English 247.0915
The Woman Writer: Her Vision and Her Art
Dr. Nancy Berke
Spring 2015
E103T x5908
Office Hours:
M/T 2:00-3:00 and by
appt.
Our BLOG: http://womanwriter247.blogspot.com
Catalogue Course
Description:
This course will explore the unique experience of the woman
writer. Studying works written by women from a variety of cultures, races and
classes will reveal how being a woman has influenced the woman writer's
creative interpretation of the human condition.
____________________________________________________________________________________________
In our section of The
Woman Writer we will read and discuss drama, poetry, short stories and a
short novel by women writers from the Americas. We will consider the following
themes in a series of thematically grouped stories, poems and plays:
1.
Women’s Ways of Knowing: Glaspell, Trifles
2.
Patriarchy: “Desiree’s Baby, “No Name Woman,”
Kingston
3.
Gender: Munro, “Boys and Girls,” and Kincaid
“Girl.”
4.
Parenting: Olson, “I Stand Here Ironing,” and
Walker, “Everyday Use”
5.
Marriage and Fidelity: Hurston, “The Gilded Six
Bits,” and Cisneros, “Never Marry a
Mexican.”
6.
Language and Identity: Anzaldua, “How to Tame a
Wild Tongue,” and Alvarez, “Bilingual Sestina,” “American Girl”
7.
Race and Identity: Poems by selected women poets
of color.
8.
Immigration and Culture: Otsuka, The Buddha in the Attic
Texts:
There are two required
texts for this course.
1)
A course packet provided by your professor.
2)
The Buddah in the
Attic –a short novel by Julie Otsuka. (Copies are available in the
LaGuardia Bookstore; for rental, library loan and used book options ask your
professor).
Requirements and Expectations for our Course:
1.
Come to class prepared, with readings in hand
and blog completed as assigned. Try your best to read ahead!
2.
Join our BLOG (http://womanwriter247.blogspot.com)
so that you can blog on readings approximately once a week (see syllabus).
3.
Choose a writer you would like to do some
additional research on; plan to work in a group on this writer and present
information to the class.
4.
Complete two essay assignments and final reflective
essay.
5.
Turn off cell phones and other devices, unless
we are doing collaborative research, and do not leave room to answer something
vibrating.
6.
Do not plagiarize any material from websites. It
will be discovered and you will fail.
7.
Pay attention to details of style, voice, the
overall pattern or shape of the story, play, poem; we are interested in literary
and narrative devices as well as themes.
8.
Bring questions and good energy to class
discussions and we will have an exciting semester.
Please note:
Academic dishonesty or
plagiarism will not be tolerated. Plagiarism is representing someone else’s
work as your own, and includes quoting or paraphrasing secondary sources. Both
print and Internet sources are included in this policy. Please note that your
instructor can usually tell when you have “borrowed” from other sources without
acknowledging them. You will be taught how to properly cite sources so as to
avoid plagiarism. Any student who is
caught cheating or plagiarizing will receive an ‘F’ for the essay. Failing one
paper will adversely affect the overall points you receive for the course. If
it happens more than once: ‘F’ for the course. DON’T DO IT!
Syllabus: Subject to
Revision
Our course will be conducted as a close reading workshop, so
your participation in small groups, in blogs and in whole class discussion is
essential. Therefore the most important
thing you can do is come to class prepared!
Some of our class time will be used to develop essay topics and you may
revise each of the two essays once to improve your grade.
Your grade for this course will be determined as follows:
Blogs: 30% (requires citing from texts and research where
relevant)
Essay #1: 15%
Essay #2: 20% (with research)
Final: 20%
Responding to others on Blog: 5%
Class participation: 10%
Due Dates:
Blogs due according to syllabus (and whenever I announce
them)—you will blog on most of the writers and these blogs may be expanded into
essays.
Essay #1 due: April
20
Essay#2 due (with research): May 20
Final Essay (Synthesis) due: June 4
Major themes to be considered for our course:
v
Women’s ways of knowing; observations and
insights about women’s awareness and how insight is sometimes hidden, but
effective;
v
How silence and silent awareness informs women’s
knowledge; women’s strategies for speaking back to patriarchy;
v
Gender ideology as it is defined by families, by
parenting; struggles against this ideology by children;
v
Women as both victims and sometimes collaborators
in maintaining patriarchal codes, codes of exclusion and violence;
v
How class and culture shape women’s
consciousness;
v
Ways languages and cultures shape female
identity; especially when the individual is reshaped (by force or necessity)
into a new culture; nostalgia for what is lost; what is sometimes gained;
v
How women challenge patriarchy; how they see
through and subvert codes constructed by men, even while pretending to comply.
Note on our Blogs:
In general blogs will be written either Sunday evenings for Monday classes or Tuesday evenings for Wednesday
classes. See details in syllabus. Questions will appear in the Blog: http://womanwriter247.blogspot.com. Blogs in this course are mini essays and will
count 30% of your grade for the course.
For each blog you must quote at least once from the text. So we can have a dialogue in writing, as we
will do in class, please respond to at least one other student’s blog--in a
substantive way: ask a question, add to the observations made, take a
contrasting position. These responses are the beginning of your scholarship in
literature and may be expanded for essay topics.
