Sexual Identity in Literature: Twentieth Century Lesbian Novels
       Linda Garber (LGLG@LELAND.STANFORD.EDU) and Erin Carlston
                       Stanford University, 1988

Class Structure and Requirements:

Each class will consist of approximately two hours of discussion of
the assigned reading for the week, plus a one-hour discussion led by
 a student on a topic that provides a broader social, historical, or
literary perspective to the novels assigned in class.  The student
leading the discussion will prepare a written report of not more than
five pages and distribute it to the other students and the instructors
at the previous class meeting; all students will be expected to read
the report and come to class prepared to discuss it.  Suggested topics
appear at the end of the syllabus; bibliographies of research sources
will also be provided.

General discussion questions:

Class discussion of the assigned novels and essays, as well as student
presentations, should consider the following general questions:

1. What do we know of prevalent attitudes towards female
homosexuality at the time of the writing/publication of the novel,
and how are those attitudes reflected or challenged in this text?

2. How is lesbianism or lesbian identity characterized?  How are
femininity and masculinity characterized?

3. Does the novel/essay have an explicit political or didactic goal?  Is
it addressed to a specific audience(s)?

4. How was the novel received in the lesbian community and in
mainstream society?  Is there evidence of any influence of earlier
lesbian writing apparent in the novel?  Is it accurate or useful to talk
about a lesbian literary tradition?

Required reading and topics for discussion:

WEEK #1
        Introductions; description of methodology, content and goals of
the course; distribution of syllabus and in-class reading; presentation
by instructors on social, religious, and medical attitudes towards
female homosexuality in the years preceding the publication of The
Well of Loneliness.

WEEK #2
        Assignment of class presentation topics

        Assigned Reading: Radclyffe Hall, The Well of Loneliness
(1928)

Study Questions/Topics for Discussion:
        Based on what we learned from last week's presentation and
the supplementary reading, what are some of the factors to which we
might attribute this book's notoriety?  Consider the concepts of
"innate" and "acquired" homosexuality used in the novel.  In what
ways can we explain Stephen Gordon and/or Radclyffe Hall's
attitudes and strategies?  Keep in mind that generations of lesbians
"came out" through reading this novel.

Suggested Reading:
        Esther Newton, "The Mythic Mannish Lesbian: Radclyffe Hall
and the New Woman," Signs: the Lesbian Issue   9:4 (Summer
1984):557-75.

Class Presentation (by instructor):
        The Well of Loneliness  censorship trials

WEEK #3
Assigned Reading:  Djuna Barnes, Nightwood   (1937)

Study Questions/Topics for Discussion:
        How is the theme of inversion carried through in imagery, plot,
characterization, etc.?  How does the novel describe love in its
various forms, and what is the connection between love and power?
Note the idea of "narcissism" (identification or incorporation?).
Watch for themes and images of heredity, genealogy, mothers and
daughters, children and barrenness.

Suggested Reading:
        Elizabeth Pochoda, "Style's Hoax: a Reading of Djuna Barnes'
Nightwood,"   Twentieth Century Literature 22:2 (May 1976):179-91.

Class Presentation: Lesbian society in Paris in the 1920s and '30s.


WEEK #4
Assigned Reading:  Mary Renault, The Friendly Young Ladies   (1944)
Adrienne Rich, "Compulsory Heterosexuality and Lesbian Existence"

Study Questions/Topics for Discussion:
        How do the relationship, the behavior, and the personalities of
Leo and Helen affect Elsie's development in the course of the novel?
The nature of the relationship between Leo and Helen is never made
explicit; what are some of the effects of this omission?  What is the
role of the men in the book?  Consider the implications of reading the
end of this novel as a twist on the ending of The Well of Loneliness.
Does Renault's controversial afterword affect our reading of the text?

Class Presentation: Choice of suggested topics

WEEK #5
Assigned Reading:  Jane Rule, Desert of the Heart   (1964)
Jane Rule, Introduction to Lesbian Images   (NY: Doubleday, 1975),
pp.1-11.
Valerie Taylor, "Saturday Conversation," The Ladder   9:9 (June
1965):9-11.

Study Questions/Topics for Discussion:
        This is one of many novels to link lesbianism with
mother/daughter relationships; what related "psychological" issues
does Rule raise about Ann and Evelyn, and about lesbian identity?
Note the crucial points of ambivalence for both main characters:
what external and internal factors cause and resolve these conflicts?
Consider the character's and author's philosophical views and social
commentary (precursors to contemporary lesbian-feminist
perspectives?).

Suggested Reading:
        Marilyn R. Schuster, "Strategies for Survival: The Subtle
Subversion of Jane Rule," Feminist Studies   7 (Fall 1981):431-50.

Class Presentation:
        Pulp novels of the 1950s

WEEK #6
Assigned Reading:  May Sarton, Mrs. Stevens Hears the Mermaids
Singing  (1965)

Study Questions/Topics for Discussion:
        How does the recurrent idea of "wholeness" relate to the theme
of homosexuality in this novel?  Watch for the idea of "nurturing" as
it relates to women and men.  The novel reflects at length on the
importance of art and the nature of the artist; how are these
concerns connected to the discussion of gender differences and
sexuality?

