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135032 PS Literary Theory (PS): Feminist literary theory (2022W)
Continuous assessment of course work
Labels
Es findet ein begleitendes Tutorium statt.
Registration/Deregistration
Note: The time of your registration within the registration period has no effect on the allocation of places (no first come, first served).
- Registration is open from Th 01.09.2022 00:01 to Sa 24.09.2022 23:59
- Deregistration possible until Mo 31.10.2022 23:59
Details
max. 30 participants
Language: English
Lecturers
Classes (iCal) - next class is marked with N
This course will be held in presence only (situation permitting)
- Monday 03.10. 15:00 - 16:30 Seminarraum 2 Sensengasse 3a 1.OG
- Monday 10.10. 15:00 - 16:30 Seminarraum 2 Sensengasse 3a 1.OG
- Monday 17.10. 15:00 - 16:30 Seminarraum 2 Sensengasse 3a 1.OG
- Monday 24.10. 15:00 - 16:30 Seminarraum 2 Sensengasse 3a 1.OG
- Monday 31.10. 15:00 - 16:30 Seminarraum 2 Sensengasse 3a 1.OG
- Monday 14.11. 15:00 - 16:30 Seminarraum 2 Sensengasse 3a 1.OG
- Monday 21.11. 15:00 - 16:30 Seminarraum 2 Sensengasse 3a 1.OG
- Monday 28.11. 15:00 - 16:30 Seminarraum 2 Sensengasse 3a 1.OG
- Monday 05.12. 15:00 - 16:30 Seminarraum 2 Sensengasse 3a 1.OG
- Monday 12.12. 15:00 - 16:30 Seminarraum 2 Sensengasse 3a 1.OG
- Monday 09.01. 15:00 - 16:30 Seminarraum 2 Sensengasse 3a 1.OG
- Monday 16.01. 15:00 - 16:30 Seminarraum 2 Sensengasse 3a 1.OG
- Monday 23.01. 15:00 - 16:30 Seminarraum 2 Sensengasse 3a 1.OG
- Monday 30.01. 15:00 - 16:30 Seminarraum 2 Sensengasse 3a 1.OG
Information
Aims, contents and method of the course
Assessment and permitted materials
-participation and homework- 4 short response essays on weekly topics, app. 500 words each (20%)
-leading discussion (10%)
-participation in class discussion (10%)
-seminar paper, 3500 words (50%), due end of March 2023
Expected attendance: maximum 3 absences allowed
-leading discussion (10%)
-participation in class discussion (10%)
-seminar paper, 3500 words (50%), due end of March 2023
Expected attendance: maximum 3 absences allowed
Minimum requirements and assessment criteria
Minimum requirements:
-participation and homework- 4 short response essays on weekly topics, app. 500 words each (30%)
-leading discussion (20%)
-seminar paper, 3500 words (50%) awarded at least 50 points, due end of March 2023
Expected attendance: maximum 3 absences allowed. You must be present in the first unit, otherwise you lose your place in the course.Assessment criteria for written work:1) Contents (the ability to read a text closely and identify, analyse and understand the specificities of the literary discourse; the detection of the central points; clear formulation, structure and organization of the argument, supported with evidence from primary and secondary sources; the ability to read a text closely and interpret both form, content and context; the ability to reflect critically on the relations between primary and secondary texts, instead of just citing secondary texts as a source of authority and interpretation; correctness of methodology; originality; creativity 60%
2) Format (esp. layout, formatting, and citation practice): 20%
3) Language (particularly scholarly terminology and correct use of technical terms; clear and understandable language; correct spelling, grammar, and sentence composition; style): 20%
In all three areas at least 50% of the points must be achieved in order to obtain credit. The mark breakdown is as follows:(1) 90-100 %
(2) 80-89 %
(3) 65-79 %
(4) 50-64 %
(5) 49 -0 %
-participation and homework- 4 short response essays on weekly topics, app. 500 words each (30%)
-leading discussion (20%)
-seminar paper, 3500 words (50%) awarded at least 50 points, due end of March 2023
Expected attendance: maximum 3 absences allowed. You must be present in the first unit, otherwise you lose your place in the course.Assessment criteria for written work:1) Contents (the ability to read a text closely and identify, analyse and understand the specificities of the literary discourse; the detection of the central points; clear formulation, structure and organization of the argument, supported with evidence from primary and secondary sources; the ability to read a text closely and interpret both form, content and context; the ability to reflect critically on the relations between primary and secondary texts, instead of just citing secondary texts as a source of authority and interpretation; correctness of methodology; originality; creativity 60%
2) Format (esp. layout, formatting, and citation practice): 20%
3) Language (particularly scholarly terminology and correct use of technical terms; clear and understandable language; correct spelling, grammar, and sentence composition; style): 20%
In all three areas at least 50% of the points must be achieved in order to obtain credit. The mark breakdown is as follows:(1) 90-100 %
(2) 80-89 %
(3) 65-79 %
(4) 50-64 %
(5) 49 -0 %
Examination topics
-defining feminist writing
-the representations of women in literature
-women and authorship
-history and genealogy of women’s writing
-women writers and the canon
-feminist criticism of male writing
-feminist criticism of women's writing
-genre and feminism
-feminism and language
- écriture feminine and feminist aesthetics
-feminism and psychoanalysis
-the representations of women in literature
-women and authorship
-history and genealogy of women’s writing
-women writers and the canon
-feminist criticism of male writing
-feminist criticism of women's writing
-genre and feminism
-feminism and language
- écriture feminine and feminist aesthetics
-feminism and psychoanalysis
Reading list
All texts will be available on Moodle.
