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Texts:
Gilbert and Gubar, eds. The Norton Anthology of Literature by Women
Willa Cather, The Song of the Lark
Linda Hogan, Solar Storms
Isabel Allende, Eva Luna
Audre Lorde, Sister Outsider
Lydia Davis, Break it Down
Course Description:
Because the topic "Women in Literature" is so vast, this course can take any number of different forms, with different sets of texts. For the current semester, Women in Literature will concentrate on several themes -- among them, the act of writing or story-telling, or other forms of art; and additionally, themes of resistance to oppression, and ecofeminism (a feminist perspective on our relationship to nature and the environment).
We will begin with some of the great writers of the past, including the Bronte sisters, Emily Dickinson, Gertrude Stein, and Willa Cather. Cather's Song of the Lark is about a rural Colorado woman who fulfills her ambition to become an opera singer, and its treatment of gender issues, women's self-empowerment, and our relationship to nature, will lead us to some of the other themes of the course. Linda Hogan's Solar Storms explores women's empowerment through mutual support, resistance to oppression, and the great environmental battle between Native American people and the power company over the James Bay power project in Canada. In the works of Isabel Allende, Toni Morrison, and Audre Lorde, we will further explore ways in which gender, race, class, or other circumstances have forced women to the margins, and their strategies for resistance or change -- both in individual relationships and in larger social systems.
The course will be taught with a combination of lecture and class discussion, with students expected to contribute freely and thoughtfully to discussion, with respect for one another, and an interest in exploring ideas. This class should be rewarding for women and men both, and all are welcome. During the semester there will be several presentations and lectures of relevance to our class, with attendance required (except for those who have conflicts with another class): On September 17, Connie Clark will give a one-woman show on Emily Dickinson at Hartwick College, and will also make a personal appearance at our class. On October 1, Lydia Davis will give a reading of her short fiction at 8:00 pm in the Craven Lounge of Morris Hall. She will also be speaking at 4:00 pm, with members of the Women in Literature class and the Introduction to Creative Writing class. Poet Janine Pommy-Vega will read on December 8, at 8:00 pm, in the Alumni Hall Theatre.
Course Requirements:
Midterm, a five-to-seven page paper, a final exam, and assigned student reports on selected individual or group topics (separate assignment sheets will be provided for the paper and the independent project). There will also be occasional impromptu writing assignments (in lieu of quizzes). Attendance and class will affect grade. Poor attendance will affect grade adversely. Grade for the course is based on a summation of performance on all written assignments and tests, as well as attendance and quality of class participation.