Suggested Reading:
        Dolores Shelley, "Conversation with May Sarton," Women and
Literature  7:2 (Spring 1979):33-41.

Class Presentation:  Lesbian poetry and poets

WEEK #7

Assigned Reading:  Rita Mae Brown, Rubyfruit Jungle   (1973)

Study Questions/Topics for Discussion:
        What does it mean to grow up lesbian?  How does Molly Bolt's
story play off the English and American traditional boy's
bildungsroman (e.g., Huckleberry Finn)?  Keep in mind that Molly is
an orphan (as are many major fictional characters in American
literature); in light of this, consider the central theme of her
reconciliation with her adoptive mother.  How does social class affect
Molly's choices and decisions?  How does humor function in the novel
and in Molly's life?

Suggested Reading:
        Jeanne Cordova, book review, The Lesbian Tide  3:5
(Dec.1973):19-20.
        Linda Garber, "If Huckleberry Finn Were a Lesbian: the
'Discrepant Data' in Literature and Life Experience," paper presented
at the Third International Interdisciplinary Congress on Women, July
1987, Dublin, Ireland.

        Class Presentation: Choice of suggested topics

WEEK #8
Assigned Reading:  Ann Allen Shockley, Loving Her   (1974)

Study Questions/Topics for Discussion:
        This novel is most important for the double social boundary it
transgresses by portraying an interracial lesbian relationship.  How
does race inform the themes of lesbian love, and how does it affect
our perceptions of identity?  Keep in mind that various black lesbian
critics have written that Loving Her   was the first visible affirmation
of black lesbian identity, and that it affected black lesbians in much
the same way that The Well of Loneliness   helped lesbians to "come
out" earlier in the century.

Suggested Reading:
        Alice Walker, book review, Ms.  3:10 (April 1975):120+.
        And either: Jewelle Gomez, "A Cultural Legacy Denied and
Discovered: Black Lesbians in Fiction by Women," in ed. Barbara
Smith, Home Girls: A Black Feminist Anthology   (NY: Kitchen Table
Press, 1983, pp.110-23;
        Or: Ann Allen Shockley, "The Black Lesbian in Literature: an
Overview," in Home Girls, pp.83-93.

Class Presentation: Choice of suggested topics

WEEK #9
Assigned Reading: Audre Lorde, Zami: A New Spelling of My Name
(1982)

Study Questions/Topics for Discussion:
        According to Lorde, what does it mean to grow up lesbian,
black, and poor?  How do these identities compete or help define
each other?  Lorde calls Zami   a "biomythography"; consider the
implications of this label.  Discuss the roots of Lorde's lesbian-
feminism in West Indian culture and her relationship with her
mother, referring to Lorde's story as well as her explicit discussions
of these themes within her own text.  Discuss interracial relationships
and lesbian bar culture of the 1950s as context for the novel.

Suggested Reading (Week #9):
        Barbara Christian, "No More Buried Lives: the Theme of
Lesbianism in Audre Lorde's Zami . . . ",   in Christian, Black Feminist
Criticism: Perspectives on Black Women Writers  (NY: Pergamon
Press, 1985), pp.186-204.
        "An Interview: Audre Lorde and Adrienne Rich," in Lorde,
Sister Outsider   (Trumansburg, NY: The Crossing Press Feminist
Series, 1984), pp.81-109.
        "Revolutionary Hope: A Conversation Between James Baldwin
and Audre Lorde," Essence  15:8 (December 1984):72-4+.

        Class Presentation: Choice of suggested topics

WEEK #10
Assigned Reading:  Selected short autobiographical narratives from
anthologies by lesbians of color, older lesbians, and jewish lesbians
(in course reader)

Study Questions/Topics for Discussion:
        How are the writers of these narratives marginalized members
of a marginalized group?  How do they represent the complexity of
their experience and articulate the need to speak for their own
multiple identities?  Compare the short essay or story form to the
novel, and consider the economic and social circumstances affecting
the production of each.  How does the social and political immediacy
of these works differentiate them from the novel tradition, and/or
what do they have in common with the themes of the novels
discussed throughout the course?

Suggested Reading:
        Audre Lorde, "Age, Race, Class, and Sex: Women Redefining
Difference," in Sister Outsider,  pp.114-23.
        Elly Bulkin, "Racism and Writing: Some Implications for White
Lesbian Critics," Sinister Wisdom   13 (Spring 1980): esp. pp. 3-8;16-
19.

        Class Presentation: Choice of suggested topics

Class presentations: suggested topics (bibliographies available from
instructors; other topics must be approved in advance)
androgyny/cross-dressing
diversity and oppression within the
lesbian community
erotica
lesbians in film
lesbian society in Paris in the 1920s and '30s
lesbians in the military (esp.WWII) %
lesbian poetry and/or specific poets
lesbian publishing
pulp novels of the 1950s
literary "sub-genres": e.g., science fiction, mystery
The Daughters of Bilitis and The Ladder