English 3340.01/Thursday 6-8:40/ SUA 102D/Dr. Zabelle Stodola/Spring 2006
Office: University Plaza (at Asher and University) until the English Department moves back to its permanent suite in SH 502 sometime in February
Phone: 569-3161/8315 (w); for emergencies only, 664-8747 (h)
E-mail: kzstodola@ualr.edu (my preferred method of communication)
Office hours: Tuesday 11:30 to 1, Thursday I 1:30 to 5:30, and by appointment. The best time to see me is before and after class.
1. BOOK: The following paperback anthology is required: The Longman Anthology of Women’s Literature, ed. Mary K. DeShazer (2001). I will supplement it with handouts and web reading.
2. EXAMS: One take-home midterm due week eight (15% of final grade) and one take-home final due when the actual examination would be, i.e. Thursday 11 May by 6 p.m. (20% of final grade).
3. PAPERS: Three papers. I will hand out instructions for the first two papers soon, so you will have plenty of time to prepare for them:
· The first paper (3-4 pages, typed double-spaced, 10% of final grade) is due in week 4 and will be your assessment of a film that you consider to be a feminist film. It can be a documentary, a recording of a comedian’s script (e.g. Eve Ensler’s The Vagina Monologues), or a feature film (e.g. Real Women Have Curves, Bend It Like Beckham, Thelma and Louise, The Hours).
· The second paper (8-10 pages, 30% of final grade) is due in week 13 and should provide a critical/biographical profile of a woman writer we are not covering in class. She can come from any world culture and any time period. In order to write this paper, you will need to read at least three of the writer’s full-length works (by works, I mean novels, novellas, collections of short stories or poems, plays, or books of criticism). One short story or one poem does not constitute one of the writer’s “works” for this paper! For our last class period, I will ask each of you to introduce your writer in a brief 5-minute oral presentation.
· The third paper (4-5 pages, 25% of final grade) is due in week 15 and should respond to some of the theoretical issues raised in the critical/theoretical readings.
· I am going to ask you to turn in all your homework assignments in hard copy and also electronically on an anti-plagiarism site called turnitin.com. I will provide instructions on how to access turnitin.com. Unfortunately, plagiarism is not restricted only to lower-level classes. This particular site not only checks for plagiarism but also is a learning tool for those people who genuinely aren’t sure what does and what doesn’t constitute plagiarism.
4. ATTENDANCE: Regular attendance and participation are required. If you are absent more than three times, it will affect your final grade. Please come having done the reading and be willing to ask questions and make comments.
5. COURSE GOALS & ASSUMPTIONS: This course covers the tradition of women writing in English from earliest times to the present. Many, but not all, of these writers are English and American. However, I am including other writers where possible, from South Africa, Canada, Croatia, and New Zealand, for example, as well as writers from different ethnic and racial backgrounds within the tradition of literature written in English (e.g., African American, Native American, African, Maori), and writers with different sexual orientations (heterosexual, bisexual, & lesbian) so that we can better understand the theoretical issues involved in women writers/women’s writings.
6. HISTORICAL OVERVIEW: The book contains readings divided thematically into five areas. But most weeks I will summarize one section from the historical overviews at the back of the book under “Historical Appendices” (pp. 1319-1418). This is to give you some sense of the chronology, history, and cultural contexts of women’s writing in English, which we cannot gain from a scattered thematic approach to the readings. They are included at the back of this syllabus.
7. READINGS: The longest works are the novels Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen and The Awakening by Kate Chopin, and neither is particularly long as novels go (indeed, The Awakening is considered a novella rather than a novel). The theoretical manifesto A Room of One’s Own by Virginia Woolf is also fairly lengthy. The rest of the readings are either short or extracted from longer works. Read carefully and come with questions and comments. Also, please do read the brief introduction to each writer printed before her work. The introductions are quite current and well written.
