In this course we will consider the use of the woman narrator in selected literary works. Telling a story from a woman’s point of view will be examined in terms of how it allows emphasis on issues of identity, suggesting intersections of gender, culture and ethnicity that complicate narrative and invite questions about the work and its themes. We will also consider how the shifting points of view and voices within a woman’s narrative affect our reading experience. Overall, we will remain attuned to the effect a woman narrator has on how a work strikes us as readers, influencing our reception and understanding of its alternative “authority”.
Course Requirements
- Attendance and participation
- Three 4-page papers
- Midterm and Final Exam
- Occasional reading quizzes and in-class writings
Required Texts (available at Revolution Books, 2626 King Street)
- Charlotte Perkins Gilman, The Yellow Wallpaper
- Jean Rhys, The Wide Sargasso Sea
- Toni Morrison, The Bluest Eye
- Nora Cobb Keller, Comfort Woman
- Margaret Atwood, The Handmaid’s Tale
- Azar Nafisi, ReadingLolita in Tehran