English 243-001
Introduction to Literature by Women: Women and Madness
Instr: Brenegan, Debra
Office: CRT 296; 229-5025
Email: debraab@uwm.edu
Office Hours: TBA
Course Information: M & W; 9:30am-10:45am; AUP 104
Course Description
In this course, we will read a wide-range of 19th and 20th century women's literature focusing on the issues of breakdown, madness and self-discovery. We will begin with theoretical and contextual readings to understand how madness, breakdown and self-discovery among women have been discussed and treated by both the medical community and society at large over time. We will examine how race, gender, and class affect and inform our relationship to madness and its effects. We will also discuss and analyze our fascination with and abhorrence of mental illness, the stigma of mental illness, diagnostic standards, and the variety of mental illness recovery modes and methods available and/or accepted in various eras and cultures.
Tentative Reading List:
The Yellow Wallpaper, Charlotte Perkins Gillman
Jane Eyre, Charlotte Bronte
Wide Sargasso Sea, Jean Rhys
The Bell Jar, Sylvia Plath
Beloved, Toni Morrison
White Oleander, Janet Fitch
The Life and Loves of a She-Devil, Fay Weldon
Selections from:
Elaine Showalter, Jane Usher, Shoshana Felman, Virginia Woolf, Sandra Gilbert and Susan Gubar, Linda Schierse Leonard, Jeffrey L. Geller & Maxine Harris
Possible Films: The Magdalene Sisters, Gothika
Class Requirements:
- Six 2 page response papers (30%)
- Two 5-7 page critical analysis papers - Midterm and Final (30%)
- Group presentation (10%)
- Attendance, participation, short writing assignments and quizzes (30%)