8. BAD WEATHER POLICY: I follow the standard UALR policy, which says that if the Little Rock School District closes, UALR day classes do too. Of course, UALR may also close at times when the Little Rock School District does not, so check radio and television, the UALR homepage, and/or UALR Public Safety. According to a memo from the Chancellor, the decision to cancel classes meeting at 4:00 p.m. or later will be based on recommendations from the Arkansas State Police and the Little Rock Police Department. When feasible, that decision will be made by 2:00 p.m.
9. DISABILITY STATEMENT: Please look carefully at the following disability statement and tell me if you are a student needing extra accommodation; I will be happy to provide it:
MESSAGE FROM THE UALR PROVOST TO STUDENTS WITH DISABILITIES
Disability Support Services: It is the policy of UALR to accommodate students with disabilities, pursuant to federal law and state law. Any student with a disability who needs accommodation, for example in arrangements for seating, examinations, note-taking should inform the instructor at the beginning of the course. It is also the policy and practice of UALR to make web-based information accessible to students with disabilities. If you, as a student with a disability, have difficulty accessing any part of the online course materials for this class, please notify the instructor immediately. The chair of the department offering this course is also available to assist with accommodations. Students with disabilities are encouraged to contact Disability Support Services, telephone 501-569-3143 (v/tty), and on the Web at http://www.ualr.edu/dssdept/.
10. SMART CLASSROOM: As you can see, our class is being held this term in a smart classroom. I will ask you to do some in-class written work at your individual terminals, but mostly the smart classroom allows the teacher to use a variety of visual aids in a non-intrusive way. I hope the technology doesn’t dampen discussion!
11. EXIT PORTFOLIO REQUIREMENTS FOR ENGLISH MAJORS: If you are an English major, or think that you might become one, please be aware that before you graduate, as part of the assessment requirements for the English major, you will be asked to take the one-credit course Seminar in Career Perspectives (English 4199) and to put together a portfolio of representative papers from English classes. You should therefore keep on disk all copies of papers in this and other upper-level English classes in case you need to use them for your portfolio.
12. important NOTICE TO English Majors with a Secondary Education Minor:
In keeping with the accreditation requirements of NCATE/NCTE, our English secondary education program’s accrediting agency, we must assess the progress of all students pursuing a BA in English with a certification in Secondary Education in order to verify that our courses are enabling them to meet the prescribed NCATE/NCTE standards in English Language Arts competencies. Please let me know if you are an English major/ Secondary Education minor as soon as possible. In addition to the other assignments, I am assigning a special assessment/pedagogy exercise for Sec. Ed. minors. Together, the assignments will show how well this course, ENGL 3340, is fulfilling the mandated requirements. This course, ENGL 3340, is designated as one that addresses the following competencies:
2.0 ATTITUDES FOR ENGLISH LANGUAGE ARTS
2.2 Students become more familiar with their own and others’ cultures.
2.4 Students develop habits of critical thinking.
3.0 KNOWLEDGE OF ENGLISH LANGUAGE ARTS
3.1 Candidates demonstrate knowledge of, and skills in the use of, the English language
3.1.1 Students develop a knowledge of language acquisition and development processes
3.1.2 Students demonstrate an understanding of how reading, writing, speaking, listening, viewing, and thinking are interrelated areas of the ELA experience
3.1.4 Students show a respect for, and a knowledge of, diversity in language use, patterns, and dialects across cultures, ethnic groups, geographic regions, and social roles
3.3 Candidates demonstrate their knowledge of reading processes
3.3.1 Students are able to respond to and interpret what is read
3.3.2 Students show a knowledge of ways to discover and create meaning from texts
3.3.3 Students use a wide variety of strategies to interpret, evaluate, and appreciate texts.
3.4 Candidates demonstrate knowledge of different composing processes
3.4.1 Candidates use a variety of writing strategies to generate meaning and clarify understanding
3.5 Candidates demonstrate knowledge of, and uses for, an extensive range of literature
3.5.1 Students read works representing a broad historical and contemporary
spectrum of United States literature.
3.5.2 Students read works from a wide variety of genres and cultures, works
by female authors, and works by authors of color.
