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April 23, 2007

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Laura L. Runge
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    LIT/WST 4386
    British and American Literature by Women


    *** This course satisfies a General Education Exit Requirement ***

    Spring 2007
    Time: Tuesday - Thursday 12:30-1:45
    Room: Soc 127

    • Assignments
    • Related Sites
    • Paper Guidelines
    • Sample Papers
      		•

        This course has been designed to meet the following objectives:

        1) EXPOSURE: for students to form and express critical opinions about the English and American traditions of literature by women;

        2) MAKE CONNECTIONS: for students to demonstrate a critical understanding about recurrent themes and issues in the literature by women; or, in other words, to understand the impact of gender on literature;

        3) QUESTION STANDARDS: for students to question notions of literary value based on timeless universals and/or historical specifics; or, in other words, to understand the impact of gender on literary criticism;

        4) UNDERSTAND DIFFERENCE: for students to become aware of and to think critically about the variety of literary responses by women who occupy differing subject positions; or, in other words, to become aware of the differences that culture, ethnicity, class, sexuality and religion have on women's writing;

        5) EXPRESSION: for students to develop original, creative and critical thought through writing

    Required Texts

    Virginia WoolfA Room of One's Own, HBJ

    The Norton Anthology of Literature by Women, ed. by Gilbert and Gubar, Norton (Second Edition)

    Electronic Media

    For an general introduction to computing facilities and classes at USF, see USF Academic Computing Home Page.

    This class will be interacting with the Blackboard website for LIT4386.002.S07, to be located on your MY USF website. To register and log in, visit https://my.usf.edu .

    You will find the discussion board for your weekly informal postings on this Blackboard site, and I will also post assignments, messages and further information about the class on this site. PLEASE CHECK IT FREQUENTLY.

    My website: information on class, assignments and links to other important sites on literature, etc.

    Other important websites will be listed in the schedule of reading and following the assignments.

    Schedule

    Please note: links to individual classes will be connected to class date and updated weekly.

    (All assignments must be read in full before the date of discussion. Reading of novels will be partitioned out over several class periods. Please read headnotes for each author assigned; also read introductions to works when they are available in the anthology.)

    Day Date Class
    T 1/9 Introductions
    R 1/11 Woolf, A Room of One's Own
    T 1/16 Woolf, A Room of One's Own cont.; Finch, "Nocturnal Reverie" (178); Cavendish, "An Excuse" (94); Behn, "Love Arm'd" (111)
    POST #1
    R 1/18 Rowlandson, Narrative of the Captivity ... (106)
    T 1/23 Burney, from "The Diary" (241)
    POST #2 Group A
    R 1/25 Wheatley, "On Being Brought from Africa to America" (247); Truth, "Ain't I a Woman?" (370)
    POST #2 Group B
    T 1/30 Special Lecture: George Rousseau at 10:30-11:30 AM, Grace Allen Room of Tampa Campus Library, fourth floor. No class at 12:30
    Lady Mary's letters, posted on Blackboard; Post #3 Group A
    R 2/1 Jacobs, from "Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl" (460)
    POST #3 Group B
    T 2/6 Bronte, C. Jane Eyre (468-784)
    Post #4 Group A
    R 2/8 Bronte, C. Jane Eyre cont.
    POST #4 Group B
    T 2/13 Bronte, C. Jane Eyre cont.
    Post #5 Group A
    R 2/15 Bronte, C. Jane Eyre cont.
    POST #5 Group B
    T 2/20 MIDTERM I
    R 2/22 Gilman, "The Yellow Wallpaper" (1133)
    POST #6 Group B
    T 2/27 Chopin, The Awakening (1011--1101)
    Post #6 Group A
    R 3/1 Chopin, The Awakening (1011--1101) cont.
    POST #7 Group B
    T 3/6 Chopin, The Awakening (1011--1101) cont.
    Post #7 Group A
    R 3/8 Chopin, The Awakening (1011--1101) cont.
    POST #8 Group B
    T 3/20 Woolf, "22 Hyde Park Gate" (1318-1328)
    POST #8 Group A
    R 3/22 Catch up -- No Class scheduled
    Post 9 Group B
    T 3/27 Hall, "Miss Ogilvy Finds Herself" (1394)
    Post #9 Group A
    R 3/29 MIDTERM II
    T 4/3 Hurston, "Sweat" (1490)
    Post #10 Group A
    R 4/5 Yamamoto, "Seventeen Syllables" (1834)
    POST #10 Group B
    T 4/10 Angelou, from "I know why the caged bird sings" (1916)
    Post #11 Group A
    R 4/12 Marshall, "Poets in the Kitchen" (1946)
    POST #11 Group B
    T 4/17 Rich, "When we dead Awaken" (1980); "Aunt Jennifer's Tigers" (1955); "Snapshots of a Daughter-in-law" (1955)
    POST #12 Group A
    R 4/19 Kingston, "No Name Woman" (2239)
    Post #12 Group B
    T 4/24 Walker, "In Search of our Mothers' Gardens" (2315)
    POST #13 Group A
    R 4/26 Choice: Sharon Olds, "Rite of Passage" (2288), Louise Gluck, "Terminal Resemblance" (2293)
    Post 13 Group B

    Graded Assignments (Total of 200 points)
    Regular attendance and one office meeting 11
    Weekly Posts to the Discussion board (13) 39
    Midterm I 50
    Midterm II 50
    Final exam (Take home) 50

    This syllabus is subject to change.

