Dr. Gates EH 420/ 420G Women's Literature
EH 420 [Sched. # 1791] and EH 420 G [Sched. # 9292] Both are Sec. 01
COURSE DESCRIPTION: 3 credit hours. Six centuries of representative literature by women
writing in English. Emphasis on recent British, American, ethnic-American authors. Discussion
of women writers in relation to the canon.
PRE-REQUISITE: Successful completion of EH 102 required.
TEXTS. Required:
Gilbert, Sandra M., and Susan Gubar, eds. The Norton Anthology of Literature by Women. 2nd.
ed. New York: W. W. Norton, 1996. Available in Jacksonville Bookstores. The ISBN
for the book is 0-393-96825-1.
You will also need several documents from the Internet (or Library reserve), including:
Robins, Elizabeth. Votes for Women, My Little Sister, and some shorter works that will be
available as printouts or as library reserves. The critical paper will likely and some shorter
response exercises may require an individualized additional source or sources. Individual reports
will expect you to use library material and additional research resources and/ or material I hand to
you. ALL books & tapes which I lend and xeroxed copies that I hand out must be returned.
SYLLABUS Spring 2006.
Week 1 Tuesday, January 10
Introduction to the course and to issues related to reading literature by women. Explanation of
scope of the course. Assign for next classes: Literature of the canon. Explanation of teaching
philosophy and overview of course requirements. Fill out and collect reaction sheets.
Theme:
Childhood
Read in Class:
Rossetti's Goblin Market,
Elizabeth Bishop, In the Waiting Room
Canon: Emily Dickinson
Thursday, January 12 LAST DAY TO ADD
Week 2 Tuesday, January 17
Theme: Childhood and RELIGION
George Eliot's Brother and Sister (831)
Sarah Orne Jewett A White Heron, 1003
Louise Erdrich (2353)
Bishop: Gwedolyn (1660)
Child hood sequence of Jane Eyre (chapters 1-10), 468
Canon: Glance through the Read the anthology selections by: Women Writers in the Middle
Ages:
Julian of Norwich, 14
Margery Kempe, 18
Women Writers in the Renaissance:
EH 420/ G Women's Lit: Syllabus, page 1
Queen Elizabeth I, 27
Mary Sidney, 29
Amelia Lanier, 40
Mary Wroth, 54
American women in the Colonial period:
Anne Bradstreet, 80
Re-consider Dickinson as presented by NALW (855)
Jan. 19: last day to withdraw and receive 80% refund on tuition.
Week 3 Tuesday, January 24
Theme: Romance and its Complications
Finish Jane Eyre. Discuss.
Mention other Brontes and other Jane Eyre offshoots.
Elizabeth Barrett Browning, 357: Read at least: the intro of Aurora Leigh,
Wharton, "The Other Two" (1162)
Porter, "Jilting of Granny Weatherall" 1481
Week 4 Tuesday, January 31 Romance and its Complications, Cont'd.
Austen: Love and Friendship,, 330
Gothic origins, Mary Shelley, 353
Principal text: Kate Chopin: The Awakening (1013)
GRADED ESSAY#A
Feb. 2: last day to withdraw and receive 50% refund on tuition.
Week 5 Tuesday, February 7
Theme: Politics: Woman Suffrage
Women and Economics, Women's Health
Read for this class: Gilman, "The Yellow Wallpaper"1130
and MILLAY, "To Inez Milholland" (1510); DJUNA BARNES How It Feels to Be
Forcibly Fed (1528)
Intro to Elizabeth Robins: Class reading and discussion of Votes for Women (all should
have text). Consideration of US Women's Suffrage Movement: Reports Elizabeth Cady
Stanton, on Alice Paul, Doris Stevens and Iron Jawed Angels.
Week 6 Tuesday, February 14
Tillie Olsen, Principal text: Tell Me a Riddle (1701) Welty, "A Worn Path" 1640
Film of Tell Me a Riddle, and discussion.
Midterm Short Answer.
Week 7 Tuesday, February 21
Graduates will read Robins' My Little Sister. Undergraduates read this or an alternate
Robins text, tba. Discussion.
G R A D E D E S S A Y # B (MIDTERM): Write Essay/s in Class. Disclaimer: Official
reporting deadline comes too early to compute Midterm exam and therefore is used
primarily to report students whose absences put their grade at risk. It is the student's
responsibility to know standing in the course
Midterm grades filed Feb. 23.
EH 420/ G Women's Lit: Syllabus, page 2
Week 8 Tuesday, February 28
Woolf (focus on A Room of One's Own) and essays
Walker: 2314, Rich: 1980; Paule Marshall: 1946
Wollstonecraft (204), Fuller (201) Nightingale (836)
Thursday, March 2. LAST DAY TO DROP WITHOUT ACADEMIC PENALTY
Week 9 Tuesday, March 7
Life in Iron Mills (918) and economics
and continue with essays from last week and from Elizabeth Robins.
Canon: Dorothy Wordsworth (318), Plath (2079)
Week 10 Tuesday, March 14.
