History of Literature by Women

History of Literature by Women English 260.01 11:00-12:15 TR STV 233 B Fall 2011

Professor: Dr. Cynthia Huff Office: STV 333D Office Hours: 8:30-9:00 & 12:30-1:00 TR or by appointment Office Phone: 438-7383 Email: [email protected]

Required Text: You must use this edition for this course in order to read and discuss the appropriate selections as indicated on the schedule below and in order to have available contextual material crucial to success in this course which is not available in other editions. DeShazer, Mary K. ed. The Longman Anthology of Women’s Literature. New York: Longman, 2001.

Course Description: We will consider works by a diverse group of women writers and place them within their historical, literary, political, and social contexts. Not only will we examine writers who have been regarded as major figures, but we will also read lesser known writers, many of whom were popular during their era, to enhance our understanding of the complexity of what it means to be a woman writing. We will consider the various literary genres women writers have used and the historical, political, and personal contexts for these choices. The course will be structured historically but we will also deal with major concepts such as voice, silencing, motherhood, and difference in an effort to familiarize ourselves with crucial issues posed by women writers so that we may understand how these affect the production of literature and how literature influences the ways in which such issues have been conceptualized. Although most of the writers we will read compose in English, they nevertheless come from a number of cultures around the world. Consequently, we will explore how a woman writer’s respective cultural experience affects her articulation.

Course Format and Requirements: The course will combine short lectures to help students understand crucial concepts with class discussion in which students will analyze and interpret the literature read. Class participation and individual commitment are integral for both individual and group success as all students are expected to make the effort to understand the literature and the ideas it embodies. Students are expected to come to class prepared to discuss all the material assigned for that day. Students should expect to be called on in class to answer questions and provide informed comment about the material. Students are responsible for knowing all the assigned material, whether or not it is discussed in class. Each student will be required to give a five to ten minute oral presentation on a concept, school of writers, or historical, political, or social movement that will illuminate one or more of the writers we read. The report can not be biographical and must be given at the time we’re considering the designated author. A list of possible, but not exhaustive, topics will be distributed. Students must also complete three written exams which will be composed of an essay question as well as identification and

1 explanation of key concepts and terms. Students must also write one five to seven full page paper exclusive of, yet including, a Works Cited page. The paper should elucidate the relation between one or more pieces of literature and one or more of the many concepts important for understanding literature by women. The paper cannot focus on the same material as the oral report. There will also be pop quizzes on the assigned material. Examinations must be taken on the day scheduled. The paper will not be accepted more than a week after the due date and will be marked down a letter grade if turned in later than the day on which it is due.

Percentages of final grade: Exams: 55 %; Paper: 20%; Oral Report, 10%; Participation and Attendance, including Pop Quizzes: 15%.

Academic Civility: Students are expected to treat each other with respect, tolerance, and consideration. If you disagree with an idea someone presents, state your objections to that idea civilly and avoid attacking the person presenting it. All opinions are not equally valid, but all should be treated seriously. Opinions need to be measured or evaluated against available information, data, authoritative comments, expert experience, etc. Academic civility includes not disrupting class discussion or presentations by leaving early or coming in late, talking out of turn or to your neighbor, and making fun of unfamiliar material or perspectives.

Absences: More than three absences will result in an automatic reduction of your final grade by one letter due to non-performance. In accordance with English Department policy, six or more absences will result in failure of the course. You are responsible for attending the entire class period and marking the attendance sheet.

Failure to complete all the course requirements will result in failure of the course.

Plagiarism: If you plagiarize your papers, you will fail this course.

WGS MINOR: This course counts for the WGS Undergraduate Minor: The minor in Women’s and Gender Studies enhances any major by integrating a working knowledge of gender issues with the student's field(s) of study. Women’s and Gender Studies employs gender as an analytical category, along with race, class, ethnicity, ability, age, nationality, and transnationality to focus on women's contributions to society and the gendered implications of cultural, political, and economic processes. By broadening a student's knowledge base, this interdisciplinary minor has theoretical and practical applications in scholarship, the workplace, and personal growth and relationships. The 21 credit hours required for the minor are drawn from diverse academic disciplines, and are made up of the required courses and electives.

