ENGL 277: Literature & Gender

(1) On Sigmund Freud: It has become commonplace to accuse Freud of formulating theories that are damaging to women, but is it possible to redeem his work? Are there elements in his work that undermine its manifestly patriarchal designs?

(2) On Virginia Woolf and/or Hélène Cixous: Critically discuss (and/or compare) the feminist strategies used by Woolf and/or Cixous.

(3) On Toer’s Footsteps: Minke’s concept of nationalism is in large part influenced by the women in his life. Paying particular attention to AT LEAST TWO female characters in the novel, discuss the role/ contribution of women in the formation of Minke’s concept of nation. Do their “voices” resonate in Minke’s singular and dominant narrative voice? Or, are they, in the end, rendered mute by Minke’s patriarchal impulses?

(4) On Miller’s 300: Offer a critical reading of Frank Miller’s graphic novel 300 that is organized around one or more of the following themes: violence, (hyper)masculinity, race, queerness.

(5) On Chang’s Hunger: Examine the significance of location and dislocation in Lan Samantha Chang’s Hunger. How does spatial imagery explicate and/or develop and/or extend and/or even complicate the novella’s theme of (cultural) memory. In making your argument feel free to explore the connections between space and other central concepts in Hunger (food, music, language, etcetera).

Queen’s University 2011-12

English 277: Literature and Gender (Winter Term)

Instructor: Dr. Jeremy De Chavez

Teaching Assistants: Katelynn Enright, Laura Kinderman, and Irena Lazarevic

Location: MIL 105

Time: M 4-530, W 230-4

Blog: http://engl277.blogspot.com/

Course Description:

This course examines how gender (and its intersections with sexuality, class, and race) shape authorship, reception, and representation. Our aim is to discover whether attentiveness to sexual difference makes us more perceptive and purposeful readers. In doing so, we engage a broad selection of literary and theoretical texts representing diverse cultures and historical periods. Some of the authors under consideration will be Virginia Woolf, Anaïs Nin, Hélène Cixous, Michel Houellebecq, Pramoedya Ananta Toer, Lan Chang, and Chuck Palahniuk. Further, selections from feminist, psychoanalytic, and poststructuralist criticism will guide our exploration of the vital but contested relations between literature and gender. We will be vigilantly critical of instances when literature reinscribes the values of the dominant patriarchal order while being receptive to moments when literary texts offer new and more ethical ways to imagine and to live gendered and racial selves.

Marks:

1. Essay 1 (1000 words) 10%

2. Essay 2 (1500 words) 30%

3. In-class activities 10%

4. Attendance 10%

5. Final Exam 40%

_____

100%

Schedule:

Week 1: Provocations

Jan 9: Introduction

Jan 11: Anais Nin. “The Hungarian Adventurer” and "The Boarding School" in Delta of Venus.

Week 2: Subjectivity

Jan 16: Freud, Sigmund. From Three Essays on the Theory of Sexuality (Part 1,

“The Sexual Deviations”) in The Psychology of Love.

Jan 18: Freud, Sigmund. From Three Essays on the Theory of Sexuality (Part 2,

“Infantile Sexuality” and Part 3, “Transformations of Puberty”) in The

Psychology of Love.

Week 3: (Feminine) Desire

Jan 23: Freud, Sigmund. Fragment of an Analysis of Hysteria (Dora) in

The Psychology of Love.

Jan 25: Freud, Sigmund. “On Female Sexuality” in The Psychology of Love.

Nin, Anais. “Lilith”, “Manuel”, "Marianne" and “The Veiled Woman” in Delta of
Venus.

Week 4: Sexual Politics

Jan 30: Woolf, Virginia. A Room of One’s Own (1/2)

ENGL 277: Literature & Gender

Sunday, 11 March 2012

Late Policy

Saturday, 3 March 2012

Teaching Assistants

Thursday, 23 February 2012

Essay Topics

Sunday, 8 January 2012

ENGL 277 Syllabus