Unit One

What is gender? 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. Other supplementary texts will be used.

TOPICS: What is gender? Introduction to general concepts - Virginia Woolf - A Room of One’s Own and Professions for Women - Simone de Beauvoir - The Second Sex

Unit Two

Gender and representation. Consideration will be given to representations of gender in popular culture (media, advertising etc.) TOPICS: Gender and language - Semiology - signs and meanings, Gender and representation - Gender and Education

Unit Three

Gender and literature. Part of the achievement of feminist literary criticism has been to question the coherence of the traditional canon as well as to develop new approaches to literary interpretation. An overview of trends in feminist literary theory will aid our interpretations of texts

TOPICS: Women writers and the literary canon - Mothers of the Novel - Feminist Literary Criticism

Course Requirements: Full attendance, an oral presentation at one of the seminars, the production of a paper based on your own research at the end of term. The course is seminar based and your full participation in debates will be encouraged.