English 379W: American Women’s Writing
Spring 2003; Section 1 (MW
Office: McIver 202; 334-4696; academic@karenkilcup.org
Hours: MW 3-3:30,
Description: What is “American women’s writing”? Does it differ significantly from literature
authored by men, and if so, how?
How does American women’s writing vary according to
the writer’s class, race, religion, place, or historical moment? Why did many important earlier women writers
disappear from view in the first part of the twentieth century, and why did
others remain important?
What questions do American women of the past
consider that remain important to us—writers and reader—today? In seeking responses
to these questions, this
course
American women’s literary
work, including Euroamerican, African American,
Native American, Asian American, and Mexican
American authors from the
Northeast, South, and West. We will
focus our attention first on nineteenth-century American women’s
writing, but we will also consider
how work by contemporary American women emerges (and diverges) from the writing
of their predecessors. Classes will
include an occasional lecture but student participation and discussion will
direct our focus. Representative
writers:
Charlotte Perkins Gilman,
Kate Chopin, Zitkala-Ša, Lucille Clifton, Sandra
Cisneros, Alice Walker. NB: This is a survey course,
which means that a central goal
is to provide you with as much exposure to a range of texts as possible, not to
cover in class everything on the syllabus.
Although we will do a lot of reading, it will not be possible to discuss
everything on the reading
list, nor will we cover
everything in the same detail. If you
have a favorite reading for a particular day, be sure to make
explicit your desire to explore that
text.
Student Learning Outcomes: At the completion of this course students
will:
·
have gained knowledge about the central themes, perspectives, and
issues in an important field in American literature and literary theory and
about the writing’s relation to current concerns
·
understand American women’s writing in the context of the American literary
canon and some of the current critical debates in the field, both practical and
theoretical
·
be able to recognize the connections between traditional and
non-traditional literary genres
·
recognize and appreciate the “conversations” between and among multicultural
writers
Assessment: One-page (250-word minimum) writing assignment
every week, with a major revision (2500+ words, including research)
at the end of the
term; possibly a group presentation. Weekly assignments: 35%; final revision:
35%; participation in classroom activities: 30%, including regular attendance and contributions to discussion, satisfactory
completion of impromptu quizzes and in-class writing assignments, participation
in regular informal group presentations, and on-time completion of reading
assignments. Writing assignments are due at the beginning of class on
Mondays. We will set up a workshop
schedule for assessing your writing by the whole class. At the end of the course you will turn in a portfolio of all your work—essays (with my comments on them), quizzes,
in-class writing assignments, any presentation materials—which will form the
basis of your final grade, so save
everything. See the separate page below for additional portfolio
instructions. Because I want you to
concentrate on process and improving your writing rather than on focusing on
your grade, I will not give formal grades until the end of the semester. I will make comments periodically on your
essays; you will also receive feedback from other students and a brief
assessment from me around mid-semester. Students
who wish to have a graded assessment
before this time should make an appointment to meet with me (bring your
portfolio).
Attendance Policy: Because the in-class work represents nearly a third of your grade, it is crucial that you attend class and participate. Students absent for more than 2 classes for any reason may be dropped or have their grade lowered at the instructor’s discretion.
Academic Honor Code: Students are expected to adhere to the University Academic Honor Policy. See the UNCG Graduate Bulletin and the Policies for Students handbook.
Required Texts (in bookstore):
Cisneros, Sandra. The House on
Jacobs, Harriet. Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl
Kilcup, Karen L. Nineteenth-Century American Women Writers: An Anthology
Walker,
Special note for majors and other interested students: The English Department has established a listserv that we hope you will join. From your
regular e-mail account (either on campus or at home), send an e-mail to: listproc@uncg.edu with this message: subscribe english-L firstname
lastname
(substitute your first and last name for those terms in the message). For
example: subscribe english-L Jane Doe.
Tentative Schedule: NB: All primary readings other than
Cisneros, Jacobs, and Walker are from our anthology.
Week 1 (1/13): Introduction;
Gender, Ethnicity and American Identity
1. Introduction. Politics and aesthetics, then and now; Native American and Judeo-Christian origin stories
2. Mary Jemison; Child, “Adventure in the
Woods”; Sigourney, “Indian Names,” “
Week 2 (1/20): Advice Writing
and Material Culture
1. No class—Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
2. Introduction to Nineteenth-Century American Women Writers; Child, “Introductory
Chapter,” “General Maxims for Health,” “Education of Daughters”; Harper, “Fancy
Etchings”;
Week 3 (1/27): Reading Race and
Class; Utopian and Dystopian Writing
1. Dodge, “Sunday Afternoon in a Poor-House,” “Miss Maloney on the Chinese Question”; Larcom, “Weaving”; Sojourner Truth; Johnson,
“As It Was in the Beginning”
2. Betsey Chamberlain, “A New Society”; Child, “Hilda Silfverling”; Alcott, “Transcendental Wild Oats”; Harper, “We Are All Bound Up
Together”; Lazarus, “The New Colossus”
Week 4 (2/3): Death,
Sentimentalism, and Emotion; Women’s Humor
1. Cary, “My Grandfather”; Johnson, “The Tenas Klootchman”; Piatt, “The Funeral of a Doll”; E. Dickinson, Letters to Susan on the death of
Gilbert [L868, 871];
Jacobsen, “The Wooing of Rachel Shlipsky”; Fern, “Aunt Hetty on Matrimony,” “Soliloquy of a Housemaid,” “Hungry Husbands,”
“Fashionable Invalidism”; Holley
Week 5 (2/10): Aesthetics and
the Woman Artist; Northeastern Regionalism
1. Woolson; Sui Sin Far, “What About the Cat?”; Piatt, “The Fancy Ball”; Harper, “Songs for the People”
