EH 418 Women Writers Winter 1991 Dr. Rose Norman Office: Morton Hall 232H; Phone 205/895-6320 E-mail: rnorman@asnuah.asn.net (Internet) rnorman@uahvax1 (Bitnet) University of Alabama in Huntsville, Huntsville, AL 35899 Office Hours: drop-in hours MWF, 9:30-10:30 a.m.; MW 1:30-3:30 p.m. [NOTE: This syllabus is for a 10-week course that met three times a week for an hour and 15 minutes each time.] Textbook: Norton Anthology of Literature by Women, ed. Sandra M. Gilbert and Susan Gubar (1984) Outside Reading Each student reads one novel from this list and develops a research paper linking the novel to one or more readings from the textbook. (Further requirements later. With permission, students may elect to substitute outside reading on Medieval or Renaissance women writers.) Charlotte Bronte, Villette (1853) Emily Bronte, Wuthering Heights (1847) Zora Neale Hurston, Their Eyes Were Watching God (1937) Rachel Ingalls, Binstead's Safari (1983) Toni Morrison, Sula (1973) Edith Wharton, The House of Mirth (1905) Course Objectives 1. To orient students to English-speaking women writers in literary history. 2. To develop critical awareness of feminist issues in literature. 3. To explore literary traditions in writings by women. Course Requirements and Grade Determination Midterm exam 30% Final exam 30% Term paper 20% Coordinator day 10% (Each student is responsible for coordinating one class discussion; 30 minutes) Miscellaneous 10% (includes attendance, term paper proposal, and weekly Q-cards) Course Policies 1. Regular attendance is required; more than three absences will reduce your grade. 2. Q-cards are question cards, questions about or responses to assignments, or striking quotations from the assigned reading. They are due every Wednesday. Use 3x5 cards only. 3. Late papers will be penalized 10% (one letter grade) and must be turned in within five days of the deadline. Summary of Major Deadlines January 21 & 23- The Awakening February 1 - Term Paper Proposal and Preliminary Bibliography February 4,6,8 Jane Eyre February 11 (Monday) - Midterm Exam February 20 & 22 - The Bluest Eye March 2 (Saturday, noon) Term Paper Due (note late penalty) March 16 (Saturday, 12:30-3) - Final Exam WEEK 1: "My Sisters, O My Sisters": Seeking a Female Tradition "Alas! a woman that attempts the pen Such an intruder on the rights of men, Such a presumptuous creature is esteemed, The fault can by no virtue be redeemed." Anne Finch, "Introduction" (1689?) Jan 4 Introduction to course; definitions of feminism Women writers on women writers: May Sarton, "My Sisters, O My Sisters" (p. 1772) Amy Lowell, "The Sisters" (p. 1300) Barrett Browning "To George Sand" (2 poems pp. 263-264) Dickinson #312 and #593 (on Barrett Browning pp. 847, 854) Rich, "I am in Danger--Sir" (on Dickinson, p. 2029) Jan 7 NAWL Background reading: Middle Ages and Renaissance, pp. 1-15. (Finish discussion of poems by women writers about women writers) Julian of Norwich (pp. 15-20) Elizabeth I (pp. 28-30) Mary Sidney Herbert, Countess of Pembroke (pp. 31-35) Virginia Woolf, "Shakespeare's Sister" (pp. 1376-83) Jan 9 Q-cards today; **Sign up for Coordinator days. Anne Bradstreet (pp. 58-72) Katherine Philips (pp. 81-82) Mary Astell, Serious Proposal (re education, pp. 113-17) Lady Mary Wortley Montagu, letter to her daughter, Countess of Bute (pp. 117-22) Jan 11 Aphra Behn (pp. 87-94) Anne Killigrew (p. 96) Anne Finch (pp. 99-105) WEEKS 2-3 "Not in God's Image": Responses to Misogyny and Myths of Femaleness ". . . but separately, as helpmate, the woman herself alone is not the image of God; whereas the man alone is the image of God as fully and completely as when the woman is joined with him" (St. Augustine, On the Holy Trinity, 5th century) Jan 14 NAWL Background reading on images of women (pp. 50-53) Amelia Lanier - "Eve's Apology" (p. 36) Margaret Cavendish, "Female Orations" (pp. 73-76) Christina Rossetti, "Eve" (p. 899) Stevie Smith, "How Cruel is the Story of Eve" (p. 1684) Judith Wright, "Eve to Her Daughters" (pp. 1833-35) Jan 16 H.D., "Eurydice" (p. 1462); Q-cards today Rich, "Diving into the Wreck" (p. 2032) Freeman, "Old Woman Magoun" (pp. 1104-1119) Jan 