Assessment exercise for English major/Secondary Education minor students ONLY. Please hand this in with your final examination and also submit (as well as your other three homework assignments) electronically to Chalk and Wire (I will give you instructions). Pick a text by a woman author that you would teach in high school or middle school which is controversial and/or sensitive concerning women’s issues. First, in about one page, explain to me why you chose the particular text that you did and what the sensitive/controversial issues are. Then come up with a lesson plan for teaching this text over one or several class periods (depending on its length and complexity). Assume that your class will be coeducational. If you use outside sources to help with this assignment, be sure to list them. I realize that your ability to come up with a viable lesson plan depends on whether you’ve taught and/or taken many education courses yet, but do the best you can.
Suggested general websites for you to visit and explore:
For women writers of color worldwide, see the site called Voices from the Gaps which is housed at the University of Minnesota. You’ll find information and links there to many of the modern writers we’ll be covering. The address is http://voices.cla.umn.edu and then follow links to specific authors.
See the Malaspina Great Books Women’s Studies database at www.mala.bc.ca/~mcneil/womenstudies.htx
For gay/lesbian/bisexual writers, see the site called Queertheory.com at http://www.queertheory.com and follow links to writers, male and female.
I don’t want to encourage you to take shortcuts, but I have found one website quite helpful for giving students a handle on important issuesand topics in specific literary works. It’s http://www.sparknotes.com You’ll find it has some helpful information on the three longest texts we’ll be covering, A Room of One’s Own, Northanger Abbey, and The Awakening, as well as other authors and texts on the syllabus.
Post Colonial Studies at Emory University contains very useful background and links for a number of the women writers we will cover. Find it at http://www.english.emory.edu/Bahri/Contents.html
American Literature Pages at http://www.wsu.edu/~campbelld/amlit/ has some extensive links and background information on many American authors from different periods (better on the earlier periods than on the late twentieth century & beyond).
Syllabus
Week 1: Th 19 Jan
o Consult http://www.imdb.org Follow link to The Piano (1993), then to “External Reviews,” then read reviews #1, by Roger Ebert, and #32, a compilation and link to multiple reviews
*** “Old English and Middle English Literature, 449-1485” pp. 1319-20
o See http://www.cortland.edu/gilman
o See http://www.wsu.edu/~campbelld/amlit/gilman.html
o See http://www.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bell_hooks &
Week 3: Th 2 Feb
*** “Renaissance and Early 17th-Century Literature, 1485-1660” pp. 1334-37
· Gloria Anzaldua, “Speaking in Tongues . . .” (1980/81)
o See http://www.queertheory.com/histories/
· Hand out information for paper #2
Week 4: Th 9 Feb
*** “Late 17th- and Early 18th-Century Literature, 1660-1800,” pp. 1352-55
Week 5: Th 16 Feb
*** “19th-Century Literature, 1800-1900,” pp. 1369-71
Week 6: Th 23 Feb
Week 7: Th 2 Mar
Instructor away at conference. Class cancelled.
Week 8: Th 9 Mar
· Keri Hulme, “One Whale Singing” (1987)
o See http://www.bookcouncil.org.nz/writers/hulmek.html
Week 9: Th 16 Mar
· Rosellen Brown, “Good Housekeeping” (1973)
Week 10: Th 23 Mar
· Cherrie Moraga, “La Guera” (1979/81)
o See http://www,queertheory.com
· Margaret Atwood, “Giving Birth” ((1982)
· Beth Brant, “A Long Story” (1984)
o See this site about Native American women, http://www.library.wisc.edu/libraries/WomensStudies/native.htm &
o http://vos.ucsb.edu/browse.asp?id=2746
· Paula Gunn Allen, “Who Is Your Mother?” (1986)
Consult http://www.wsu.edu/~campbelld/amlit/rowlandson.htm
Week 12: Th 13 Apr
Week 13: Th 20 Apr
Week 14: Th 27 Apr
Week 15: Th 4 May
· Oral report due
· Take-home final examination given out
Final exam due in my mailbox by 6 pm, Thursday 11 May. Earlier papers gratefully accepted!
