Hong Kong Shue Yan University
Department of English Language & Literature
2nd term, 2015-2016
Course Title
Course Code
Year of Study
Number of Credits
Duration in Weeks
Contact Hours Per Week
Pre-requisite(s)
Prepared by
: Women’s Writing and Feminist Readings
: ENG 184
: 1st & 2nd
:3
: 15
: Lecture (2 Hours)
: Tutorial (1 Hour)
: NIL
: Dr. Amy CHAN
Course Aims
This course aims to introduce students to the various ways of engaging literary texts from
feminist perspectives. Taking literary texts (mostly fiction by established author such as
Virginia Woolf, Margaret Atwood, Doris Lessing, Toni Morrison, etc) as a major site of
political contestation, women have developed a tradition of readings and writings that
contributes to multiple interpretations of modern culture. Topics of the course will include
introduction to various feminist literary theories, representation of women in various
cultural texts, and the traditions of women’s writings as evolved across cultures.
Course Intended Learning Outcomes (ILOs)
Upon completion of this course students should be able to:
ILO1
write about the main features of women’s writings in the late 19th to
late 20th centuries.
ILO2
articulate the differences between female, feminine and feminist
writings
ILO3
state critical modern feminist literary theories.
ILO4
grasp the different levels of meaning of the selected texts
ILO5
criticize literary texts from feminist perspectives.
ILO6
synthesize feminist reading strategies and everyday life practice.
ILO7
write critically on a specific issue or on a selected text.
TLA1
TLA2
TLA3
TLA4
TLO5
TLA6
TLA7
TLA8
TLA9
Teaching and Learning Activities (TLAs)
introduction of tradition of female and feminist writings.
introduction of feminist literary theories.
introduction of main features of women’s writings in the late 19th to late
20th centuries.
explanation of the differences between female, feminine and feminist
writings
quizzes on texts
reading and discussion of texts
critical analysis of texts with feminist literary theories
oral presentations by students, focus on critical analyses of
representation of women in cultural texts
writing of term paper
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Assessment Tasks (ATs)
AT1
AT2
AT3
AT4
Oral Presentation
3 quizzes (5% each)
Term Paper
Final Examination
15%
15%
30%
40%
TOTAL 100%
Alignment of Course Intended Learning Outcomes, Teaching and Learning Activities
and Assessment Tasks
Course Intended Learning
Teaching and Learning
Assessment Tasks
Outcomes
Activities
ILO1
TLA1,3,9
AT3,4
ILO2
TLA4,9
AT3,4
ILO3
TLA2
AT1,3,4
ILO4
TLA5,6,7,9
AT2,3,4
ILO5
TLA2,6,7,9
AT3,4
ILO6
TLA2,8
AT1
ILO7
TLA2,6,7,9
AT3,4
Requirements
1. Quizzes
To ensure students have a good knowledge of the text before discussion in class, 3
quizzes will be given during the term.
2. Presentation
Students are required to give a presentation in group on a chosen topic. Students are
strongly recommended to discuss their topics with the instructor at least a week
before their presentation.
3. Term Paper
The length of the paper should be around 1500. The instructor will prepare a list of
possible questions or topics, but students are free to write on any topic of their choice,
provided they get prior approval from the instructor. The term paper MUST submit
to Moodle before the due date. A sub-grade will be deducted every 24 hours
Course Outline
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Introduction to women’s writings and feminist literary theories
bell hooks, Feminism is for Everybody (excerpts)
Kate Chopin, The Awakening
Jean Rhys, Wide Sargasso Sea
*1st Quiz
Margaret Atwood, The Handmaid’s Tale
*2nd Quiz
Toni Morrison, The Bluest Eye
*3rd Quiz
Reading Weeks
(1 week)
(1 week)
(2 weeks)
(3 weeks)
(3 weeks)
(3 weeks)
(2 weeks)
15 weeks
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Open Book Policy
Both the quiz and the final examination will be open book. You are allowed to bring a
printed dictionary and the texts to the quiz and the examination. No photocopies of the
texts are allowed.
Academic Honesty
You are expected to do your own work. Dishonesty in fulfilling any assignment undermines the
learning process and the integrity of your college degree. Engaging in dishonest or unethical
behavior is forbidden and will result in disciplinary action, specifically a failing grade on the
assignment with no opportunity for resubmission. A second infraction will result in an F for the
course and a report to College officials. Examples of prohibited behavior are:
Cheating – an act of deception by which a student misleadingly demonstrates that s/he has
mastered information on an academic exercise. Examples include:
Copying or allowing another to copy a test, quiz, paper, or project
Submitting a paper or major portions of a paper that has been previously submitted for
another class without permission of the current instructor
Turning in written assignments that are not your own work (including homework)
Plagiarism – the act of representing the work of another as one’s own without giving credit.
Failing to give credit for ideas and material taken from others
Representing another’s artistic or scholarly work as one’s own
Fabrication – the intentional use of invented information or the falsification of research or
other findings with the intent to deceive
To comply with the University’s policy, the term paper has to be submitted to VeriGuide.
Resources
Principal Texts
1. Kate Chopin, The Awakening
2.
3.
4.
Jean Rhys, Wide Sargasso Sea
Margaret Atwood, A Handmaid’s Tale
Toni Morrison, The Bluest Eye
Supplementary Readings
1. Belsey, Catherine & Moore, Jane, eds. (1997) The Feminist Reader: Essays in Gender
and the Politics of Literary Theory. London: Blackwell.
2. Blyth, Ian & Sellers, Susan. (2004) Hélène Cixous: Live Theory. New York & London:
Continuum.
3. Cixous, Hélène. (1996) Three Steps on the Ladder of Writing. Columbia University
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
Press.
Eagleton, Mary. (1995) Feminist Literary Theory: A Reader. Blackwell.
Gilbert, Sandra M. & Gubar, Susan, eds. (2000) Madwoman in the Attic: The Woman
Writer and the Nineteenth-Century Literary Imagination. Yale University Press.
Irigaray, Luce. (1985) Speculum of the Other Woman. Cornell University Press.
Irigaray, Luce. (2001) To Speak is Never Neutral. London: Routledge.
Kristeva, Julia. (1980) Desire in Language. Columbia University Press.
Mills, Sara & Pearce, Lynne, eds. (1996) Feminist Readings: An Introduction to Feminist
Literature (2nd Edition). Prentice Hall.
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10. Moi, Toril. (2002) Textual/ Sexual Politics: Feminist Literary Theory. London & New York:
Routledge.
11. Morris, Pam. (1993) Feminism and Literature: An Introduction. London: Blackwell.
12. Nikilchina, Miglena. (2004) Matricide in Language: Writing Theory in Kristeva and
Woolf. Other Press.
13. Showalter, Elaine. (1998) A Literature of Their Own. Princeton University Press.
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