    ** Students who anticipate the necessity of being absent from class due to the observation of a major religious observance must provide notice of the date(s) to the instructor, in writing, by the second class meeting.

    Suggestions

    Readings - the class will be assigned specific literary works to read and discuss in class as well as a variety of background or supplementary readings, indicated on the syllabus and/or on the class notes, linked to the syllabus. Students are responsible for reading everything assigned. In cases where the reading assignment is listed at the head of several dates, discretion may be used in completing the assignment, but in general it is best to have the assignment read as soon as possible. In the case of poetry, the student should read the poems early and continue to re-read them before we discuss them in class. Outside readings will be made available online through Blackboard course documents, online websites, library resources (including reserves) as well as in assigned books. Students who are unfamiliar with good strategies for reading in college literature courses should consult the document How to Read a Text .

    Weekly Informal Writings - each student will be required to submit a post to the class discussion board in answer to one of the questions raised in the class notes for the day. Sometimes I will ask for a specific assignment, such as “After reading the assignment, what questions do you have? What prompts those questions?” And sometimes there will be a series of reading comprehension and analytical questions from which to choose. For more detailed description, see link on Weekly Posts.

    Related Sites

    General Sites on Women's Literature

    • The Celebration of Women Writers -- an extensive alphabetized catalogue of women writers and their texts with many useful links.
    • Voices from the Gaps: Women Writers of Color An extensive site devoted to biographies, criticism, essays and links to numerous women writers of color, African-American, Asian-American, Chicana , Native American. It is a work in progress with a collaborative spirit.

    Individual Author Sites

      Margaret Atwood

    • Margaret Atwood Information Page -- Official site on Margaret Atwood -- her works, interviews, tours. Authorized by the author herself.

      • Aphra Behn

    • Aphra Behn Page A useful site with links to many related sources on the author. Part of the Baroque Ring. Maintained by Ruth Nestvold.
    • The Aphra Behn Society Homepage Maintained by the national society and edited by Carole Meyers of Emory University. This page contains many useful links to Aphra Behn sites and to the society newsletter.
    • More Selected poems of Aphra Behn-- part of the Lesbian Poetry site, designed by Northern Impressions.

      • Charlotte Bronte

    • The Charlotte Bronte and Jane Eyre Site -- part of the extensive and well-organized Victorian Web, (by George P. Landow at Brown University) this site provides excellent information on the author, history, social and political backgrounds, literary criticism, texts, bibliographies, etc.

      • Elizabeth Barrett Browning

    • The Elizabeth Barrett Browning and Aurora Leigh Site -- part of the Victorian Web, this site provides excellent information on the author, histo ry, social and political backgrounds, literary criticism, bibliographies, etc.

      • Anne Finch

    • Anne Finch, or the Countess of Winchelsea -- -- this is part of the extensive Celebration of Women Writers Website, and it contains a picture, biography, bibliography and several poems.

      • Charlotte Perkins Gilman

    • Charlotte Perkins Gilman Society -- an informative website hosted by the Gilman Society for scholars and readers, with a useful page listing web resources on Gilman.

      • Maxine Hong Kingston

    • Maxine Hong Kingston Homepage -- part of the Voices from the Gaps -- Women Writers of Color project published by the University of Minnesota. This site includes biography, bibliography and links to important sites.

      • Toni Morrison

    • Toni Morrison -- The Voices from the Gaps page, featuring biography, criticism, useful bibliograpy and some links.

    • Anniina's Toni Morrison's Page A beautiful page created and maintained by Anniina Jokinen which includes some essays and links for each of the novels by Morrison. Also includes an interesting, although idiosyncratic, list of reviews apparently done by students. Note- not all links work.

      • Adrienne Rich

    • Adrienne Rich - Modern American Poetry Excellent site developed through the Celebration of Women Writers, with extensive information, critical essays, on-line interviews, essays and poems, bibliography and additional links.

      • Alice Walker

    • Alice Walker: This extensive site is part of the Voices from the Gaps: Women Writers of Color project, and it includes biography, bibliography, links to texts, criticism, interviews, etc.

      • Virginia Woolf

    • Virginia Woolf Web: This is an extensive site with biography, pictures, and chronology, connected with a Modernism Timeline and linked to literature search engines, e-texts, and sites on related writers and topics. It ain't pretty, but it contains a great deal of useful information.


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