English 331-01Women in Literature

Staff Information

InstructorDr. Marilyn May Lombardi
Office: 120 McIver
Office Hours: TR 11-12
Email: msmaylom@uncg.edu
Home phone: 674-7449
Voice Mail: 334-4692

Course Overview

I saw you once, Medusa; we were alone.

I looked you straight in the cold eye, cold.

I was not punished, was not turned to stone

How to believe the legends I am told?

--from May Sartons "The Muse as Medusa"

This course will focus on three classic images of the female and on the many literary and cultural meanings that have come to be attached to them as they recur over the ages. Our cast of characters will include the Petrifying Monster (Medusa), the Secret-Keeper (Sphinx), the Madwoman (Maenad) and the Mute (Philomela). Why have these figures remained so central to the Western notions of the feminine, from Ovids Metamorphosis to Freuds psychological case studies, and beyond? In pursuit of an answer to this question, the class will study the ways in which contemporary woman writers and filmmakers have fragmented and recombined these troublesome images in their struggle to express what it means to experience life from within the body of a woman.

Course Requirements

  1. Regular Attendancestudents will be dropped from the class after more than six unexcused absences.
  2. Class participation (5% of final grade). Students must come to class prepared to discuss that days assignment. Those students who wish to clarify ideas discussed during class may also supplement their reading with the recommended texts, but these readings are not required.
  3. Oral presentation (10% of final grade)
  4. Two take-home examinations (50% of final grade; each exam is worth 25%)
  5. Final Project: a typewritten paper seven pages in length (35% of final grade)

Course Schedule

Schedule

Readings

Aug. 20 (M)

Introduction to Course

Aug. 22 (W)

From Ovids Metamorphosis: Medusa, Philomela, Arachne

Aug. 27 (M)

"The Voice of the Shuttle is Ours"

Aug. 29 (W)

Nightmare: The Birth of Victorian Horror (video)

Sept. 3 (M)

Labor Day Holiday

Sept. 5 (W)

Mary Shelleys Frankenstein

Sept. 10 (M)

Mary Shelleys Frankenstein

Sept. 12 (W)

Nathaniel Hawthornes "The Birth-mark"

Sept. 17 (M)

Charlotte Perkins Gilmans "The Yellow Wallpaper"

Sept. 17 (M)

First Take-Home Exam Distributed

Sept. 19 (W)

Jane Campions The Piano (film viewing)

Sept. 24 (M)

Jane Campions The Piano (film viewing)

Sept. 24 (M)

First Take-Home Exam Due

Sept. 26 (W)

Jane Campions The Piano (film viewing)

Oct. 1 (M)

Discussion of The Piano

Oct. 3 (W)

Dorothy Allisons Bastard Out of Carolina

Oct. 8 (M)

Fall Break

Oct. 10 (W)

Dorothy Allisons Bastard Out of Carolina

Oct. 15 (M)

Dorothy Allisons Bastard Out of Carolina

Oct. 17 (W)

bell hookss "Eating the Other"

Oct. 22 (M)

bell hooks on Video: Cultural Criticism & Transformation (video)

Oct. 24 (W)

Discussion of bell hooks on Video

Oct. 24 (W)

Second Take-Home Exam Distributed

Oct. 29 (M)

Amy Tans The Joy Luck Club (film viewing)

Oct. 31 (W)

Amy Tans The Joy Luck Club (film viewing)

Oct. 31 (W)

Second Take-Home Exam Due

Nov. 5 (M)

Amy Tans The Joy Luck Club (film viewing)

Nov. 7 (W)

Discussion of The Joy Luck Club

Nov. 12 (M)

Final Project: Workshop

Nov. 14 (W)

Final Project: Workshop

Nov. 19 (M)

Final Project: Workshop

Nov. 21 (W)

Thanksgiving Holiday

Nov. 26 (M)

Student Presentations

Nov. 28 (W)

Student Presentations

Dec. 3 (M)

Student Presentations

Dec. 5 (W)

Student Presentations

Dec. 10 (M)

Final Project Due