English 232:

"20th-Century American Women Writers"

Spring 2002

Mares
Fletcher 313 - x6238

OBJECTIVES

Does it matter that all the writers we will be reading in this course are women? Does it matter, in our reading of their work, that we are?  In what ways do issues of gender and the positions of women in society inflect the writing and reading of imaginative texts, shaping how they are created, interpreted, and valued?  As we read and discuss these works, we will repeatedly take up these fundamental questions, which essentially concern the usefulness and validity of gender as category for the study of literature. 

Most of the works for the course are considered examples of "experimental" writing; most of them also explore what it means to live (and create) in an "experimental" or unconventional fashion.  They bear witness to the need to discover and affirm one's personal freedom as well as to the potential dangers of doing so, both for the self and the community. 

We will consider how these writers engage with the multiple traditions they inherit, in terms of both the style and substance of their work.  We will also attend to how their works reflect the social and political climate in which they were written.

Finally, we will explore how the reader's role is constructed by these texts, what assumptions are made about the 'audience,' and in what specific ways these works go about engaging, amusing, challenging, and perhaps to some degree transforming their readers.

TEXTS

Zora Neale Hurston, Dust Tracks on the Road, "How It Feels To Be Colored Me"
Alice Walker, "Zora Neale Hurston: A Cautionary Tale and a Partisan View"; "Looking for Zora"

 Gertrude Stein, "What are Master-pieces  and Why Are There So Few of Them"; "Composition as Explanation"; The Autobiography of Alice B. Toklas

 Adrienne Rich, "Women and Honor: Some Notes on Lying"; "Twenty-One Love Poems"; "Split at the Root"; "Sources"

Maxine Hong Kingston, The Woman Warrior

Toni Morrison, Sula


Toi Derricotte, The Black Notebooks;
"Notes on My Son's Face"; "Blackbottom"
Marilynne Robinson, Housekeeping


Margaret Atwood, Cat's Eye

(Additional assigned readings may be distributed in class.)

REQUIREMENTS

Regular attendance; thoughtful and consistent class participation; commentaries on the readings, to be submitted every other session (one-page minimum, typed, written in accordance with guidelines to be distributed in class); one 10-12 pp. research project; a take-home final exam. For guidelines on research projects, click here.


EVALUATION

Approximate breakdown of final grade: class participation, including commentaries = 35%; research project = 40%; final exam = 25%. All requirements must be met in order to pass the course.  Since commentaries on the readings will often be used to generate class discussion, late commentaries will not be accepted.  At the end of the term, you will collect your commentaries for the course and submit them as a portfolio.  Only the completed portfolio will be graded, not individual commentaries. You may not resubmit for credit in this course work you have done or are doing for another course.  Also, please bear in mind that plagiarism is a serious academic offense and a violation of the honor policy.  Any student found guilty of plagiarism will likely fail the course, in addition to whatever penalties are imposed by the student judicial system. Project deadlines will be extended and absences will be excused only in the case of an urgent personal problem, a family emergency, or a serious illness, verifiable by the Dean.  Absences will limit what you can gain from the course as well as what you can contribute.  Unexcused absences also will lower your final grade.

CALENDAR

JANUARY

14 - Introduction
16 - Zora Neale Hurston, "How It Feels to be Colored Me";
Dust Tracks on the Road

21 - Hurston, Dust Tracks
23 - Hurston, Dust Tracks

28 - Hurston, Dust Tracks; Alice Walker, "Zora Neale Hurston:
A Cautionary Tale and a Partisan View"; "Looking for Zora"
30 - Gertrude Stein, "What are Master-pieces and Why Are There So Few of Them";
"Composition as Explanation"

February

4 - Stein, The Autobiography of Alice B. Toklas
6 - Stein, The Autobiography of Alice B. Toklas

11 - Stein, The Autobiography of Alice B. Toklas
13 - Adrienne Rich, "Women and Honor:"; "Twenty-One Love Poems"

18 - Rich, "Split at the Root"; "Sources"
20 - Rich (cont.)

25 - Maxine Hong Kingston, The Woman Warrior
27 - Hong Kingston, The Woman Warrior 

[Spring Break  = March 2 -10]

March

11 - Hong Kingston, The Woman Warrior
13- Toni Morrison, Sula

18 - Morrison, Sula
20 - Morrison, Sula

25- Toi Derricotte, The Black Notebooks
27 - Derricotte, The Black Notebooks, "Notes on My Son's Face," "Blackbottom"

April

1 - Marilynne Robinson, Housekeeping
3 - Robinson, Housekeeping

8 - Robinson, Housekeeping
10 - Margaret Atwood, Cat's Eye

         [April 12 - PROJECTS DUE]

15 - Atwood, Cat's Eye
17 - Atwood, Cat's Eye

22 - Atwood, Cat's Eye
24 - Conclusions.  PORTFOLIOS DUE.
Senior Exercise Presentation.

April 26  - READING DAY
April 27 - May 2 - EXAMS
May 4 - COMMENCEMENT