Fall 2004

E 314L • Reading Women Writers

Course Description

COURSE CANCELLED

This course is designed to prepare students for the English major by reading women's texts. Hence, you will learn conventions of reading, writing, researching and documentation specific to the field of English literature. Attention will be given to the relation between gender and categories of race, class, and sexuality, as well as to the role of women's writing in histories of colonialism, decolonization, and the building of national cultures. Particular attention will be placed on how women writers construct notions of family and identity, often in response to crisis. Discussion will play an integral role in the course.

Grading Policy

Oral Reports/Context Presentations 10%
Response Papers (3 at 2-4 pages each) 25%
Quizzes 10%
Midterm Essay (5-7 pages) 20%
Final Research Paper (8-10 pages) 25%
Enthusiastic class participation & discussion 10%

Papers are due in class no later than the date listed on the syllabus. Late papers will be penalized at a rate of one letter grade per class meeting. The first fifteen minutes of several classes will be devoted to oral reports made by students on background information that will help inform our reading of the texts or on significant textual issues that the presenter finds interesting.

Texts

Harriet Jacobs, Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl
Mary Shelley, Frankenstein
Toni Morrison, Beloved
Octavia Butler, Dawn
Dorothy Allison, Bastard Out of Carolina
Barbara Kingsolver, The Bean Trees
Course packet of supplementary material

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