E314L – Women’s Popular Genres – Spring 2011
Course and Instructor Details:
Unique Number: 34850
Meetings:
Tuesdays and Thursdays, 9:30-11:00 AM, in PAR 310
Instructor: Rachel Schneider
Email: rschneider@mail.utexas.edu
Office:
PAR 406
Office Hours:
T 11:00-12:30, W 10:30-12:00, and by appointment
Website: http://instructors.dwrl.utexas.edu/schneider
Course Description and Objectives:
This course is meant to prepare students for the English major by helping them develop and
expand their critical reading and writing skills. This course will do so by introducing students to a
chosen canon of romance texts, as well as a critical discourse on the romance, and asking them to
understand and analyze these works. By the end of the course, students should be familiar with the
basic terminologies and methodologies of literary analysis (including formal, historical, and cultural
methods) and able to write essays that apply those terminologies coherently and demonstrate an
ability to connect the way a text is written to what meaning it makes.
Through our close readings we will consider the ways in which women write, read, and are
represented in the romance. How is the romance a “women’s popular genre” and how do we define
that phrase? How has romance been interpreted historically, and what cultural status has the
romance achieved within literary and popular canons? To what kinds of uses have women writers
put the romance within their historical and/or cultural moments?
Required Texts (books available at the University Co-op):
Austen, Jane. Northanger Abbey. Norton edition, edited by Susan Fraiman.
Bronte, Charlotte. Jane Eyre. Norton edition, edited by Richard J. Dunn.
Weldon, Fay. The Lives and Loves of a She-Devil.
Course packet available from Speedway Copies.
Films Shown in Class
Hardwicke, Catherine, dir. Twilight.
Heckerling, Amy, dir. Clueless.
Prerequisites
English 603A, Rhetoric and Writing 306, 306Q, or Tutorial Course 603A.
Course Expectations and Evaluation:
Because this class is a seminar and not a lecture class, there are certain things that I expect all
students in the class to do. Namely, I expect all students come to class prepared to engage by
having previously read and considered the course readings, completed all required written work, and
arrived on time. While I don’t expect that everyone will do this every day in class, the more
consistently everyone succeeds, the more rewarding, engaging, and enjoyable the class will be. In
turn, I will do my best as your instructor to come prepared every day to engage with you and help
you improve your reading and writing skills.
In short, please view our class discussions and your writing assignments as an opportunity
for all of us to share, rethink, and complicate your initial reactions to and readings of the texts. My
evaluation of your work will be based on the following assignments:
o Attendance and Class Participation (5%): In order to succeed in this class you will need to be an
active participant by substantively contributing to discussions. Students can do this in
various ways: asking questions, making considered comments, or responding to others and
engaging them respectfully in discussion. If you do not bring the required readings to class,
show up late repeatedly, or fail to participate, I will deduct points from your participation
grade. Also, if students in the class repeatedly fail to keep up with the reading, I reserve the
right to hold pop quizzes and count them as part of the attendance and participation grade.
 Note: Because of the participatory nature of the class, any students who miss more than four classes
will automatically fail the course.
o OED Exercise, 1-2 pages (5%): This exercise will require you to use the Oxford English
Dictionary (OED) to focus on a single word to explain how that word contributes to the
meaning of a single literary text.
o Close Reading Exercise, 1-2 pages (5%): This exercise will require you to broaden your focus
from a single word to a longer passage and analyze its meaning. This will be practice for the
longer essays, which will require extensive close reading.
o Short Essay – Close Reading, 2-4 pages (5% for first draft, 15% for second draft): This assignment will
ask you to broaden your focus to consider how individual passages and scenes contribute to
a text’s meaning. This assignment is designed to build on class discussion and to also help
students practice close reading skills for the final research essay. A revision of this will be
required in order to help students focus on writing practices and learn revision skills;
revisions for all of the following essays will be optional.
o Short Essay – Assessment of a Critical Article, 2-4 pages (15%): This assignment will ask you to do
research, select an article from the critical conversation surrounding the work on which you
will write your final essay, and respond to its argument. All of these papers, while short, will
require you to write carefully and clearly.
o Research Essay, 5-8 pages (35%): This assignment will ask you to choose a text, analyze it
carefully to come up with an interpretive argument, which you will carefully support with
textual evidence, and organize in a coherent manner. This paper will be formatted according
to MLA guidelines and will include a Works Cited page that must have at least three sources
outside of the primary text. These papers will be subject to peer review.
o Blog Posts (15%): This assignment will ask you to regularly respond to prompts connected
with class readings. In many cases, the blog posts will give you opportunities to practice
skills you will need for your shorter and longer essays, and in some cases, you may be asked
to read and respond to your classmates’ posts. These will be completed before class so that
I may highlight particular posts as a part of our discussions, and graded on a check system.
