LITERATURE 170--WOMEN AND COMEDY
Claremont McKenna College, Spring 1995

Professor Audrey Bilger
abilger@benson.mckenna.edu


TEXTS:    Regina Barreca, They Used to Call Me Snow White
          Aphra Behn, The Rover
          Charlotte Lennox, The Female Quixote
          Jane Austen, Pride and Prejudice
          Walker & Dresner, Eds., Redressing the Balance
          Virginia Woolf, Orlando
          Fay Weldon, The Life and Loves of a She-Devil


COURSE OBJECTIVES: Because of the stereotype about female
humorlessness and other myths about femininity, women's humor and
comedy has until recently received little attention.  This course
will explore three centuries of British and American women's
comic expression, attending to the pressures that humorous women
have worked against and paying particular attention to how women
have enlisted comedy in the service of feminism.  Our primary
readings (and viewings) will cover a wide range of topics, and
recent critical essays will help us investigate theoretical
perspectives on women's comedy.  The class will be conducted
primarily by discussion with introductory lectures as needed.  


READING JOURNALS: 1-2 pages of journal entries will be required
for each class and should be completed by the beginning of the
class period.  Journals should record your active engagement with
the readings: e.g., questions, interpretations, connections
between works, ideas for papers.  Your journal entries will
prepare you for class discussions and will provide you with an
informal forum for working out issues that might serve as the
basis for further writing and research.  I will collect these
journals at regular intervals during the semester and will
provide feedback on your ideas.  At the end of the semester, I
will collect the entire journal and assign a grade for the total
effort.


ESSAYS: You will write two essays for this course.  The first of
these--a 5-page paper--will deal with any of the texts that we
cover before Spring Break and will examine one aspect of an
author's comic expression.  This essay might, for example,
consider the source of a writer's comedy or look at how she uses
language games or elements of satire or parody.  As your final
project for the semester, you will write a 10-12 page essay that
incorporates comic theory and research on the author(s). 
Guidelines for this paper and a list of possible topics will be
distributed.


ATTENDANCE: Since class participation is an important part of the
course, more than two unexcused absences will hurt your final
grade.  If you are ill or have another valid reason for missing
class, you may call my office and leave a message asking for an
excused absence.


GRADES:        Reading Journal                    25%
               Class Participation                20%
               5-Page Essay                       20%
               10-12 Page Essay                   35%


                          SCHEDULE OF ASSIGNMENTS

January

     17   Introduction

I. Setting the Stage: Feminism and Comedy

     19   Photocopies:
          --bell hooks, "Feminism: A Movement to End Sexist  
          Oppression"
          --definitions of "Feminism" from Amazons,
          Bluestockings, and Crones: A Feminist Dictionary
          --Frances Gray, "Theoretical Perspectives" (from Women
          and Laughter)

     24   They Used to Call Me Snow White, Chs. 1-4

     26   Snow White, Chs. 5-8
          TURN IN READING JOURNAL

II. Early British Women Writers

     31   The Rover, Acts 1-2

February

      2   Rover, Acts 3-5

      7   The Female Quixote, pp. 1-138

      9   FQ, pp. 139-254

     14   FQ, pp. 255-383

     16   Pride and Prejudice Chs. 1-17
          TURN IN READING JOURNAL

     21   PP, Chs. 18-41

     23   PP, Chs. 42-55

III. American Women Writers

     28   Redressing the Balance, Introduction, Selections by
          Judith Sargent Murray, Tabitha Gilman Tenny, and Fanny
          Fern (Sara Willis Parton)

March

      2   Redressing, Selections by Frances Miriam Berry
          Whitcher, Marrietta Holley, and Louisa May Alcott

      7   Redressing, Selections by Josephine Dodge Daskan Bacon
          and Anne Richmond Warner French

      9   Redressing, Selections by Charlotte Perkins Gilman,
          Mary Roberts Rinehart, and Alice Duer Miller
          5-PAGE ESSAY DUE

SPRING BREAK

IV. Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?

     21   Orlando, Chs. 1-2

     23   Orlando, Chs. 3-4
          TURN IN READING JOURNAL

     28   Orlando, Chs. 5-6

     30   Film Screening of Orlando

V. Humor from the Trenches

April

      4   Dorothy Parker, selections in Redressing plus
          additional stories (photocopy)

      6   Zita Zatkin Dresner, "Domestic Comic Writers"
          (photocopy); Redressing, Selections by Betty MacDonald,
          Peg Bracken, and Erma Bombeck

     11   Nancy Walker, "The Humor of the 'Minority'"
          (photocopy); Redressing, Selections by Zora Neale
          Hurston, Gwendolyn Brooks, Toni Cade Bambara, and Nikki
          Giovanni

     13   Julia P. Stanley and Susan W. Robbins, "Humor and
          Bonding Among Lesbians" (photocopy); Redressing,
          Selection by Gail Sausser plus additional selections of
          lesbian humor (photocopy)
          TURN IN READING JOURNAL

VI. Late 20th-Century Laughter

     18   Life and Loves of a She-Devil, Chs. 1-22

     20   Life and Loves of a She-Devil, Chs. 23-34

Note: We will also view the film She-Devil--details TBA

     25   Photocopies:
          --Sian Mile, "Roseanne Barr: Canned Laughter--
          Containing the Subject"
          --Zita Z. Dresner, "Whoopi Goldberg and Lily Tomlin:
          Black and White Women's Humor"
          --Linda Pershing, "There's a Joker in the Menstrual
          Hut: A Performance Analysis of Comedian Kate Clinton"
          Video Viewing: Women Stand-up Comics

     27    More Video Viewing.  Possible readings--TBA

May

      2   Conclusion

      5   10-12 PAGE ESSAY DUE
          & COMPLETE READING JOURNAL