Race and Ethnicity
Browning, A Curse for a Nation (401), Runaway Slave at Pilgrim's Point 384
Toni Morrison, 1993 Principal text: Sula
SPRING BREAK March 20-24
Week 11 Tuesday, March 28
Aphra Behn, Oroonoko (117); Phllis Wheatley 246
G R A D E D E S S A Y # C.
MLA bibliography review.
Week 12 Tuesday, April 4
LAST DAY TO DROP PASSING OR WITHDRAW: professor's statement that you are
passing the course is required.
Sojourner Truth 369, Dunbar-Nelson, Harper , 845,
Harriet E. Adams Wilson, 851
Zora Neale Hurston, 1488
Harriet Jacobs (Linda Brent), Selections from Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl (460).
[And reports]
Friday, April 7. By 4:00: Turn in critical paper or other approved topic. Two copies of
finished paper should be turned in. Retain an additional copy.
Week 13
Tuesday, April 11
Reports:
Last class: Review for FINAL. Discuss general guidelines for FINAL EXAM
Week 14
Tuesday, April 18 "Academic Preparation Day" No class:
Complete all make-ups and extra credit by the end of the week, April 21.
Conferences may be scheduled to return papers.
EH 420/ G Women's Lit: Syllabus, page 3
FINAL EXAM:
Tuesday April 25, 5:00 to 7:00 p.m., in the classroom.
STANDARD DISABILITY ACCOMMODATIONS STATEMENT:
Any individual who qualifies for reasonable accommodations under The Americans With
Disabilities Act or Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 should contact the
instructor immediately.
STANDARD CIVILITY STATEMENT:
All students are expected to attend class fully prepared with appropriate materials and all devices
which make noise turned to the off position (e.g., cellular phones, pagers, personal stereos, etc.).
Any student behavior deemed disruptive by the professor will result in expulsion of the student
from the classroom, with an absence for the day and possible disciplinary action.
OTHER CLASSROOM PROTOCOL ISSUES: Recording devices are allowed only if you
provide your DSS statement and a permission form. See me if you have a particular request that
does not fall under the DSS considerations. It is assumed you are aware of Academic Honesty
Issues as detailed in the JSU Student Handbook. Class breaks for a class that meets for this length
of time will be integrated into the class meetings. However, please respect the professor’s
options to vary any automatically provided break at exactly midway through the two-hour period.
Other announcements will follow in explanation.
420G students, be advised: SACS requirements for graduate component of a 400-level course
expect additional assignments, in the form of more reading, more in-depth analysis, more written
work. I will be sure to explain any expectations that are different for you.
OBJECTIVES:
To familiarize students with the long tradition of writing by women; to understand the
social and historical contexts for women writers' achievements.
To survey representative examples of literature by women; to encourage the appreciation
of values and experience that show a diversity among the voices of women who have contributed
to the literatures of their cultures.
To make students more aware of issues which have defined the existing canon (including
the examination of how and where women writers are related to established or canonized male
writers); consider relevant pedagogical issues in the evaluation of literature and the formation of
literary canons.
To become familiar with secondary and critical sources on major women writers; to
introduce theoretical and critical questions of literary criticism and feminist scholarship.
For majors in the Teaching of Secondary English and Language Arts Majors: The specific State
Department of Education Rules that are applicable to this course are: "works by female and
minority writers." The major graded work tests these rules. For both rules, "classical literature"
is covered to the extent that the principal text (Norton Anthology) includes women writers writing
in English since the Middle Ages. Students who pass this course will have satisfied the SDE
objectives designated above. Although other SDE rules are not required to be stated or covered,
you can expect some focus on: theories and methods of literary analysis; techniques of critical
thinking, questioning, and problem solving; and literature of various types.
EH 420/ G Women's Lit: Syllabus, page 4
REQUIREMENTS AND EVALUATION:
Attendance
Attendance at all sessions is important, except for legitimate excuses. As you are aware,
no English course above EH 102 distinguishes between excused and unexcused absences, so a
written excuse is not required and will not be collected. It is, of course courteous and appropriate
to let me know ahead of time when you know you will have to miss a class. Excessive absences,
including late arrival and early departure, are likely to be detrimental to your work for the course
and thus may affect your grade. The English Department requires attendance at 25% of classes
for a passing grade (5 cuts =automatic F, but note that you have ample opportunity to drop or to
apply for a WP). You are reminded that you miss a great deal of the content of the course when
you leave early or are late or absent. Make-ups for assignments due on the day a student misses
will be granted only at the discretion of the instructor. The instructor also has the discretion to
count as a partial absence any fraction of classes missed. For instance: if you make a pattern of
arriving ten minutes late, you might be informed that these tardy arrivals are equal to one-half an
absence from then on; leaving early may similarly affect your absence record.
Evaluation:
10% each for three graded essays (30% total).
15% for the critical report and paper. For each student, a 1-2 page handout is expected.
Graduate students will also turn in a 5-7 page paper.
Detailed guidelines will be distributed and discussed.
20% for the FINAL EXAM, both short answer and essay.
35 % for weekly quizzes/reports/presentations and for Midterm short answer.
EH 420/ G Women's Lit: Syllabus, page 5