LARTS 309 — Introduction to Women’s Literature

3 credits
Fall
Renee Baron

Prerequisite: LARTS 112 . This course introduces students to fiction by women writers from different eras and writing traditions. Students will become familiar with canonical texts within various women’s literary traditions and some lesser-known works, responding to the canon. Together, we will explore the consistent themes represented in their work, for example: silence, madness, motherhood and quests for individuality. We will investigate how cultural and historical contexts affect women’s creative expression and use an intersectional lens to consider whether there is such a thing as feminine writing across time and space. Texts may include Charlotte Brontë’s Jane Eyre, Kate Chopin’s The Awakening, Jean Rhys’s Wide Sargasso Sea, Zadie Smith’s NW, and Jamaica Kincaid’s The Autobiography of My Mother.