For information on the Program please visit: http://womensandgenderstudies.illinoisstate.edu/programs/undergrad.shtml

2 SCHEDULE

All page numbers follow the reading selection titles and refer to the Longman Anthology of Women’s Literature . Introductions to historical periods appear at the end of the volume.

DATE READINGS ASSIGNMENTS August 23 Course Introduction August 25 “Old English & Middle English Literature”, 1319- 1333; “The Wife’s Lament,” headnote and text, 416- 418; Mahilda, Queen of England (headnote), “Letter to Archbishop Anselm,” “Letter to Pope Pascal,” 78- 81; Julian of Norwich, headnote and excerpt from Showings, 654-658; Margery Kempe, headnote and excerpt from The Book of Margery Kempe, 419- 425; Margery Brews Paston, headnote, “Letters to her Valentine/fiance,” “Letter to John Paston,” 425- 427.

August 30 “Renaissance & Early-Seventeenth-Century Literature,” 1334-1351; Isabella Whitney, headnote, “The Author… Maketh Her Will and Testament,” from “The Manner of her Will”, 85-88; Aemilia Lanyer, headnote and excerpt from Salve Deus Rex Judaeorum, 936-939; Margaret Cavendish, headnote, “The Poetess’s Hasty Resolution,” “The Poetess’s Petition,” “An Excuse for So Much Write upon My Verses,” “Nature’s Cook,” excerpt from To All Writing Ladies, 89-93.

September 1 Dorothy Leigh, headnote and excerpt from The Mother’s Blessing, 660-664; Elizabeth Clinton, headnote and excerpt from The Countess of Lincoln’s Nursery, 664-668; Anne Bradstreet, headnote, “The Author to Her Book,” “Before the Birth of One of the Children,” “In Reference to her Children, 23 June, 1656,” 668-672. September 6 “Late Seventeenth and Eighteenth-Century Literature,” 1352-1368; Mary Rowlandson, headnote, excerpt from The Sovereignty & Goodness of God, 943-947; Phillis Wheatley, headnote, “On Being Brought from Africa to America,” “To S.M.,” “To the Right Honorable William,” 949-952. September 8 Jane Barker, headnote, “A Virgin Life,” 492-493; Mary Astell, headnote, excerpt from A Serious Proposal to the Ladies, 1124-1129; Lady Mary

3 Wortley Montague, headnote, “To Lady Bute,” 672- 675; Charlotte Smith, headnote, “The Glow-Worm,” “Verses,” 679-681. September 13 Aphra Behn, headnote, “The Lucky Chance,” 433- 491; Catherine Gallagher, headnote, “Who Was that Mashed Woman?,” 584-597. September 15 Mary Wollstonecraft, headnote, excerpt from A Vindication of the Rights of Women, 1131-1140; Mary Hays, headnote, excerpt from Appeal to the Men of Great Britain, 1140-1144. September 20 FIRST EXAM September 22 “Nineteenth-Century Literature,” 1369-1384; Maria Edgeworth, headnote, excerpt from Letters for Literary Ladies, 105-113; Felicia Hemans, headnote, “Casabianca,” “The Hebrew Mother,” 687-690; Mary Shelley, headnote, Introduction to Frankenstein, 232-236; Charlotte Bronte, headnote, letter from Robert Southey, letter to Robert Southey, letter to George Henry Lewes, 236-241. September 27 Sojourner Truth, headnote, “Ain’t I a Woman?”, “Keeping the Thing Going While Things are Stirring,” 1145-1147; Nell Painter, headnote, “Ain’t I A Woman,” 1309-1318; Elizabeth Barrett Browning, headnote, “The Runaway Slave,” “A Curse for a Nation,” 1152-1163;Frances Harper, headnote, “The Slave Mother,” “Free Labor,” “An Appeal to My Country Women,” “Learning to Read,” 1163-1168; Harriet Jacobs, headnote, excerpt from Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl, 506-512; Ann Parry, headnote, “Sexual Exploitation and Freedom,” 1300-1309. September 29 Emily Dickinson, headnote, all poems, 966-972; Joanne Diehl, “Selfish Desires,” 1073-1078. October 4 Charlotte Perkins Gilman, headnote, The Yellow Wallpaper, 263-274. October 6 Rebecca Harding Davis, headnote, Life in the Iron Mills, 1168-1191. October 11 Kate Chopin, headnote, The Awakening, 695-733. October 13 Chopin, The Awakening, 733-778; Margit Stange, headnote, “Personal Property,” 876-888. October 18 “Modernist Literature,” 1385-1400; Susan Glaspell, headnote, Trifles, 980-990. October 20 Virginia Woolf, headnote, A Room of One’s Own, 14-72.