Wednesday, March 4: Introduction of course themes and
requirements. Introduction to Susan Glaspell’s
Trifles, discussion of patriarchal
attitudes towards women. Read entire
one-act play for Monday, March 9. Note details that are specific to women’s
understanding of the life of the main character. What do women see that men do not? How do the men’s superior attitudes towards
the “crime scene” affect their knowledge, or lack thereof?
Important: Create a
gmail account if you don’t already have one.
Send me an email from that account and I will send you invitation to our
Blog.
Monday, March 9:
Discussion of Trifles; what do women
notice that men do not? Why do men miss
details? What assumptions shape the way
we view reality? How do women triumph,
even when men seem to have all the power?
Wednesday, March 11:
Finish Trifles discussion. Discuss
patriarchal attitudes and women’s roles in marriage in the past and present. Blog #1 to be completed Sunday evening by
midnight on our Blog. Read “No Name
Woman” for Monday, March 16.
Monday, March 16: NOTE:
Separate hand out—not in course pack. Maxine Hong Kingston, “No Name Woman”
(from The Woman Warrior). What is the
aunt’s transgression and why is she erased from the family history? What does
the aunt’s story teach the narrator about patriarchy? Note how Kingston uses
“conjecture” to tell the story of her forgotten relative.
Wednesday, March 18:
Kate Chopin, “Desiree’s Baby” How does Chopin use detail to slowly uncover
people’s fears and prejudices? Are you
surprised by the two stages of the ending? Why does Chopin choose this
arrangement of information?
What role do male attitudes toward women play in both
Kingston’s and Chopin’s stories? How do
both texts explore family and culture as bearers of patriarchal tradition? Blog Tuesday by midnight for Wednesday’s
class.
Monday, March 23:
“Boys and Girls”: How does Munro capture the feelings of the young girl in the
family? How do the parents and the brother help define the gender issues in
this story? How does she distinguish
between the father’s attitude and identity and that of the mother? What feelings does the girl seem to be
struggling with? Why does she do what she does in the end and how is Flora
symbolic?
Wednesday, March 25: “Girl:”
Is gender “learned behavior?” What is the girl learning and what appears to be
the purpose of this education? What is
the girl’s attitude about her education? What essential points do Munro and
Kincaid conve about gender roles? Possible first essay topic: women’s roles
in marriage and/or family—think about this theme in relation to the stories
read up to Spring Break and the ones assigned below.
Monday, March 30: “I
Stand Here Ironing:” Think about parenting and guilt; think about the feelings
you have either as a parent or as a child—what emotions come to mind about what
happened to you as a child? Why do
parents feel guilty, even with the best of intentions? How does Olsen depict the sadness, regret,
acceptance on the part of the mother?
What feelings does the story leave you with? How does Olsen’s tone in the story shape your
response?
Wednesday, April 1: “Everyday
Use:” Walker’s story introduces ideas of self-definition and separation from
family. How does the main character feel
about her home, her sister, her mother?
Monday, April 6,
Wednesday April 8: SPRING BREAK:—READ AHEAD!
Heads up: (Essay due Monday, April 20). Blog on your essay topic by Sunday night for
discussion Monday, 4/13. Failure to blog
and to come with an essay topic affects your grade!
Monday, April 13: “The
Gilded Six Bits:” What do you think of Missie and Joe’s marriage? What do you
make of Missie’s act of infidelity? How does she justify it? Consider some of
the story’s biblical or religious elements: paradise, temptation, sin, punishment, and forgiveness: what point about
marriage is Hurston trying to make?
Second Hour: Peer
critique of essay topics.
Wednesday April 15: “Never
Marry a Mexican:” What is the narrator’s opinion of marriage? How is her erotic
behavior a form of rebellion against her culture and patriarchy? Note Cisneros
attention to details—what women collect and what they notice. How does she
employ “trifles” in her story?
Monday, April 20:
Poetry. (To be handed out by professor) ESSAY DUE.
Wednesday, April 22:
Language and Identity: Julia Alvarez, “Bilingual Sestina,” “American
Girl.”
Monday, April 27:
Language and Identity: Anzaldua, ”How to Tame a Wild Tongue.”
Wednesday, April 29: Poetry.
(To be handed out by professor).
Monday, May 4: Introduction to The Buddha in the Attic. Japanese picture brides. Immigration and culture. It is recommended that you read as far ahead in the novel as you can.
Second hour:
Essay planning and research methodology—find and share biographical or critical
research on your chosen writer. (It must be an author whose work we have read
this semester). Sharing of research
topics and discoveries. Find at least
two sources: cite them in your blog. Choose one author and do some primary
research into the writer and incorporate one or more quotations into the
essay. This research may include
reviews, interviews with the author, essays, other writing by the author.
(Sample essays to be provided).
Wednesday, May 6:
The Buddha in the Attic. (Weekly blogs on The Buddha in the Attic required).
Monday, May 11: The Buddha in the Attic.
Wednesday, May 13: The Buddha in the Attic Essay drafts due today.
Second Hour: Peer
critique of essay drafts. Arriving
without draft affects your grade.
Monday, May 18: The Buddha in the Attic.
Wednesday, May 20:
The Buddha in the Attic. Essay due.
Monday May 25: NO CLASSES: Memorial Day.
Wednesday, May 27: Brainstorming
final essay topics.
Monday, June 1: Poetry (To be provided by professor). Final essay planning.
Wednesday June 3:
Last Day of Class: Course recap & final discussion. Final Reflective Essay Due.
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