Spring 2010

WGS 340 • ARENDT AND DE BEAUVOIR-W

Course Description

What does it mean to be a woman and an intellectual? This course focuses on major works by two women who helped define the field in the mid-twentieth century, the French writer Simone de Beauvoir and the German-Jewish-American Hannah Arendt. We will consider their works from a variety of perspectives. To what extent are the preoccupations of these women intellectuals defined by gender? Do they define the relationship or relationships between public and private in ways that differ from many male writers? How do the lives shape the works? What kind of stories do they tell? We will also consider the different contexts of the two writers, as well as some recent perspectives on the nature and origins of "intellectuals."

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