Course description
This course examines a selection of women’s writing in any genre(s), chosen to highlight an organizing theoretical, historical, national or thematic focus. Readings will include theory/criticism, and will introduce students to a range of feminist perspectives on literature.
Course content
All third-year English courses share the following features:
- Students are presumed to have had first-year level instruction and experience in writing critical essays on literary subjects.
- Students are required to read in the course subject area beyond the texts assigned by the instructor.
- Students are required to incorporate into their oral and written coursework secondary source materials which may include biographical information, literary criticism or theory, unassigned texts by the author under study, relevant cultural or intellectual history, or other aesthetic works such as music or visual art.
Readings and topics vary with each instructor’s presentation of a course, but all course materials are consistent with the objectives and outcomes for this course.
Additionally, in English 3170
- Students will read a selection of literary texts by women, as well as some theoretical/critical material relevant to the particular theme or focus.
- Areas of concentration and course content will vary with the instructor, and may include but are not limited to: explorations of domestic space or the domestic novel; gothic, romantic or other literary traditions; theories of sexual difference/ writing the body; French feminism; queer theory and lesbian literature; (post)colonial voices and issues; Black feminist criticism; utopias and/ or dystopias; feminism and socialist, linguistic, poststructural or other theoretical perspectives.
Learning activities
Some or all of the following methods will be used:
- lecture/discussion;
- group work;
- peer review;
- independent research;
- instructor feedback on students’ work;
- individual consultation; and
- presentation (individual or group).
Learning outcomes
Upon completion of any third-year English literature course, students should be able to
- read and analyze literary texts with increased skill and insight;
- integrate their understanding of literature into an evolving awareness of relevant cultural and historical contexts and perspectives;
- perceive connections among literary texts across genres, historical periods, and/or cultural contexts;
- conduct independent research to supplement the course material and integrate this information into course assignments; and
- write different kinds of literary analyses, such as thematic, technical, or theoretical.
Upon completion of English 3170, students should also have
- developed an understanding and appreciation of the historical development of women’s writing, primarily in English;
- developed an understanding of some of the social, political, cultural or historical conditions out of which women’s writing arises, and to which it responds;
- developed an understanding of the range of feminist perspectives on and critical approaches to gender issues and women’s writing; and
- developed an appreciation of the range of the particular experiences and issues as reflected in women’s writing, such as the impact and intersections of gender, sexuality, race and class in women’s lives.
Textbook materials
Texts will vary with authors and genres selected by the instructor, and may include shorter readings compiled in custom course packs.
The following reading lists represent two possible versions of this course.
Emerging Feminist Consciousness in the Twentieth-Century Novel
- Rhys, Jean. Wide Sargasso Sea
- Woolf, Virginia. Mrs. Dalloway
- Laurence, Margaret. The Diviners
- Walker, Alice. The Color Purple
- Marlatt, Daphne. Ana Historic
- Gilbert, Sandra M. and Susan Gubar. Feminist Literary Theory and Criticism
Feminisms/ Womanisms: Black Women’s Writing
- Prince, Mary. "The History of Mary Prince, a West Indian Slave (Related by Her Self)"
- Truth, Sojourner. Narrative of Sojourner Truth
- Morrison, Toni. A Mercy
- Hansberry, Lorraine. A Raisin in the Sun
- Shange, Ntozake. for colored girls who have considered suicide when the rainbow is enuf
- Sapphire. Push
- Smith, Barbara. "Toward a Black Feminist Criticism"
And a course pack of selected readings from:
- hooks, bell. Ain’t I a Woman? Black Women and Feminism
- Walker, Alice. In Search of Our Mother’s Gardens
- Lorde, Audre. Sister Outsider
- Collins, Patricia. Black Feminist Thought: Knowledge, Consciousness, and the Politics of Empowerment