COURSE DESCRIPTION: This course is an introduction to feminist literary theory. Students will learn some of the major schools of feminist literary thought over the centuries and learn to apply these perspectives to a number of literary works. Major issues will include concepts of authorship and voice, representations of gender roles, and ideas of identity and agency. In addition, students will develop skills in close reading and critical analysis.SCHEDULEReading Gender: Feminist Literary TheoryENGL/WGST 214: P1Basil 119Monday 6:15-9:20Dr. Melissa BloomOffice: Basil 131 Hours M 3:30-5:30, W 10-1, and by appt.385-7397, [email protected] DESCRIPTION: This course is an introduction to feminist literary theory. Students will learn some of the major schools of feminist literary thought over the centuries and learn to apply these perspectives to a number of literary works. Major issues will include conceptsof authorship and voice, representations of gender roles, and ideas of identity and agency. In addition, students will develop skills in close reading and critical analysis. PERSPECTIVES IN THE ARTS (P1) LEARNING GOALS 1. Students will have at their disposal ways of identifying the cultural assumptions implicit in artistic representations (In Perspectives on the Arts “cultural assumptions” is understood to mean the unavoidable influences of the culture in which the creator of a work of art is embedded.)2. Students will discern how design or form influences meaning 3. Students will be able to analyze a work from a variety of perspectives (e.g., creative, cultural, critical, aesthetic)4. Students will construct an argument using evidence to draw conclusions and support a thesis REQUIRED TEXTS- Feminist Literary Theory and Criticism: a Norton Reader, eds. Sandra Gilbert & Susan Gubar- Charlotte Bronte, Jane Eyre- Marge Piercy, Woman on the Edge of Time- Poetry collection including materials by William Shakespeare, John Milton, Katherine Philips, Emily Dickinson, Sylvia Plath, Adrienne Rich, Audre Lorde, etc. You’ll find this online on Blackboard.- Choice of one of the following works for final paper and presentation: Wide Sargasso Sea, Pride and Prejudice, Oroonoko, the Bluest Eye, The Handmaid’s Tale, Wuthering Heights, The Woman Warrior, Y, Little Women, Meridian, and Children’s HourREQUIREMENTS- Three short papers- Three longer papers (expansions of short papers)- Group presentation- Mid-week blog/wiki/discussion entries3 short papers: 15% (combined)3 Expanded papers: 20% eachPresentation project: 10%Participation, preparedness, attendance: 10%Midweek online and other HW: 5%CLASS POLICIES: Papers must be submitted via Assignments (on Blackboard) by midnight on their due date. Illness or travel plans do not affect this requirement. Papers will lose a full grade for each day they are late. Eng 214 – Core Proposal 1On-time attendance is absolutely required in this class. The majority of class time will be discussion, group work, workshops, and writing exercises, all work that cannot be made up. After one absence, therefore, each missed class will take a third off of your final grade. An A will become an A-, etc. Note that this does not mean an excused absence; only one absence of any kind will be accepted. If you have an unavoidable situation, and you know ahead of time, I will work with you to see if we can make other arrangements. Latenesses disrupt the class and eat away at class time. Each 3 latenesses equals an absence.Participation is required in this class and is part of your final grade. If you are fatally shy, come speak to me during office hours and we will develop ways to help you surmount this. Plagiarism is the undocumented use of another person’s ideas, organization, or research on a written assignment. It is plagiarism to turn in a paper written by another student or to copy or paraphrase any portion of your text from another source (study guides, articles, books, another student’s paper or the Internet) without proper documentation. Any case of plagiarism will be prosecuted according to the guidelines in the SJFC handbook. Students who plagiarize will receive an F for the course.Policy on Disabilities: In compliance with St. John Fisher College policy and applicable laws, appropriate academic accommodations are available to you if you are a student with a disability. All requests for accommodations must be supported by appropriate documentation/diagnosis and determined reasonable by St. John Fisher College. Studentswith documented disabilities (physical, learning, psychological) who may need academic accommodations are advised to make an appointment with the Coordinator of Services for students with disabilities in the Office of Academic Affairs, Kearney 202. Late notification will delay requested accommodations.SCHEDULEUnit 1: Close Reading and Poetry2 weeks spent developing the skills of literary analysis through individual and class readings of a wide selection of poetry. Poems by male and female authors will reflect a number of genres and historical periods.Unit 2: Ideas of Authorship3 weeks focusing on material (primarily from the textbook) in which women writers discuss issues of authorship and gender from the 15th to the 20th century. Unit 3: Ideas of Gender and Literature3 weeks reading contemporary feminist and feminist literary theory. Readings primarily from the textbook. Unit 4: Application of Theory5 weeks reading novels and/or short stories and applying feminist theory, with student-led presentations throughout. - 3 weeks on Jane Eyre (with corresponding essays by Gilber, Spivak, Donaldson, and Fraiman)- 1 week on other short fiction (PDF)- 1 week on Woman at the Edge of TimeEng 214 – Core Proposal