Primary Literature:Virginia Woolf, A Room of One’s Own (1929)
Simone de Beauvoir, The Second Sex (1949)
Mary Ellmann, Thinking about Women (1968)
Kate Millett, Sexual Politics (1969)
Elaine Showalter, A Literature of Their Own (1977)
Elaine Showalter, “Feminist Criticism in the Wilderness”, Critical Inquiry 8.2 (1981):179-205.
Elaine Showalter, “Towards a Feminist Poetics”, in Women Writing and Writing about Women, ed. Mary Jacobus (1979)
Dale Spender, Mothers of the Novel: 100 Good Women Writers before Jane Austen (1986)
Sandra Gilbert and Susan Gubar, The Madwoman in the Attic: The Woman Writer and the Nineteenth Century Literary Imagination (1979)
Helene Cixous, “The Laugh of the Medusa” (trans. Paula and Keith Cohen) Signs 1.4 (1976), pp. 875-893
Elisabeth Bronfen, Over Her Dead Body : Death, Femininity and the Aesthetic (1992)
Barbara Smith, “Toward a Black Feminist Criticism”, Conditions Two 1.2 (1977)
Chikwenye Okonjo Ogunyemi, “Womanism: The Dynamics of the Contemporary Black Female Novel in English”, Signs 11. 1 (1985), pp. 63-80Secondary Literature:
Peter Barry, “Feminist Criticism” in Beginning Theory (1995)
Primary Literature:Virginia Woolf, A Room of One’s Own (1929)
Simone de Beauvoir, The Second Sex (1949)
Mary Ellmann, Thinking about Women (1968)
Kate Millett, Sexual Politics (1969)
Elaine Showalter, A Literature of Their Own (1977)
Elaine Showalter, “Feminist Criticism in the Wilderness”, Critical Inquiry 8.2 (1981):179-205.
Elaine Showalter, “Towards a Feminist Poetics”, in Women Writing and Writing about Women, ed. Mary Jacobus (1979)
Dale Spender, Mothers of the Novel: 100 Good Women Writers before Jane Austen (1986)
Sandra Gilbert and Susan Gubar, The Madwoman in the Attic: The Woman Writer and the Nineteenth Century Literary Imagination (1979)
Helene Cixous, “The Laugh of the Medusa” (trans. Paula and Keith Cohen) Signs 1.4 (1976), pp. 875-893
Elisabeth Bronfen, Over Her Dead Body : Death, Femininity and the Aesthetic (1992)
Barbara Smith, “Toward a Black Feminist Criticism”, Conditions Two 1.2 (1977)
Chikwenye Okonjo Ogunyemi, “Womanism: The Dynamics of the Contemporary Black Female Novel in English”, Signs 11. 1 (1985), pp. 63-80Secondary Literature:
Peter Barry, “Feminist Criticism” in Beginning Theory (1995)
Association in the course directory
BA M3
Last modified: Th 04.07.2024 00:13
The women’s movement has always been crucially concerned with books and literature. Since the late 1960s, feminism has revolutionized literary and cultural studies to the extent that since the 1990s we speak of a “gender turn” in the humanities and social sciences. Feminist literary theory should therefore be seen not only as concerned with literature and confined to the comparative literature classroom, but a cultural theory with an impact on thinking about sexual difference, gender power and gendered structures in society. By focusing on gender as an analytical category, feminist literary criticism has radically changed thinking about literature and questions such as, What is meaning? What is an author? What is to read? What is to write? What is the subject who writes, reads or acts? How do texts relate to the circumstances in which they are produced?This introductory course will give an overview of the history and practice of feminist literary studies, focusing on key canonical texts from the British, American, French and German tradition, but also including examples from the Anglophone African feminist tradition. It will cover feminist literary theory, history and criticism and show a variety of approaches as they developed over time. Issues to be discussed include the definitions of feminist writing, representations of women in literature, authorship, history and genealogy of women’s writing, the canon, criticism, genres, language, écriture feminine, feminist aesthetics, feminism and poststructuralism, feminism and psychoanalysis, and intersectional feminist approaches (gender in relation to race, class, sexuality, etc.).
Aims:
• identify, analyse and understand the key aspects, contexts and the practice of feminist literary studies, including theory, history and criticism
• apply close reading skills and critical thinking to a variety of literary texts
• reflect critically on the relations between primary texts and relevant secondary texts
• discriminate between ideas and justify personal positions
• produce well-structured, relevant arguments with an appropriate intellectual framework