4 October 25 Zora Neale Hurston, headnote, excerpt from Dust Tracks, 288-291; Edith Wharton, headnote, “A Journey,” 274-282; Katherine Mansfield, headnote, “The Doll’s House,” 996-1002. October 27 SECOND EXAM November 1 “Contemporary Literature,” 1401-1418; Anne Sexton, headnote, “The Abortion,” “In Celebration of My Uterus,” “For My Lover,” 531-535; Adrienne Rich, headnote, “Notes Toward a Politics of Location,” “Diving into the Wreck,” excerpt from Inscriptions, 1094-1112; Sylvia Plath, headnote, “The Disquieting Muses,” “Medusa,” “Nick and the Candlestick,” “Childless Woman,” “Edge,” 812-818. November 3 Nancy Mairs, headnote, “Reading Houses,” 405-416; Doris Lessing, headnote, “And Old Woman and Her Cat,” 1010-1021. November 8 Caryl Churchill, headnote, Vinegar Tom, 1237-1268. November 10 Maxine Hong Kingston, headnote, “No Name Woman,” 307-315; Gloria Anzaldúa, headnote, “Speaking in Tongues,” 315-323; Beth Brant, headnote, “A Long Story,” 838-844; Joy Harjo, headnote, “Fire,” “Deer Ghost,” “City of Fire,” “Heartshed,” 568-572; Cherríe Moraga, headnote, “La Güera,” “For the Color of My Mother,” 863- 870. November 15 Gwendolyn Brooks, headnote, “The Mother,” “A PAPER DUE Bronzeville Mother,” “The Last Quatrain,” 806-812; Audre Lorde, headnote, “Uses of the Erotic,” “Love Poem,” “Chain,” “Restoration,” 535-543; Alice Walker, headnote, “In Search of Our Mothers’ Gardens,” 323-331. November 17 Toni Morrison, headnote, “Recitatif,” 1224-1237; Barbara Christian, headnote, “The Highs and Lows,” 346-352; bell hooks, headnote, “Talking Back,” 72- 76; Patricia Hill Collins, headnote, “Shifting the Center,” 638-654. Nov. 19-27 THANKSGIVING BREAK November 29 Margaret Atwood, headnote, “Giving Birth,” 826- 836; Rosellen Brown, headnote, “Good Housekeeping,” 836-838; Susan Suleiman, headnote, “Writing and Motherhood,” 620-637. December 1 Judith Wright, headnote, “Stillborn,” “Letter,” 803- 805; Oodgeroo, headnote, “We Are Going,” 1021- 1022; Anita Desai, headnote, “Surface Textures,” 1022-1026; Bharati Mukherjee, headnote, “A Wife’s

5 Story,” 544-553; Trinh T. Minh-ha, headnote, “Not You/Like You,” 928-933. December 6 Buchi Emecheta, headnote, “A Cold Welcome,” 1038-1043; Gcina Mhlophe, headnote, “The Toilet,” “Sometimes When It Rains,” “The Dancer,” “Say No,” 336-344; Michelle Cliff, headnote, “If I Could Write This,” 916-928. December 8 Course wrap-up TBA by Registrar late September THIRD EXAM