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Twentieth Century American Women Writers
Dr. Lisa Williams ALIT-414-02 , Spring 2003 Office: B-139, 684-7278 Office Hours: M/Th 2:15-3:30, W 10:10-10:40, and by appointment email Dr. Lisa Williams
Course DescriptionThis course will examine the hopes, longings, and dreams of American women writers of the twentieth century. Through a variety of literary genres, we will look at how American women have told the story of their emerging self-identity. The twentieth century ushered in a renaissance of American women’s literature. By concentrating on the relationship between literary form and content, we will examine the diverse range of women’s literature and experience within the context of women’s role in the century’s major literary and artistic movements. All students in this course will complete one oral report, one mid-term critical paper, a 15 page minimum reading journal, where you will write an extensive response to each text, and a final 10-15 page research paper.
Required BooksPassing and Quicksand by Nella Larsen Their Eyes were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston My Antonia by Willa Cather Three Lives by Gertrude Stein Breadgivers by Anzia Yezierska A Good Man is Hard to Find and Other Short Stories by Flannery O’Connor The Collected Stories by Eudora Welty The Woman Warrior by Maxine Hong Kingston Woman Hollering Creek and Other Short Stories by Sandra Cisneros The Women who Fell from the Sky by Joy Harjo Beloved by Toni Morrison
On Reserve The Oxford Book of Women’s Writing in the United States, Edited by Linda Wagner-Martin and Cathy N. Davidson H.D. Collected Poems 1912-1944 The Gender of Modernism, A Critical Anthology, Edited by Bonnie Kime Scott The Complete Stories of Eudora Welty The Complete Stories of Flannery O’Connor Black Women Novelists: The Development of a Tradition by Barbara Christian Shadowed Dreams: Women’s Poetry of the Harlem Renaissance, Ed. Maureen Honey The Sleeper Wakes, Harlem Renaissance Stories by Women, Edited and With an Introduction by Marcy Knopf How I Found America: Collected Stories of Anzia Yezierska Reading the Literatures of Asian America, Ed. By Shirley Geok-lin and Amy Ling The Critical Response to Eudora Welty’s Fiction, Ed. Laurie Champion The Art and Vision of Flannery O’Connor by Robert H. Brinkmeyer Modern Chinese Women Writers: Critical Appraisals, Ed. Michael H. Duke A Poetics of Women’s Autobiography: Marginality and the Fictions of Self-Representation, Ed. By Sidonie Smith Aesthetics in Feminist Perspective, Ed. Hilde Hein and Carolyn Korsmeyer Zora Neale Hurston: Critical Perspectives Past and Present, ed. Henry Louis Gates and Michael Appiah New Essays on Their Eyes were Watching God, ed. Michael Awkward The Art of Willa Cather, ed. Bernice Slote and Virginia Faulkner Representing Modernist Texts: Editing and Interpretation, Ed. George Bornstein
Class ScheduleFebruary 5 Introduction to Course What does it mean to be a woman writer in the Twentieth Century? Is there a specifically female tradition? What were the obstacles women encountered? Are there common themes we can attribute to women writers? How do we evaluate women’s writings? A discussion of form versus content.
February 12 Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston How does Hurston incorporate 19th Century conceptions of the "tragic mulatto" and proceed to rewrite it? A discussion of Barbara Christian’s essay on this novel. A discussion of Zora Neale Hurston and the Harlem Renaissance
February 19 Passing and Quicksand by Nella Larsen What does it mean to "pass" in American racial politics? Discussion of internalized racism. How are sexual and racial politics intertwined?
February 26 Breadgivers by Anzia Yezierska What is the experience of the immigrant? Of the Jewish female immigrant? What obstacles must she overcome in order to gain her education? What is the role of the father in Anzia's family?
March 5 My Antonia by Willa Cather What is the experience of the poor rural woman? Oral Report on Meridel Le Sueur, "Women are Hungry" Introduction to Modernism
March 12 Three Lives by Gertrude Stein A discussion of Stein and modernism Several poems by H.D. A discussion of imagism
March 19 Paper DueA Good Man is Hard to Find and Other Short Stories by Flannery O’Connor How does O'Connor represent the South? How does violence function in her short stories? What is O'Connor's religious vision? Spring Break
April 2 The Collected Short Stories by Eudora Welty How does Welty represent the South? How does Welty create a lyrical writing style that also captures the speech patterns of her Southern characters?
April 9 The Woman Warrior by Maxine Hong Kingston Sui Sin Far, from "Leaves from the Mental Portfolio of an Eurasian" How does Kingston create myth from family experience?
April 16 Poetry of Joy Harjo Paula Gun Allen, "A Gathering of Spirits" Leslie Marmon Silko, from "Storyteller" Mary Hunter Austin, "The Coyote-Spirit and The Weaving Woman"
April 23 Short stories by Sandra Ciscernos Helena Maria Viramontes, "Miss Clairol"
April 30 Beloved by Toni Morrison Is Beloved a post-modern novel?
May 7 Beloved Audre Lorde, "Song for a Thin Sister" Michelle Cliff, "A History of Costume" Lucille Clifton, "The Thirty Eighth Year" Reading Journal Due
May 14 Poetry of Adrienne Rich, Short story of Alice Walker Course Wrap-Up
Final Research Paper DueAny students with special needs, please see me as soon as possible.
EvaluationClass Participation and Oral Report 20% Mid-term Critical Paper 20% Reading Journal 20% Final Research Paper 40%
I look forward to working with you. |