This course examines selected poetry, fiction, and non-fiction by American and British women writers in its historical and social context. Some of the many issues we will explore in this course include the relationship between women’s writing and the traditional literary canon, the role and position of the female artist, the importance of family and community as well as individual autonomy to female identity, and the ways that racial and class affiliation affect women. The course should increase your appreciation for and enjoyment of the works we study, while developing your skills in critical thinking and in written and oral expression.
Books
- Mary Wollstonecraft, A Vindication of the Rights of Woman
- Mary Shelley, Frankenstein
- Charlotte Bronte, Jane Eyre
- Great Short Stories by American Women, edited by Candace Ward
- Harriet Beecher Stowe, Uncle Tom’s Cabin
- Kate Chopin, The Awakening
- Virginia Woolf, A Room of One’s Own
- Zora Neale Hurston, Their Eyes Were Watching God
- Alison Bechdel, Fun Home