

Check 822.3's for English literary criticism of Shakespeare and his works

Check 780 for Elizabethan drama and staging

Online Databases:

On every desktop "Gale Databases -York Mills" OR        

Home Access:  http://infotrac.galegroup.com/itweb/cool_yorkmills

Literature Resource Centre: Search Shakespeare, then Othello

General Reference Centre Gold:  indexes American and international magazines

Canadian Periodical Index:  indexes Canadian magazines

Extended Academic ASAP:  indexes scholarly journals

Major Websites:

Mr. William Shakespeare and the Internet

http://shakespeare.palomar.edu/

Shakespeare for Teachers and Students

http://falcon.jmu.edu/~ramseyil/shakes.htm

Paul Halsall's Internet Modern History Sourcebook, The Early Modern World

http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/mod/modsbook03.html

Luminarium - Renaissance Literature Page, see resources

http://www.luminarium.org/renlit/

Staging Shakespeare from 1960 to the present - U. of Warwick

http://www.warwick.ac.uk/fac/arts/Theatre_S/ba/year3/shakespeare/links.html

Movie Review Query Engine - check reviews of Othello and O

http://www.mrqe.com/

Shakespeare Illustrated

http://www.emory.edu/ENGLISH/classes/Shakespeare_Illustrated/Shakespeare.html 

Sites on Shakespeare and the Renaissance - Univ. of Victoria

http://web.uvic.ca/shakespeare/Annex/ShakSites1.html

MACBETH RESEARCH - YMCI LIBRARY

• Use the same resources as for Othello Research, plus:

        Lewes Lavater's Of Ghosts and Spirits:

        http://www.netcomuk.co.uk/~iandel/ghosts.html

OAC Writer’s Craft

YMCI Library

Step 1

To find a significant event in the history of the world:

in Reference section, search for a Chronicle; for instance:                                                   

Chronicle of the 20^th Century   REF 909.82

Chronicle of the Second World War   REF 940.54

Step 2

To find background information and other events that took place in the same year as your significant event:

in Reference section, search for a Timeline; for instance:

Timelines of War   REF 902.02 BRO

The Timetables of History  REF 902.02 GRU

Step 3

To find detailed information for character development, time and place, etc., do a “subject search” in the catalogue for histories of a particular era;  for instance:

Great Artists of the Western World  REF 709.22

What Life Was Like in the Realm of Elizabeth   942.055     

Alternatively, check the Dewey numbers and browse the shelves.

Step 4

If you need more information, Toronto Public Library’s catalogue is available under START>PROGRAMS>LIBRARIES & CATALOGUES.

GOOGLE is an excellent search engine to use if you need more details and pictures.

CHECK OUT OUR HISTORICAL FICTION SHELVES!   LOOK AT GOOD EXAMPLES; e.g.,  Jean Auel, Lindsey Davis, Mary Renault.

GRAPES OF WRATH  RESEARCH

YMCI LIBRARY

PRINT RESOURCES:

Do a Subject search for Steinbeck in the Catalogue.

Browse #823 shelves for Bloom's Notes, Greenhaven Notes, 20^th Cent. Views on Steinbeck and Grapes of Wrath.

Check the "Great Writers of the Western World" in Reference for biography, criticism, and context.

Browse #973 shelves for American History.

Check the #779 (photography) shelves for Dorothea Lange's work.

Check #909 shelves for general works on the 30's.  See Reference also.

ONLINE DATABASES:

Literature Resource Centre, Extended Academic ASAP, Biography Resource Centre, General Reference Centre Gold

INTERNET:

John Steinbeck Page, by Scott Simkins, U. of So. Mississippi -

Excellent site ***** (based on Simkins' doctoral thesis)

http://ocean.otr.usm.edu/~wsimkins/steinb.html

Steinbeck's Transcendentalism:

http://ocean.otr.usm.edu/~wsimkins/trans.html

American Transcendentalism Web:

http://www.vcu.edu/engweb/transweb/

American Transcendentalism:

http://www.gonzaga.edu/faculty/campbell/enl311/amtrans.htm

Resources for English and American Literature, U. of Indiana - Online Journals

http://www.indiana.edu/~libsalc/pwillett/english-www.html#EngTop  

Center for Steinbeck Studies,  Univ. of San Jose

http://www.sjsu.edu/depts/steinbec/srchome.html

CANADIAN GEOGRAPHY

YMCI LIBRARY – RESEARCH

Where do I find Information?  

LIBRARY CATALOGUE: click the Books icon on the desktop of any computer in the Library.  Click Library Catalogue.  Do a Subject search.  Use “Canada description and travel” or “Ontario – description and travel” as your keywords.

REFERENCE BOOKS: In the History and Geography section of the Reference Shelves (#900’s), you will find the Oxford Canadian School Atlas and the Lands and Peoples Series. In EZ Reading, see Canada in the 21^st Century (one book per province.)       

INTERNET:  The best page for you to search for Canadian information is the Themes Page of the My Canada website.  Click on Canada and/or Provinces and Territories.  Available at: http://www.eagle.ca/~matink/themes.html

If you are looking for pictures for your collage, you can do a search of all the images on the Net at Altavista.  Click on “Images” under Multimedia search in the left-hand frame.  Available at: http://www.altavista.com   

ESL COUNTRY RESEARCH

For an excellent HISTORY of a country, see the Library of Congress Country Studies Page:

http://memory.loc.gov/frd/cs/cshome.html

For the most recent STATISTICS, check the CIA’s World Factbook:

http://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/