Fall 2009

PRS 361 • SELF-REVELATION IN WOMEN'S WRITING

Course Description

Two of the most vital literary traditions in world literature are Persian lyric poetry and American prose fiction. This course deals with one prominent figure in each, the Iranian lyric poet, Forugh Farrokhzad (1934-1967) and the American fiction writer, Zora Neale Hurston (1891-1960). The rationale for the comparative pairing and study of these two writers and their works has to do, first, with their relationaship to the literary traditions in which they wrote, second, with their shared points of view , focus, and subject matter in writing, and third, their use of prose fiction and lyric poetry, respectively, as vehicles for self-revelation and self-realization. Such self-revelation hs particular significance in both because of its cultural unexpectedness in theirs respective tradtions and because of consequent mainstream reaction to it.

Grading Policy

Class participation 10% Four essays (4-5 pgs) 10%/each Two review tests 25% each

Texts

Photocopied materials and 6 paperbacks: Dust Tracks on a Road, Jonah's Gourd Vine, Seraph on the Suwanee, Their Eyes Were Watching God, How to Suppress Women's Writing, and A Lonely Woman: Forugh Farrokhzad and Her Poetry.

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