Literature by Women

Catalog description

This course offers a social, historical, and political examination of literature written by women through the centuries in a variety of genres (novels, short stories, poetry, essays and memoirs). What role, if any, does an author’s gender play in the production of a text and in our interpretation of it? Is there really a distinct manner of writing that is specific to women? How have women writers been understood and valued (or not) through time? While we will look for common themes among the work assigned, we will also uncover the vast diversity of human experience present in women’s literature. Through the process, students will develop their critical reading, thinking, and writing skills and use them to analyze literary texts.