| SES # | TOPICS | KEY DATES |
|---|---|---|
| Week 1: Introduction - What's So Funny? | ||
| 1-2 | General introduction; basic vocabulary; course structure | Close Reading 1 due two days after Session 2 |
| Week 2: Old Comedy | ||
| 3-4 | Aristophanes, Lysistrata; Spike Lee, Chi-Raq | Close Reading 2 due Session 4 |
| Week 3: Plautus & Shakespeare | ||
| 5-6 | Plautus, Menaechmi; Shakespeare, The Comedy of Errors | Draft of Essay 1 due Session 6 |
| Week 4: Shakespeare cont. | ||
| 7-8 | The Comedy of Errors and Twelfth Night | Close Reading 3 & Revision of first paragraph in draft of Essay 1 both due Session 8 |
| Week 5: Spanish Classics | ||
| 9-10 | Miguel de Cervantes, Don Quixote of La Mancha | Final version of Essay 1 due Session 10 |
| Week 6: Spanish Classics cont. | ||
| 11-12 | Don Quixote of La Mancha | Close Reading 4 due Session 12 |
| Week 7: Early Women Humor | ||
| 13-14 | Charlotte Lennox, The Female Quixote |
Close Reading 5 due Session 13 Draft of Essay 2 due Session 14 |
| Week 8: American Humor | ||
| 15-16 | Mark Twain, Adventures of Huckleberry Finn | Close Reading 6 due Session 15 |
| Week 9: American Humor cont. | ||
| 17-18 | James McBride, The Good Lord Bird | Final version of Essay 2 due Session 18 |
| Week 10: Women & Comedy | ||
| 19-20 | Tina Fey | Close Reading 7 due Session 19 |
| Week 11: Comic Memoir | ||
| 21 | Tina Fey & David Sedaris | Close Reading 8 due Session 21 |
| Week 12: Graphic Novels | ||
| 22-23 | John Leguizamo, Ghetto Klown | Draft of Essay 3 due Session 22 |
| Week 13: Gendering the Joke | ||
| 24-25 | Watch: To Wong Foo, Thanks for Everything! Julie Newmar; Alison Bechdel, Fun Home | Close Reading 9 due Session 24 |
| Week 14: She's the Man | ||
| 26-27 | Event: "She's the Man: A Drag Queen Performance" by Miss Shuga Cain. Funded by MIT's De Florez Fund for Humor. |
Close Reading 10 due Session 26 Final version of Essay 3 due the day after Session 27 |