Eng. 331: Kickass Women WritersSpring 2017
Profesora María Sánchez
Contact information:
Office hours TBD in MHRA 3115
This is typically where Type A personalities, and put-upon graduate students, place their absurdly long SLOs, or Student Learning Objectives. I am not Type A, and graduate school is in my review mirror (thankfully). In fact, I am old enough to remember way back in ancient times, when syllabi did not have SLOs, and students could assume this as their main objective: Learn the material on the syllabus. Simple and elegant, so let's try that.
However, there is a rationale, or back story for this class: I've taught Eng. 331, normally titled "Women and Literature," many times. I've always run it as a survey of U.S. women writers, and that has been fun. However, this past year I took part in a reading challenge that some of you may have heard of, called "52 Books in 52 Weeks." The objective is to read a book in its entirety every week for one year. As much as possible, the book should be something you do not have to read: It should be something that is not for work or school. I did this, and really enjoyed doing it. But many of the new authors I read and became very excited about were not U.S. writers, nor were they in my research area. However, I really wanted to bring some of these writers into the classroom and share them with you, because I think they embody many things that make literature -- world-wide -- healthy, vibrant, and a vital art form. So I've jettisoned the survey format, and there will be little historical congruence to what we read. That may be challenging at times! But when you put together a syllabus, you must make choices, and you can never have perfect coverage in history, genre, type or identity of author, and so on. So we're going to read some writers who I think are doing really great work now, and also some authors who've done really great work in the past. The combination should provide us with good context, and also give us a sense of how one of our oldest, most necessary artistic and cultural forms is transforming in the 21st century.
Materials You'll Need:
1. Copies of the majestic books Persepolis 1 & 2, by Marjane Satrapi. You can buy these individually, or you can buy them together as The Complete Persepolis. It's up to you. I did ask the book store to order copies, so you can certainly check there. They are also available online; they should be available at an actual book store like Scuppernong or Barnes and Noble; and used book palaces like Ed McKay may have copies. Also, our illustrious library has copies! There are so many ways to obtain this most kickass of texts!
Assignments:
Short essays, 3 – 4 pp: worth 25% of final grade
Midterm exam: worth 25% of final grade
Final exam: worth 25% of final grade
Participation: worth 20% of final grade
Attendance: worth 5% of your final grade
Schedule:
Week One:
January 18: Literature is dead! Long live literature!
We'll have an introduction to class, and center it on two ongoing issues: The present and future of literature, and the roles of women writers in that present and future. For today, take a look at two things:
1. This video from Kate Tempest performing at England's Glastonbury Festival in 2015:
January 20: Literature has some problems! Long live literature!
For today's class, read the following:
1. Recent survey results on reading in the U.S.:
2. "The Second Shelf," an essay by Meg Wolitzer in the New York Times:
3. And take a look at the web site for VIDA: Women in Literary Arts (referenced in Wolitzer's essay):
Week Two:Kate Tempest
January 23:
1. Performing at England's Glastonbury Festival in 2015 (This is the video we watched on our first day):
2. "Renegade":
January 25: More Tempestuousness
1. "Europe Is Lost,"
2. NPR "Tiny Desk Concert":
January 27: More Tempestuousness
1. Kate Tempest's web site:
2. Tempest poems from the book, Hold Your Own (on Canvas)
3. Interview with Tempest:
4. Negative review of Kate Tempest:
Week Three: Origins
First short essay due, 1/30
January 30: Anne Bradstreet, poems
February 1: Phillis Wheatley, poems
February 3: Bradstreet and Wheatley
Week Four: Origins Continued
February 6: Emily Dickinson, poems
February 8: Emily Dickinson, poems
February 10: Emily Dickinson, poems