¨ Characterization, plot, theme, setting, symbol (metaphor/overt and covert significances), text: these are ways that film and novel may be alike. But film has the added elements of sound & visualization. We have to pay attention to words and these other elements too.
¨ Main characters: Ada McGrath; her daughter, Flora; Stewart; and Baines. Think about what we learn and how we learn information about them. To compare characters, think in terms of decisions each character makes (the film is full of decision & indecision); objects s/he is associated with; how each speaks; & what each wears.
¨ Setting in terms of time (Victorian Scotland & Colonial New Zealand) and place (Scotland and New Zealand and specific places therein)
¨ Symbols: confinement (Ada is the most obviously confined character, but all the main characters are confined in one way or another, especially in terms of social convention and biology), the piano (why is Ada so attached to the piano), nature and European settlements, fingers (and other phallic tropes), light/dark, “savage” vs. “civilized”
¨ This has been called perhaps the definitive feminist film. Do you agree? In what ways is this film feminist? What other feature (non-documentary) films seem strongly feminist to you?
English 3340
General historical overviews summarized from back of book
As of Spring 2006
3 pages (see below)
OLD ENGLISH & MIDDLE ENGLISH LITERATURE, 449-1485 (pp. 1319-20)
WOMEN’S CONTRIBUTIONS TO OLD ENGLISH LITERARY CULTURE (pp. 1321-22)
WOMEN’S CONTRIBUTIONS TO MIDDLE ENGLISH LITERATURE (pp. 1324-25)
RENAISSANCE & EARLY 17TH-CENTURY LITERATURE, 1485-1660 (pp. 1334-37)
LATE 17TH & EARLY 18TH-CENTURY LITERATURE, 1660-1800 (pp. 1352-55)
19TH-CENTURY LITERATURE, 1800-1900 (pp. 1369-71)
· 19th century saw a greater variety of genres for women & men
· Publication of William Wordsworth’s Lyrical Ballads (1798)
· A woman, Elizabeth Barrett Browning, seriously considered for Poet Laureate in 1850
· Continued rise of the novel saw prominence of four premier women novelists: Jane Austen, Charlotte Bronte, Emily Bronte, and George Eliot (Mary Ann Evans)
· The age of revolution but also of industrialism: writers responded to both areas, the Romantics deal with personal and political revolution & rebellion, while the mainly realistic writers protest social conditions and the polarization of Britian into rich & poor
· Social and religious issues provoked controversy in all genres & by both genders (e.g. “the Woman Question,” colonialism)
· In USA, some similar topics prevailed in writing, but the issue of slavery dominated work by black and white, male & female writers especially at mid-century.
· Some prominent black writers include the orator Sojourner Truth; the authors of slave narratives, including Frederick Douglass and Harriet Jacobs; the poet & novelist Frances Ellen Watkins Harper
· But much US literature (especially perhaps by whites) attempted to forge a national identity. In the early 19th century, Romantic fiction writers such as James Fenimore Cooper and Washington Irving were popular, followed by Edgar Allan Poe, the Romantics Hawthorne and Melville, and the Transcendentalists Margaret Fuller (Ossoli) (a feminist), Henry D. Thoreau (prose writer), Walt Whitman (poet), and Ralph W. Emerson (essayist and poet). There was also a tremendous increase in women novelists (Harriet Beecher Stowe, for example, best known for her abolitionist bestseller Uncle Tom’s Cabin). In the latter part of the 19th century, Mark Twain, the humorist (sometimes savagely ironic) churned out a lot of prose (fiction & non-fiction), and Emily Dickinson wrote poems that, while little published in her lifetime, have established her now as probably the 19th-century’s most stunning poet (& arguably the best American poet of all time)
· Generally, in sections that follow, we can divide 19th-century literary activity by men and women into Romantic poetry and prose, the Victorian novel, sentimental and popular literature, and literature of social protest.
MODERNIST LITERATURE, 1900-1945 (pp. 1385-86)
CONTEMPORARY LITERATURE, 1945-2000 (pp. 1401-03)