Women's writing
BT BW BB BS DT GA PA BC BP BDT BJ BY
O M Griffiths
Subject value of 1.0 (6 points) * 3 hours per week (1-hour lecture, 2 hours tutorial) * First semester * Gippsland/Distance * Prerequisites: GSC1401 and GSC1402 or equivalents
The aim of this subject is to study a number of works of imagination by women writers in the light of recent developments in literary theory and method. The subject begins with a consideration of some of the reasons put forward for placing literature by women in a separate category for study. It includes the opportunity to analyse and critique, through diverse readings of selected texts, the challenges which feminist literary theory makes to more orthodox ways of `reading' women. Some of the topics covered include the literary canon; its past exclusions and the implications for women; an introduction to two major strands of feminist literary scholarship; the problematising of the category `women' and the subversion of stereotypes in fiction; rewriting as a feminist strategy; romance and readerships; and speculative utopian writing and other issues tracing the connections between feminist thought and women's writing. The texts include autobiography, prose fiction, poetry and essays, and while there is some emphasis on Australian writers, a range of writing from Britain, Europe and America is represented.
Assessment
Minor assignment (2000 words): 40% * Major assignment (2500 words): 60%
Prescribed texts
Subject to availability
Adcock F Twentieth century women's poetry Faber and Faber, 1987
Bronte C Jane Eyre Penguin, 1966
Carter A (ed.) Wayward girls and wicked women Virago, 1986
Jolley E Miss Peabody's inheritance UQP, 1983
Lessing D The marriages between zones three, four and five Panther, 1985
Morgan S My place Fremantle Arts Centre Press, 1987
Rhys J Wide Sargasso Sea Penguin, 1979
Wolf C Cassandra Virago 1984