Syllabus
· What is gender – basics and historical overview? A familiarisation of some of the ideas and debates surrounding the concept of gender. A consideration of the work and impact of the “First Wave” of feminist criticism, particularly Virginia Woolf and Simone de Beauvoir.
· Gender and language and representation in popular culture (media, advertising etc.)
Gender and language, Semiology – signs and meanings.
· Gender and literature. Feminist literary criticism and the questioning of the traditional literary canon, e.g. Toril Moi, Dale Spender.
· Literature from the early 20th century – Katherine Mansfield, Kate Chopin
· Poetry – Sylvia Plath, Stevie Smith
· Literature and 'the angel in the house – Tillie Olsen, Fay Weldon, Doris Lessing (Betty Friedan, Pat Mainardi)
· Literature from the second wave period – Adrienne Rich, Margaret Atwood, Alice Munro (Kate Millett, Shulamith Firestone, Valerie Solanas)
· Literature of diversity – Alice Walker (Angela Davis, Barbora Smith)
Annotation
This course deals with gender approaches to the study of literature. It explores the ways in which critical and in-depth reading of literary works can be approached using gender as an analytical tool, but it also goes beyond the texts themselves and addresses both male and female literary traditions. It also deals with the impact of feminism on literary studies.
The course focuses on works of the 20th century, addressing the relationship between men and women as presented by authors who have reflected or questioned the cultural and social values of their times. The readings will cover four main areas: a general historical review of literature and gender, including a study of the most important theory, gender in the literature of the first half of the 20th century, including the work of Katherine Mansfield and Virginia Woolf, literature reflecting the impact of the second wave Feminism in the 1960s, including works by
Adrienne Rich and Doris Lessing, and literature reflecting cultural and ethnic diversity such as Toni Morrison and Alice Walker. This course also introduces students to various aspects of literary criticism and interpretation, paying attention to the depiction of men and women, the concept of masculinity and femininity, including postmodern interpretations of gender.