English 279: Women Writers in 20th Century Narratives         Office: Room 306

Room 238                                                                                      Phone: (O) 261-6275

 Lec 01 at 1:00-2:15 TR                                                                           (H) 842-9398 (and Voicemail)

 Mrs. Linda Ware, Professor                                                                        Office: 1:00-4:00 MW

Fall, 2003-2004                                                                                           10:00-11:00 TR

                                                                                                      I am often available at other times: check with me for appointments. 

                                                                    SYLLABUS

 

WEEK     DATE                    ASSIGNMENT

 

   I             Sept.    2                  Introduction      Historical background and Reading Strategies

 

                             4                  Chopin             The Awakening (Read first half)

 

   II                       9                  Chopin             (Finish novel—it’s short.)

 

                             11                Chopin             Margit Stange, “Personal Property: Exchange Value

                                                                        and the Female Self in The Awakening,”          (Handout)

                

  III           Sept.   16                Woolf              “A Room of One’s Own,” III                            (Handout)

                                                SHORT QUIZ (on Chopin and beginning of Woolf)

                                               

                             20                Woolf              “A Room of One’s Own,” IV                           (Handout)

 

  IV                       23                Kingston           The Woman Warrior (Read first chapter.)

 

                             25                Kingston          

 

  V                        30                Kingston           (Finish novel.)

 

                 Oct.     2                  FIRST EXAM

 

  VI            7                  Collins “Shifting the Center: Race, Class, and Feminist Theorizing                                               about Motherhood”                               (Handout)

 

                 Oct.     9                  Allende             The House of the Spirits  (Read first third.)

                                                SHORT PAPER ASSIGNED

 

  VII                     14                Allende            

                            

                             16                (NO CLASS) (But keep reading.)

 

  VIII                    21                Allende             (Finish novel.)

 

                             23                Erdrich             Tracks (Read first half)

                

 

                

 

 

 
  IX           Oct.     28                Erdrich             (Finish novel.)

                

                 Oct.     27-29          CONFERENCES ON SHORT PAPER [required]

 
                 Oct.     30                SECOND EXAM

 

   X           Nov.    4                  Allen                “Who Is Your Mother? Red Roots of White Feminism” from                                                 Spider Woman’s Granddaughters:  Tales and Contemporary

                                                                        Writing by Native American Women                          (Handout)

 

                             6                  Moraga            “La Guera,”                                                      (Handout)

                

                             7                  SHORT PAPER DUE

 

   XI                      11               Atwood            Cat’s Eye (Read first third.)

 

                              13               Atwood

 

   XII                    18               Atwood            (Finish novel.)

 

                              20               Hurston            “How It Feels to Be Colored Me”                    (Handout)

                                                Walker             “In Search of Our Mothers’ Gardens,”              (Handout)

                                                                       

   XIII        Nov.   25               Painter              on Sojourner Truth, “Ar’n’t I a Woman?”         (Handout)

                                                SHORT QUIZ

 

                              27               THANKSGIVING RECESS

 

   XIV       Dec.    2                 Morrison          Beloved (Read first third.)

 

                              4                 Morrison                                                         

 

   XV                    9                 Morrison          (Finish novel.)                                   

 

                              11               Review

                                               

   XVI        Dec.   18               FINAL EXAM: Tuesday, 1:00-3:00 in classroom

 

 

 

[Field trip may be required. L&FA events are recommended, especially those for Design for Diversity]

 

 

 

 

         

 

 

 

 

 

GENERAL INFORMATION

Professor Linda Ware

 

OFFICE HOURS:

          My scheduled office hours are from 1:00 to 4:00 p.m. on Mondays and Wednesdays and before and after classes on Tuesdays and Thursdays: before 11:30 and after 2:15.  These hours are designed for you to get individual help.  (Besides, I like to talk to you; you are a welcome relief from administrative tasks.) So don't be shy about using them.  If you can't come during these scheduled times, let me know and we'll find another occasion to meet. It’s important for you to get comfortable about asking questions.

 

ATTENDANCE:

          You are expected to attend every class, on time.  You may miss up to three classes with no excuses necessary.  More than three absences will obviously have a deleterious effect on your course grade, since you will miss discussion relevant to the paper and tests.  If you are continually late, that may also affect the grade for the same reason: I make *profoundly* important announcements at the beginning of the class.

