Texts and Materials: (available at campus bookstore):

Shari Benstock, Suzanne Ferriss, and Susanne Woods. A Handbook of Literary Feminisms. NY: Oxford UP, 2002.
Mary Eagleton, ed.  Feminist Literary Theory.  2nd ed.  NY:  Routledge, 1996.
Xeroxed materials (available in class or via ERES).
 

Links to Related Sites and Suggestions for Further Reading.
 

Course Description and Format:

This course introduces students to modes of literary criticism and interpretation that pay attention to representations of women and men, constructions of femininity and masculinity, and sexual politics.  My major purpose is to allow you the opportunity to develop self-awareness of your critical practice by engaging with current debates regarding the materials and methods of  literary studies of sex and gender.  Three overlapping subject areas are covered by this course:  feminist literary criticism, which tends to focus on women as readers and writers; queer theory applied to literary studies; and literary studies of men and masculinity.  Major issues include questions of canon and canonicity, difference, equality, sexuality, constructions of gender, intersections of gender with race, class, and nationality, and the role of reading and writing in processes of social change.  Students will also come away from the course with some understanding of other major schools of literary criticism, such as formalism, reader-response, deconstruction, new historicism, and psychoanalysis.

No previous experience with literary and/or gender theories is required, though familiarity with current debates about gender is helpful.  This course will NOT engage feminist and gender theory as a whole; instead it draws selectively on those aspects of theory that literary and cultural critics have found useful.  The course focuses on literary criticism as developed and practiced in the United States and Europe.  It will emphasize criticism dating from the late 1960s to the present, while not excluding earlier work. The readings consist mostly of essays and excerpts from longer works.

This is a W-2 class. Students will write frequently and engage writing as a process. Students will design their own final projects and have the opportunity to revise their written work in response to feedback from the professor and peers.

For undergraduate English majors, this course counts toward the modern (20th century) period requirement; for graduate students, this course counts toward the theory requirement. This course also counts toward the major in Gender and Women's Studies.

Course Objectives:

• To read widely in literary criticism concerned with gender, with the goal of developing self-awareness of one's own critical practice.
• To appreciate the diversity of approaches, assumptions, and methods of gender critics.
• To understand works of gender criticism not only as abstract philosophical statements about sex, gender, and power, but also as products of and responses to specific historical moments.
• To consider gender criticism as developing within and accountable to certain social movements (e.g., feminism or trans liberation), and to consider the role of political activism in literary scholarship.
• To be able to use gender criticism effectively in one's own literary critical work.
• To develop our own voices as critics; to improve our verbal and written communication skills.

Attendance and participation count A LOT!  This is a seminar, the heart and soul of which is discussion and collegiality.  As the professor, I understand my tasks as organizing our course materials, helping you work through difficulties that arise in the course of the semester, and providing additional bibliographies and other resources in response to your specific needs.  I will lecture only occasionally and when I do, it will be informally.  Your job as students is quite different: to immerse yourself in the material, to explore it open-mindedly, and to come to class prepared to share your understanding of it, your questions about it, and your ideas about its usefulness.  Discussion is the most valuable part of this course.

Each week during class, students are expected to submit some writing in response to the assigned readings. There is no length requirement for this assignment; weekly writings may be as short as a single page, but they should reflect thought about the readings and anticipation of our discussion (i.e., they should raise questions and issues for discussion). More specific instructions are on the handout entitled "Weekly Writings."

In lieu of a final exam, students will write a term paper on a topic of their own choosing, or propose and execute an alternative project.  I encourage students to think of literary theory in connection to their work in other classes and final projects can reflect this connection. In other words, with the other professor's knowledge and permission, the final project for this class can be designed to fulfill work in other classes as well. A detailed handout on this assignment will be distributed later in the course.

The final grade will be distributed as follows:  Participation (incl. attendance and discussion) 30%; Weekly writings  30%;  Term Paper or Alternative Project 40% (Proposal and preliminary work on the term paper is worth 10%).
 

Class Policies
 

Schedule of Assignments:

Week 1:  Jan. 16
Introduction to the course

Week 2:  Jan. 23
Benstock, Ferriss, and Woods, Handbook, "Feminist Literary Criticism and Theory" (151-178)
Bonnie Stevens and Larry Stewart, "Feminist Studies," A Guide to Literary Criticism and Research (HBJ, 1992)
Naomi Schor, "Feminist and Gender Studies," Introduction to Scholarship in Modern Languages and Literatures (MLA, 1992)

Week 3:  Jan. 30
Eagleton, Feminist Literary Theory, Part 1, "Finding a Female Tradition."

Week 4:  Feb. 6
Eagleton, Feminist Literary Theory, Part 2, "Women and Literary Production."

Week 5:  Feb. 13
Eagleton, Feminist Literary Theory, Part 3, "Gender and Genre."

Week 6:  Feb. 20
Eagleton, Feminist Literary Theory, Part 4, "Towards Definitions of Feminist Writing."
 
Week 7:  Feb. 27
Eagleton, Feminist Literary Theory, Part 5, "Writing, Reading and Difference."

Week 8:  March 6
Eagleton, Feminist Literary Theory, Part 6, "Locating the Subject."
Due:  All weekly writings for the first half of the semester

Week 9:  March 13
NO CLASS -- SPRING RECESS

Week 10:  March 20
Benstock, Ferriss, and Woods, Handbook, "Critical Intersections" (179-202)
David Glover and Cora Kaplan, Genders, "Masculinities" and "Queering the Pitch" (Routledge, 2000).
 
Week 11:  March 27
George L. Moss, "Introduction:  The Stereotype," The Countertype," and "The Normal Society of Men," The Image of Man (Oxford UP, 1996).
Becky Conekin, "Fashioning the Playboy: Messages of Style and Masculinity in the Pages of Playboy Magazine, 1953-1963"
Fashion Theory: The Journal of Dress, Body, and Culture 4.4 (2000): 447-66.
King-Kok Cheung, "Art, Spirituality, and the Ethic of Care: Alternative Masculinities in Chinese American Literature," Masculinity Studies and Feminist Theory: New Directions (Columbia UP, 2002).

Week 12:  April 3
Eve Kosofsky Sedgwick, Epistemology of the Closet, "Introduction:  Axiomatic" and "The Beast in the Closet:  [Henry] James and the Writing of Homosexual Panic," Epistemology of the Closet (U California P, 1990)
Due:  Proposal for term paper or alternative project

Week 13:  April 10
Judith Butler, Bodies That Matter, "Introduction" and "Gender is Burning," Bodies That Matter (Routledge, 1993).

Week 14:  April 17
Robert J. Corber, "Reconstructing Homosexuality," In the Name of National Security:  Hitchcock, Homophobia, and the Political Construction of Gender in Postwar America  (Duke UP, 1993).
Donald Gibson, "Chapter One of Booker T. Washington's Up From Slavery and the Feminization of the African American Male," Representing Black Men (Routledge, 1996).
Kendell Thomas, "Ain't Nothin' Like the Real Thing':  Black Masculinity, Gay Sexuality, and the Jargon of Authenticity," Representing Black Men ( Routledge, 1996).
Fred Pfeil, "Rock Incorporated:  Plugging into Axl and Bruce," White Guys:  Studies in Postmodern Domination and Difference  (Verso, 1995).
Judith Halberstam, "Looking Butch:  A Rough Guide to Butches on Film," Female Masculinity (Duke UP, 1998).
Due:  Journals for second half of semester

Week 15:  April 24
In-class Responding Session
Due: Draft of Final Project in Progress

Week 16:  May 1
No class: semester ends April 29