In this course we will study how a variety of women authors both respond to and reshape a tradition of literature that has typically been gendered as masculine. Issues we will explore include:
In order to foster these goals, you will write a paper, take quizzes and exams, make regular postings to the electronic bulletin board, and participate in class discussions. In this class, education will not be a passive experience: I expect discussion, debate, and exchanges of ideas. This requires that you not only be present but that you be an active presence.
Email: My email address is philnel@ksu.edu. If you need help establishing an email account and learning to use email, please visit the Office of Telecommunications at 109 East Stadium or <www.telecom.ksu.edu/> to find out what you have to do. Although I do not require you to use email, I encourage you to use email as a way of touching base with me. You can write me with questions, send a thesis statement or outline for an essay, make an appointment to meet me in person, or anything else that could be handled with a quick exchange of messages. I tend to check email several times a day, but please keep in mind that I am not on-line at all times. You can access email at the various computer labs around campus: 21 Nichols Hall, 22-25 Seaton Hall, 1-1A Dickens Hall, and 325 Justin Hall and in some residence halls (visit <http://rescomp.ksu.edu/info.htm> for more details about resident hall labs).
Vindication
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August | Th 19 | Introduction. Sir Philip Sidney, sonnet 1 from Astrophil and Stella (1591); William Shakespeare, sonnet no. 18 (1609); Andrew Marvell, "To His Coy Mistress" (1681); Lady Mary Wortley Montagu, "The Lover: A Ballad" (c. 1721-25). [All passed out in class.] |
Tu 24 | Mary Wollstonecraft, Vindication of the Rights of Woman (1792) [CP] | |
Th 26 | Swift, "The Lady's Dressing Room" (1732); Lady Mary Wortley Montagu, "The Reasons that Induced Dr. S. to write a Poem called 'The Lady's Dressing Room'" (1734); Gilbert and Gubar, Madwoman in the Attic (1979), Ch. 1 [all CP] | |
Tu 31 | Virginia Woolf, A Room of One's Own (1929); Adrienne Rich, "When We Dead Awaken: Writing as Revision" (1971) [both CP]. | |
Coming of Age
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September | Th 2 | L.M. Montgomery, Anne of Green Gables (1908), through Chapter 15. |
Tu 7 | Montgomery, Anne of Green Gables, through Chapter 26 | |
Th 9 | Montgomery, Anne of Green Gables, to end. | |
Tu 14 | Gish Jen, Mona in the Promised Land (1996), through Chapter 8 (p. 165). | |
Th 16 | Jen, Mona in the Promised Land, to end. | |
Tu 21 | Julia Alvarez, How the Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents (1991), to p. 149. | |
Th 23 | Alvarez, How the Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents, to end. | |
War
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Tu 28 | Margaret Atwood, Handmaid's Tale (1985), through Part VII (p. 106). | |
Th 30 | Atwood, Handmaid's Tale, through Part XI (p. 195) | |
October | Tu 5 | Atwood, Handmaid's Tale, to end. |
Th 7 | Marjane Satrapi, Persepolis (2003). | |
Tu 12 | University Holiday | |
Th 14 | Jane Yolen, Briar Rose (1992), through Ch. 19 (p. 106). | |
Tu 19 | Yolen, Briar Rose, to end. | |
Th 21 | Midterm Exam. Click on this sentence to see the exam format. If interested, consider taking The Vark Questionnaire to see how you learn. | |
Identity and the Body
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Tu 26 | Laurie Halse Anderson, Speak (1999), to end. | |
Th 28 | Anderson, Speak | |
November | Tu 2 | Francesca Lia Block, Weetzie Bat (1989). |
Th 5 | Jeanette Winterson, Written on the Body (1992), to p. 96. | |
Tu 9 | Winterson, Written on the Body, to end. | |
Community
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Th 11 | Jan Eliot, Stone Soup: The Comic Strip (2001). | |
Tu 16 | Gloria Naylor, Mama Day (1988), to p. 107. | |
Th 18 | Naylor, Mama Day, to p. 217. | |
Tu 23 | Naylor, Mama Day, to end. | |
Th 25 | Thanksgiving: University Holiday. | |
Tu 30 | J. K. Rowling, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban(1999), through Chapter 8 (p. 161). | |
December | Th 2 | Rowling, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, through Chapter 14 (p. 290). |
Tu 7 | Rowling, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, to end. Paper DUE in class. | |
Th 9 | Conclusion and Review. | |
Th 16 | Final Exam, 9:40 to 11:30 a.m. You must take the final exam on the day and at the time scheduled. NO EXCEPTIONS. MARK YOUR CALENDARS. |
Recommended Resources |
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Required Texts | Objectives | Grading | Requirements | Bulletin Board | Schedule of Assignments | Recommended Resources |
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