Emotion, Girlhood, and Coming of Age Fiction
Barbara Tomlinson
Feminist Studies 185TO: Gender & Culture
Mon/Weds 12:30-1:45 GIRV 2108
Winter 2016
Social identities are often structured around the deployment of affect and
emotion, especially in respect to women. In this course we will explore the ways in
which fiction writers represent the subjectivities and subject positions of girls and
young women in literature about coming of age in diverse communities and
cultures. We will examine how these authors present the emotional, ethical, sexual,
and social situations that girls negotiate as they come of age, looking particularly at
(1) the arguments they make about their relations to the societies and cultures
around them, and (2) the narrative and rhetorical strategies they use to evoke
girlhood worlds and worldviews.
Readings will probably include seven novels and two graphic novels. Please
be sure to obtain the books (perhaps through amazon.com) before the class. For
the first class meeting, please read Satrapi’s Persepolis, a fascinating graphic
novel about the author’s childhood in Iran between the Islamic revolution in 1979
and the Iran-Iraq war four years later. One short paper will be required on the
novel of your choice. There will be quizzes on the readings and class
contributions are required.
The novels will likely be the following:
Alison Bechdel. Fun Home: A Family Tragicomic.
Mariner Books, 2007. ISBN-10: 0618871713
Lorraine Lopez. The Gifted Gabaldon Sisters.
Grand Central, 2008. ISBN-10: 0-446-69921-7
Kate Atkinson. Behind the Scenes at the Museum.
Picador, 1997. ISBN-10: 0312150601
Laura Moriarty. The Center of Everything.
Hyperion, 2004. ISBN-10: 0786888458
Julie Otsuka. When the Emperor was Divine.
Anchor, 2003. ISBN-10: 0385721811
Marjane Satrapi. Persepolis: The Story of a Childhood.
Pantheon, 2004. ISBN-10: 037571457X
Danzy Senna. Caucasia.
Riverhead Trade, 1999. ISBN-10: 1573227161
Jeanette Winterson. Oranges are Not the Only Fruit.
Grove Press, 1997. ISBN-10: 0802135161
Dick Lochte. Sleeping Dog.
Brash Books, 2014. ISBN-10: 1941298095