9:30a-10:45a TR (70) 3 cr.
This course surveys literary women’s achievements in English over
three centuries. Starting
with the eighteenth-century verse of Anne Bradstreet and Anne Finch
and ending with the
contemporary fiction of Angela Carter and Toni Morrison, we will
consider the coherence of a
female literary tradition unified by certain crucial concerns. Why
and how do women writers
approach the anxiety authorship and authority instill, the gendering
of private and public
domains, the feminization of poverty, the battle between the sexes,
the meanings of
maternity? However, we will also explore differences among women that
mark distinctive
aesthetic conventions. How do literary women present dissonant
visions of their sexual
orientations, ethnic or racial identifications, and geopolitical
allegiances?
This means we will cover a great deal of writing–short stories,
novels, poetry, drama,
essays–composed in the United Kingdom, America, Canada, and other
English-speaking regions.
Students will be asked to complete the required reading before the
lecture and to bring
their books to class. Classes will consist of lecture as well as
discussions and
participation will be expected. All of the readings will come from
the Norton Anthology
of Literature by Women (second edition). There will be two
required papers as well as a
midterm and a final.