Week Five: Warsan Shire and Chingona Fire
Second short essay due 2/13
February 13: Warsan Shire, poems
February 15: Chingona Fire, poems
February 17: discuss both Warsan Shire and Chingona Fire
Week Six: Zora Neale Hurston
February 20: Hurston, "How It Feels to Be Colored Me"
February 22: Hurston, "How It Feels to Be Colored Me"
February 24: Alice Walker, "In Search of Our Mothers' Gardens"
Week Seven: Marjane Satrapi
Third short essay due 2/27
February 27: Marjane Satrapi, Persepolis I
March 1: Persepolis I
March 3: Persepolis I
Week Eight: Marjane Satrapi Continued
March 6: midterm in class
March 8: Satrapi, Persepolis II
March 10: Persepolis II
Spring Break
Week Nine: Fanny Fern
March 20: Fern, newspaper writings
March 22: Fern, newspaper writings
March 24: Fern, newspaper writings
Week Ten: Joumana Haddad
Fourth short essay due 3/27
March 27: Haddad, excerpts from I Killed Scheherazade
March 29: Haddad, excerpts from I Killed Scheherazade
March 31: Haddad, excerpts from Superman Is an Arab
Week Eleven: Michele Serros
April 3: Michele Serros, short stories
April 5: Michele Serros, short stories
April 7: Michele Serros, short stories
Week Twelve: Short Story Origins
Fifth short essay due 4/10
April 10: Mary Wilkins Freeman, stories
April 12: Mary Wilkins Freeman, stories
April 14: Alice Walker, short stories
Week Thirteen:Jenny Lawson
April 17: Jenny Lawson, excerpts from Furiously Happy
April 19: Jenny Lawson, excerpts from Furiously Happy
April 21: Jenny Lawson, excerpts from Furiously Happy
Week Fourteen: TBD
April 24:
April 26:
April 28:
Week Fifteen:
Sixth and final short essay due!
May 1: Last day of class
Profesora’s rules:
1. Don’t piss me off.
2. I’m OK with laptops, iPads, Nooks, etc., into the classroom in order to access the readings, and that’s fine. If you’re one of those pathetically addicted people who can’t go half an hour without texting a friend, you’d better do it unobtrusively, otherwise I will ridicule you in front of everyone. If you choose not to follow along and pay attention, it’s your grade, and I won’t stop you. But if anything you do in class, with technology or without it, that distracts me as I’m trying to run the class; or if it disturbs a classmate, you will have a problem. For a first offense, you’ll have a tense conversation with me. If there is a second offense, I will drop you from class. (Consult rule #1.)
3. Lateshort essays will not be accepted. I set the deadlines, not you. If you know ahead of time that you may have a problem completing an assignment by the deadline, speak with me about an extension. That will demonstrate organization and attentiveness on your part, and this should be rewarded! Just dropping off a late paper whenever you bother to grace me with your presence? Go back and read Profesora’s Rule #1.
4. Plagiarism: The rule is easy: if the words and ideas aren’t yours, you must give credit where credit is due. Think of it this way: when I see quotations, proper citations, and a works cited list in your papers, I am impressed. I think, wow, Susie Jo Lou did all this research, and she wasn’t required to do it! Susie Jo Lou is awesome – A!! When I see quotations in your papers that aren’t marked as quotations – and thus, proper citations and a works cited list are missing – I think several things. For instance, I think, “That’s funny, I could have sworn Stowe wrote that, and not Bobby Doug Bo.” Then I think, “What kind of $^%&$!! rips off Stowe?” Then finally I think, “Fail – assignment AND course.” Then I inform the Director of Undergraduate Studies, she informs the College and starts filling out paperwork, and you have an F on your transcript and have to take the class over again. You can guess what I think of that. (Note that this also transgresses Rule #1, profoundly so.)
5. ODS: Registered with the Office of Disability Services? Think you might need some help? Let me know. (Nothing here transgresses Rule #1.)
6. Sugar and caffeine are to be encouraged. At times, there will be candy. You are responsible for your own caffeine. If you want to bring in sugar to share, do. People will like you. Also, this does not transgress Rule #1.
If you are a careful and attentive reader, you will have realized by now that there really is only one rule.