2. Cooke fiction, all; Freeman, “Old Woman Magoun”; Larcom, “A Little Old Girl”
Week 6 (2/17): Women and Money;
Life-Writing
2. Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl
Week 7 (2/24): Life-Writing;
Women and Nature
1. Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl
2. Larcom, “Flowers of the Fallow”; Thaxter, “Woman’s Heartlessness”; Cleary, “Dust Storm”; Dickinson, Poem 986 (“A narrow fellow in the
grass”) and 1466 (“One of the ones that Midas touched”); Reese, “Drought,” “White Flags,” “Crows,” “White April”
Week 8 (3/3): Writing Workshop; Mystery and Thriller
1. Writing workshop
2. Spofford, “In the Maguerriwock”; Hopkins, “Talma Gordon”; Mena, “The Vine-Leaf”
March 8-16 Spring Break
1. Foote, “Pictures of the
2. Elliott, “An Ex-Brigadier”; Piatt, “The Black Princess”; Reese, “A War Memory”; Harper, the Aunt Chloe poems: “Aunt Chloe” to “The
Week 10 (3/24): Southern Women’s
Writing; Sexuality
1. Freeman, “Two Friends”; Chopin, “Lilacs,” “The Storm”; Dunbar-Nelson, “A Carnival Jangle”
2. King, “The Balcony,” “The Old Lady’s Restoration”; Dunbar-Nelson, “Sister Josepha”; Cooper
Week 11 (3/31): Children’s
Literature
1. Jewett, “Woodchucks”; Fern, “The Baby’s Complaint,” “The Boy Who Liked Natural History,” and “A Peep Underground”; Wiggin, “The
Tale of a Self-Made Cat”; Cary,
“Three Bugs”;
2. DRAFT OF REVISION DUE; writing workshop
Week 12 (4/7): American Women
and the World
1. Possessing the Secret of Joy
2. Possessing the Secret of Joy
Week 13 (4/14): American Women and Family
1. Film TBA
2. Film TBA
Week 14 (4/21): American Women
and Home
1. The
House on
2. The
House on
Week 15 (4/28):
1. Contemporary writing (Handout)
2. FINAL PAPER AND PORTFOLIO DUE
Week 16 (5/5)
1. TBA
Beginning with week 2, you will write an essay of at least 250 words (typed or word-processed, double-spaced, 11- or 12-point font) every week on one or more of the texts that we have read (preferably one that we have not discussed in class). We will discuss your writing daily in class, either in small groups or as a whole group, with essays for presentation due on a staggered time schedule (see below). Write about any theme, issue, character, or stylistic device that you like. The only constraint is: each essay should begin with a very short (no more than two or three lines) quotation from the text that you have chosen to discuss, responding directly to that quotation. Be sure to date and paginate individual essays, and put your name on every page. Also, put the word count—EXCLUDING THE QUOTATION—at the end of every paper.
In these essays I am not looking for any “right answers,” but rather for the development of your own ideas over a period of time and for a self-critical appraisal of the work that you have done, especially in the revised essay. That is, writing these short pieces all in one sitting will not be productive, for it will not reveal the development over time that regular daily writing will do. In addition to correctness and clarity, thoughtfulness and an engagement with the materials and with your own ideas should be your aim. Don’t be afraid to criticize or praise an author for his or her ideas. You may also choose to be critical of some of the conclusions at which we arrived in class discussion; be sure to quote (very briefly, giving appropriate page references in parentheses after each reference) from the text under discussion in order to support and illustrate your ideas. You can even criticize yourself for a perspective you held earlier that has changed as you have read and thought more about your subject. Give each essay a title, as well as providing a title for the final revised essay.
On the second day of class I will give you a date to have your work discussed by the entire class (I’ll conduct a lottery). You should bring with you 28 copies of your essay to distribute for the discussion; please distribute these essays THE DAY BEFORE YOUR PAPER IS DUE TO BE WORKSHOPPED. Unless I have your folder, you should bring it with you to every class. As you prepare for these workshop discussions, please read carefully the “Guide for Evaluating Writing” on the next page. I expect that you will take seriously not only improving your own writing but also helping your classmates improve theirs. Although it is often difficult to critique our own writing, one of the best ways to do so is to analyze the strengths and weaknesses of others’ work.
For the concluding revision you’ll select the regular
writing assignment that interests you most and revise (and expand—to at least
2500 words) your ideas in the light of your other essays and readings. This
essay should consider more broadly the issues that you have raised over the
semester. The revision will also include a research component in which you will
look for current discussion about and/or images surrounding an issue raised by
the writer(s) on whom you are focusing.
For example, if you are writing about Lydia Maria Child’s or Frances
Harper’s narratives about racism, you could seek out contemporary newspaper
articles or editorials, photographs in magazines, or music that deals with that
subject. In your revision, then, you
will discuss how today’s creative women (and pop culture more generally) handle
the same subject as their predecessors.
You should take a critical look at this connection: Do the current
“texts” with which you are dealing reflect any advance on the earlier writers’
thinking? Do they complicate or question
their predecessors’ ideas in any significant way? What do the images or themes from today tell
us about American culture as a whole?
Sometime in the first half of the semester I will give you more detailed
instructions about this revision, but you should be thinking about it from the
beginning; our handout and discussion of Alice Cary’s poem and Molly Ivens’s essay on the first day will provide a model. The
headings listed on the syllabus suggest a few of the topics that you might
ponder, but there are many others:
women’s communication and the use of silence; the body (including
cultural interventions into and expectations surrounding women’s bodies, such
as reproductive technologies, piercing and tattooing, and fashion); and women,
humor, and power. The conclusion of your
essay will outline some concrete suggestions for how we might approach the
problems explored by the writers (and, of course, by your essay).