English 350-547-001
Approaches to Literary Criticism
Instr:
Jane Gallop
Office:
CRT 496, 229-6402
e-mail:
jg@uwm.edu
Office hours: by appointment
Course Information:
MW 1:30-2:45 pm CRT 124
Course Description
We will read seven books by feminist literary intellectuals that have
had a wide impact. Our reading will continually have a double focus:
what is being said about literature? what is
being said about gender? Trying to think through the relation
between literature and feminism, we will be trying to think the connections
between aesthetics and politics, culture and society, story and life.
Although we hope to consider many of the major theoretical issues at these
crossings, we also will think about the stylistic strategies of the books.
Our emphasis will continually be on attentive reading, careful analysis,
and close writing.
Texts: (Available at the UWM Union Bookstore)
Dorothy Allison, Skin: Talking About Sex, Class, and Literature
Gloria Anzaldúa, Borderlands—La Frontera
Hélène Cixous, Coming to Writing
Audre Lorde, Sister Outsider
Adrienne Rich, On Lies, Secrets, and Silence
Alice Walker, In Search of Our Mother’s Gardens
Virginia Woolf, A Room of One’s Own
Assignments:
Four 5-page papers (on books read for class)—1/6 of the grade each.
Take-Home Final Exam—1/6 of the grade.
Class Participation (attendance, reading papers aloud in class, paper
discussants)—1/6 of the grade.
Papers are due at the beginning of class—no late papers accepted.
Each student will read a paper aloud at least once during the semester.
Students will be assigned as discussants for these readings.
