ENH2570

Writing women

J Strauss

8 points
* 2 hours per week
* First semester
* Clayton

Objectives Students successfully completing this subject should have gained knowledge of a broad sample of literature by women and of the historical contexts which the texts reflect and, at times, challenge. Students should also have developed an understanding of the shared features and preoccupations of women's texts and of the critical debate concerning the distinctive features of women's writing.

Synopsis The subject provides a general survey of women's literature, ranging across two centuries and three genres. It will consistently question and explore the concept of `the difference of view' and will examine the importance of common historical contexts and of intertexuality for women writers.

Assessment year Essay (3000 words): 50%
* Class paper (1000 words): 20%
* Test (2 hours): 30%

Prescribed texts

Austen J Persuasion OUP
Bront` C Villette Penguin
Dickinson E The final harvest Little Brown
Eliot G The mill on the Floss OUP
Gilman C P The yellow wallpaper Virago
Olsen T Tell me a riddle Virago
Plath S Ariel Faber
Rich A Dream of a common language Norton
Shelley M Frankenstein OUP
Walker A The color purple Women's Press
Wollstonecraft M Mary and The wrongs of woman OUP
Woolf V A room of one's own OUP