All grades will be calculated according to the following scale:
A: 94-100
C: 74-76
A-: 90-93
C-: 70-73
B+: 87-89
D+: 67-69
B: 84-86
D: 64-66
B-: 80-83
D-: 60-63
C+: 77-79
F: 0-50
Late assignments will be penalized one full letter grade for every class period past the due date.
Statement on Academic Dishonesty
Turning in work that is not your own or any other form of scholastic dishonesty will result in a
major course penalty, including possible failure of the course. A report of the incident will also be
made to the Office of the Dean of Students. If you have any questions about your use of sources in
an assignment, ask me before turning it in.
University of Texas Disability Services Statement
The University of Texas at Austin provides upon request appropriate academic accommodations for
qualified students with disabilities. For more information, contact Services for Students with
Disabilities at 471-6259 (voice) or 232-2937 (video phone), or visit
http://www.utexas.edu/diversity/ddce/ssd.
Final Words:
If you have questions at any times about the assignments, the readings, deadlines, or
anything related to the class, I strongly recommend that you visit my office hours. Only if you talk
to me about your concerns can I be aware of them or do anything to help. As Tim Gunn says, “No
one wants you to succeed more than I do.” Come talk to me, and we can make it work.
Working Course Schedule
Note: This schedule is subject to change: readings and topics may be added, moved, or removed, but essay
assignment due dates will stay constant. Homework assignments are in black and must be completed prior to class.
Any changes will be announced in class or via email.
T 1/18:
Introduction to class and class topic
Homework: Read “Infection in the Sentence” (Gilbert & Gubar) and selections
from A Natural History of the Romance Novel (Regis) in course packet
Th 1/20:
Discuss the romance and questions of women writers within a historical context
Fantomina (Haywood) in course packet
T 1/25:
Fantomina and formal reading
Th 1/27:
Fantomina and historical reading
T 2/1:
Fantomina and cultural reading, assign OED exercise
“Goblin Market” (Rossetti) in course packet
Th 2/3:
“Goblin Market”
Complete OED exercise
T 2/8
Finish discussing “Goblin Market,” turn in OED exercise
Northanger Abbey Chapters 1-11
Th 2/10:
Discuss Northanger Abbey, assign close reading exercise
NA Chapters 12-17
T 2/15:
Northanger Abbey
NA Chapters 18-24, complete close reading exercise
Th 2/17:
Northanger Abbey, turn in close reading exercise
NA Chapters 25-31 and selected essay from the back of book
T 2/22:
Finish discussion of Northanger Abbey
Th 2/24:
Discuss close reading essay assignment and writing process
Jane Eyre Chapters 1-9
T 3/1:
Start discussion of Jane Eyre
JE Chapters 10-18
Th 3/3:
Jane Eyre
JE Chapters 19-23
T 3/8:
Jane Eyre
JE Chapters 24-27, complete close reading assignment
Th 3/10: Discuss Jane Eyre and turn in close reading assignment, hand out research paper
assignment
JE Chapters 28-34
T 3/15 - Th 3/17: Spring Break
T 3/22:
Jane Eyre
JE 35-38
Th 3/24:
Jane Eyre
“A Dialogue of Self and Soul” (Gilbert and Gubar)
T 3/29:
Discuss Gilbert and Gubar article, begin discussion of researching methods and critical
article assessment essay
Th 3/31:
Research Day – class will meet at the PCL
“Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema” (Mulvey)
T 4/5:
Discuss Mulvey article and visual analysis; begin watching Twilight in class
Eclipse and the female gaze (Jones), selections from Twilight
Th 4/7:
Finish discussion of Twilight
T 4/12:
Discuss The Lives and Loves of a She-Devil and turn in critical assessment essay
LLSD Chapters 13-21
Th 4/14:
The Lives and Loves of She-Devil
LLSD Chapters 22-28
The Lives and Loves of a She-Devil Chapters 1-12, finish critical assessment essay
T 4/19:
The Lives and Loves of She-Devil and research essay
LLSD Chapters 29-34
Th 4/21:
Finish discussion of The Lives and Loves of She-Devil
T 4/26:
Writing workshop in class
Complete full draft of research essay for peer review
Th 4/28:
Peer Review Day
Revise research essay
T 5/3:
Turn in research paper, do class evaluation; begin watching Clueless in class
Th 5/5:
Finish watching Clueless, wind up course