Women Without Men: Experiments in American Literature, 1890-1940

Catalog description

Spinsters, lesbians, workers, writers: women without men have been the object of sexual intrigue and social anxiety throughout the long history of American letters. In this course, we will think about women in American literature who are neither economically nor erotically dependent upon men, or else exhibit resistance to connections (sometimes economically or socially necessary) with men. Focusing on works from the 1890s to 1940s by authors such as Sarah Orne Jewett, Willa Cather, and Nella Larson, we will ask: how have women writers imagined a social and economic life without men? Where, why, and how do the women in these narratives fail to achieve such a life (many of our narratives will end, tragically, in death or suicide)? And what literary moves and experiments have such efforts to circumvent male-dominated worlds (including that of literature itself) engendered? As we explore structures of both platonic and lesbian relationships between women, our critical emphasis will be on feminist and queer theories, which students will further employ to analyze questions of class, economics, and narrative form. Students will come away with the ability to conduct independent literary research and produce scholarly writing. (Note: This Writing-Intensive Seminar in English (WISE) course fulfills WIM for English majors. Non-majors are welcome, space permitting. For enrollment permission contact [email protected].)