18 Christina Rossetti, "In an Artist's Studio" (p. 899) Willa Cather, "Coming, Aphrodite!" (pp. 1258-90) Jan 21 Kate Chopin, The Awakening (pp. 991-1102) Jan 23 Chopin (discussion continued) Q-cards today Handouts about term paper Weeks 4-5, A Golden Age of Women's Literature: Major Nineteenth Century Writers Jan 25 NAWL Background Reading, pp. 177-86 (Revolution through Golden Age) Barrett Browning, from Aurora Leigh (pp. 277-87) Jan 28 Emily Dickinson (pp. 839-73) Suggested Outside Reading for Coordinators: "Vesuvius at Home" by Adrienne Rich Jan 30 Dickinson (continued) Q-cards today Feb. 1 Discussion of proposed term paper topics Term paper proposal and bibliography due today Use MLA style for bibliography. List the chosen novel, the other textbook readings chosen, and whatever secondary material your preliminary library research has turned up. Secondary research may concern the topic generally, or specific authors Feb 4 Charlotte Bronte, Jane Eyre (pp. 347-735); finish through Chap. XXII (347-558) Feb 6 Jane Eyre (continued; finish text by today) Q-cards today Feb 8 Jane Eyre (concluded); Suggested Outside Reading for Coordinators: Gilbert, Sandra M., and Susan Gubar, "A Dialogue of Self and Soul: Plain Jane's Progress," from The Madwoman in the Attic Suggested 3-part Division for class discussion: Gateshead/Lowood Childhood: Chap. 1-10 Thornfield: Chap. 11-27 Marsh House/Morton/Ferndean: Chap. 28-38 Monday, Feb. 11 Midterm Examination WEEKS 6-7 Black Women Writers: A Separate Tradition? Feb 13 Alice Walker, "In Search of Our Mother's Gardens" (pp. 2374-82) Phyllis Wheatley (18th century poet; pp. 132-35) Frances E.W. Harper (19th c. poet and fiction writer; pp. 820-34) Contemporary poets: Gwendolyn Brooks (pp. 1852-61) Audre Lorde (pp. 2249-55) Lucille Clifton (pp. 2255-58) Feb 15 Rebecca Cox Jackson (19th century mystic; pp. 232-37) Q-cards today "Linda Brent" (pseud. for Harriet Jacobs, 19th c. autobiographer; pp. 752-58) Harriet E. Adams Wilson (first Afro-American novelist; pp. 834-39) Maya Angelou (contemporary autobiographer; pp. 2001-2007) Feb 18 Zora Neale Hurston (pp. 1637-53) Alice Walker, "Everyday Use" (pp. 2366-74) Toni Cade Bambara, "My Man Bovanne" (pp. 2307-12) Feb 20 Toni Morrison, The Bluest Eye (pp. 2067-2184) Q-cards today Feb 22 Bluest Eye (discussion continued) WEEKS 8-9, Political Writings, Social Issues Feb 25 NAWL Background Reading: pp. 1215, 1220-22, 1225-33, and 1239-42 Mary Wollstonecraft, from Vindication (135-151) Sojourner Truth (pp. 252-256, including "Ain't I a Woman?") Lorraine Hansberry, "In Defense of the Equality of Men" (2056-68) Feb 27 Isak Dinesen, "The Blank Page" (pp. 1416-23) Q-cards today Joanna Russ, "When It Changed" (pp. 2261-69) Mar 1 Anne Sexton, "Housewife" (p. 1993) Adrienne Rich, "Aunt Jennifer's Tigers" (p. 2025) Margaret Atwood, "This is a Photograph of Me" (p. 2292) and "Spelling" (p. 2298) Maxine Hong Kingston, "No Name Woman" (pp. 2337-47) Term Paper Due Saturday, March 2, by noon NOTE: 10% penalty for late papers Mar 4 Virginia Woolf, "Professions for Women" (pp. 1383-88) Adrienne Rich, "When We Dead Awaken" (pp. 2044-56) Mar 6 Mary Elizabeth Coleridge, "The Other Side of a Mirror" (pp. 1162-63); Q-cards today Charlotte Gilman Perkins, "The Yellow Wallpaper" (pp. 1146-60) March 8 Susan Glaspell, Trifles (a one-act play; pp. 1388-99) Class selects reading assignments for next Monday and Wednesday. WEEK 10 March 11 Readings TBA. [They selected mainly modern short fiction by writers we hadn't read: Nadine Gordimer, Angela Carter, Grace Paley, Flannery O'Connor, and others] March 13 Readings TBA. SIE's. Final exam review. Q-cards today FINAL EXAMINATION, Saturday, March 16, 12:30-3:00 p.m. ************** Suggested Unassigned Writers for Week 10 Poetry Denise Levertov (pp. 1941-1955) Margaret Walker (pp. 1824-29) Sylvia Plath (pp. 2193-2217) Fiction Grace Paley, "Enormous Changes at the Last Minute" (pp. 1918-30) Nadine Gordimer, "Town and Country Lovers" (pp. 1931-1941) Joyce Carol Oates, "Where Are You Going,Where Have You Been?"(2276-2291) Margaret Drabble, "A Voyage to Cythera" (2313-2325) Angela Carter, "The Company of Wolves" (2326-34)