ENGL 453 Syllabus
453 Description | 453 Requirements
Please Note: Unless otherwise indicated on the syllabus, you will have a set of two focus questions on the assigned reading due at the beginning of every class period. Focus questions must be typed.
8/24 Introduction and
Expectations
Female Literary Traditions
Viewing of Video: A Room of One's Own
8/26 Feminist Criticism and
Reading Women's Texts
Woolf, A Room of One’s Own, Chapters One and Two. Be sure you read the unabridged text, not just the excerpt in the Norton Anthology of Literature by Women.
Sandra Gilbert, "What do Feminist Critics Want?" (Handout)
8/31 Breaking the Silence: Virginia Woolf and a Theory of Women’s Writing
Woolf, A Room of One's Own, Chapters Three through Six (the end of the book)
Elaine Showalter, from “Feminist Criticism in the Wilderness” (Handout)
9/2 Gender-Coded Writing
Charlotte Gilman Perkins, "The Yellow Wallpaper," NALW, 1133-144
Glaspell, Susan, "Trifles," NALW, 1351-1360
Annette Kolodny, "A Map for Rereading," (Handout)
9/7 Women's Polemics as
Critique of Social Institutions: The
Infantilization of Women, the “Master’s House” and the “Angel in the
House"
Mary Wollstonecraft, from A Vindication of the Rights of Women, NALW, 255-273
Sojourner Truth (1797-1883): "Ain't I a Woman," "What Time of Night It Is," "Keep the Thing Going while Things are Stirring," NALW, 369-372.
Virginia Woolf, "Professions for Women," NALW, 1345-1348
9/9 The Female Bildungsroman: Charlotte Bronte, Jane Eyre, NALW, 472-574
9/14 Jane Eyre, 575-694
9/16 Jane
Eyre, 694-784
9/21 African-American Captivity
Narrative as Critique of Social Institutions: Black Female Bildung as
Liberty
Harriet Jacobs (1813-1897) Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl,
Preface - Chapter XVII ("The Flight"). Be sure you read the entire unabridged version of the text,
not just the excerpts in NALW.
9/23 Jacobs, Incidents, Chapters XVIII - XXX ("Months of Peril" - "Northward Bound")
Discussion of Mid-Term Essay and Activity
9/28 Wrap-up on Incidents, Chapters XXXI - XLI ("Incidents in Philadelphia” - "Free at Last")
Begin discussion of Kate Chopin, TheAwakening OR Denise Giardina, TheUnquiet Earth. Bring text to class and have read Chapters I - XI of The Awakening or the first 50 pages of Unquiet Earth.
Please Note: Your focus questions should deal only with Incidents. You do not need focus questions on Chopin or
Giardina today.
9/30 American Women Writers, Female Desire, and the "Politics of
Place": Kate Chopin and Denise
Giardina
Kate Chopin (1850 - 1904), The Awakening, Chapter XII - Chapter XXVIII OR Denise Giardina (1951 - ), The Unquiet Earth, Books One and Two
Please Note : Your focus questions should take into
consideration the whole text up to the pages required for today.
Possible Question for Mid-Term Activity and Essay Due.
10/5 Wrap-up on The Awakening, Chapter XXIX - XXXIX OR The Unquiet Earth, Books Three & Four
Begin discussion of Woolf, To the Lighthouse. Bring text to class.
Note: Focus Questions should deal with Chopin or Giardina, not Woolf.
Distribution of all possible questions generated by the class for mid-term activity. You may choose any one of these or design another for your mid-term activity.
10/7 Modernism, Feminism and the
Novel: Portrait of the Artist as a Young (Wo)man
Virginia Woolf (1882-1941), To the Lighthouse. Section One, “The Window”
10/12 Lighthouse. Section Two, “Time Passes”
10/14 Lighthouse. Section Three, “The Lighthouse”
10/19 Mid-Term Activity: Analytic Notes, Two-Page Essay, and Oral
Presentation Due. Attendance
Required.
10/21 Sexuality, Social Class and
the Lesbian Coming of Age Novel:
(Re)Visions of Sexual Identity
Jeanette Winterson (1954 - ), Oranges
Are Not the Only Fruit OR Dorothy Allison (1948 - ), Bastard Out of
Carolina
Oranges, "Genesis," "Exodus," and "Leviticus" OR Bastard, Chapter 1 up to and including all of Chapter 7 (pp. 1-103)
10/26 Oranges, "Numbers" and "Deuteronomy" OR Bastard Out of Carolina, Chapter 8 up to and including all of Chapter 13 (pp. 104-203)
10/28 Oranges, "Joshua," "Judges," and "Ruth," OR Bastard Out of Carolina, Chapters 15 up to and including the last chapter (pp. 205-309).
11/2 The Harlem Renaissance,
Modernism, and Feminism: (Re)Visions of
Race, Gender and Class
Zora Neale Hurston (1891 - 1960), Their Eyes Were Watching God, Chapter 1 up to and including all of Chapter 6
11/4 Their Eyes, Chapters 7 up to and including all of Chapter 13
Discussion of Final Essay and Activity
11/9 Their Eyes, Chapters 14 through the last chapter
11/11 Exorcising the Ghosts of the Past in the Name of Justice: Toni Morrison and Black Women Writers
Toni Morrison (1931 - ), Beloved, pp. 1-117.
11/16 Beloved, pp. 118-165.
11/18 Beloved, pp.170-275.
11/30 Chicana Writers: Hybridity/Migratory Subjectivity as
Resistance to Colonialism
Gloria Anzaldua (1942 - ), "Tlilli, Tlapalli/The Path of the Red and Black Ink" from Borderlands/La Frontera, NALW, 2271 - 2280; "Entering into the Serpent," and "How to Tame a Savage Tongue," from Borderlands/La Frontera" (Handouts)
Lorna Dee Cervantes (1954 - ), "Cannery Town in August," "For Virginia Chavez," "Emplumada," "On Touring Her Hometown," "Y Volver," NALW, 2348 - 2353.
12/2 (Re)Visions of Race, Class,
Gender and Colonialism: Native American Women Writers
Louise Erdrich (1954 - ), Tracks, pp. 1-61
12/7 Tracks, 62-end.
12/9 Final Essay and Oral
Presentation Due. Attendance
Required.
Final Exam:
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