 

READING:

          You should read the assignments listed on the syllabus before class.  To help you enter into class discussions, read the selections carefully, take notes or annotate or underline your text, and look up unfamiliar words in your dictionary.  When the assignment is a novel, try to read the first third of the book by the first day of the assignment; please have it finished by the last day it is assigned. Come to class or to my office with questions in mind and observations to share.

 

WRITING:

          Any outside writing assignment must be completed on a computer, whether yours or the Computer Lab's.  If you are not familiar with word processing, see the Lab or me and we'll arrange for instruction.  All outside essays should follow standard MLA manuscript format. I'll share copies of that format with you when I assign the short paper, and I will plan conferences with you to show you how to do the paper.

 

COURSE REQUIREMENTS:

          This class emphasizes imaginative reading, exploratory speaking, thoughtful listening, and critical writing. You must do all the assigned work for a passing grade. Every required paper, quiz, and exam is indicated in BOLD print on the syllabus. If I do not have a grade for you on every scheduled paper, every scheduled short quiz, and every scheduled exam by the time for final grades, you will receive an F for the course. Late work may or may not be penalized, depending on the circumstances, and may not be returned, although I like you to come in and ask me about your progress on the assignment.  Requests to turn in papers late or to make up missed quizzes or exams should be made in advance, except in cases of documentable emergency. If you have not notified me of an emergency—a phone call to the UWMC office or my home is a good start—and arranged for a makeup within three days of the missed deadline, I will not give a makeup and you will therefore fail the course. Let’s not do it that way. I want you to succeed.

 

GRADES:

          The course grade will be based primarily on the paper, quiz, and exam grades.  Because I grade heavily on improvement, the later grades count more than the early ones. I do not accept work for extra credit: simply do the assigned work well. Conscientious attendance, class participation, and cooperative group work will also enhance your grade, as well as adding to the class experience for all of us. We need you. 

 

 

 

 

 

English 279

Women Writers in 20th Century Narratives

Semester I, 2003-2004

1:00-2:15 Tuesday-Thursday

 

 

REQUIRED TEXTS/NOVELS:

 

          Kate Chopin, The Awakening (1899)             

          Maxine Hong Kingston, Woman Warrior (1975)

          Isabel Allende, House of the Spirits (1985)     

          Louise Erdrich, Tracks (1988)

          Margaret Atwood, Cat's Eye (1989)

          Toni Morrison, Beloved (1989)     

                       

       Selected essays from Mary K. DeShazer, Ed. The Longman Anthology of Women’s Literature

        You do not need to buy this anthology; I will give you the handouts.

                                         

And a few short poems from The Longman Anthology, just for fun--no quiz in the morning:

 

Duffy, “Standing Female Nude,” 334                   Millay, from “Fatal Interview,” 530

Sexton, “For My Lover, Returning to His Wife,” 534 

Olds, “The Language of the Brag,” 559; “Sex Without Love,” 561

Clifton, “naomi watches as ruth sleeps,” 820         Pratt, “Poem for My Sons,” 854

De Kok, “Small Passing,” 1060                           Rich, “Diving into the Wreck,” 1106

     

 

COURSE DESCRIPTION: 

English 279 is a course in 20th century narratives by American women. Initially, we explore the relationship of "scribbling women" novelists at the turn of the century to the modern literary tradition, with Kate Chopin’s The Awakening.  While spending some time on reading skills, we examine several contemporary essays about women as writers and their lives. Because this course is designed to include ethnic studies, we then turn to writers with minority perspectives on multicultural life on this continent.  Kingston is Chinese-American; Allende is Latina, Erdrich is Native American; Morrison is African-American. In addition, Atwood, who is Canadian, and several American essayists all dramatize the impact of their national and ethnic heritages on their experiences. 

 

Since several of the novels are actually Kunstlerromane, stories about the development of the creative artist, I spend some time working with the visual arts, particularly paintings.  If possible, I try to arrange a visit to the Leigh Yawkey Woodson Art Museum. The whole class ends the semester with a “field trip” to my home, where we discuss how the various arts interrelate and how those connections affect contemporary narratives. (We also eat.)

 

“When we study women of color,” says Henry Louis Gates, “we raise our awareness and understanding of the experience of all women, either implicitly or directly.”  As we watch these novelists experiment with narrative voices and with the supernatural, we also enlarge our perception of the epistemologies--the ways of knowing--of both women and men in contemporary America. 

          HU/ES