Feminist Introduction to Literary Modernism
Vicki Mahaffey profile
T 9-12
The reading for this course is designed to introduce students to modernist writing by women, and to provide a basic grounding in feminist theory. Our main focus will be on efforts to defy absolute categorical definition, whether such definition is generic and literary, national, or sexual. We will begin with the 1890s, and specifically with two plays by Wilde and Ibsen, in order to explore the phenomenon of the "New Woman." We will read a new woman novel, and then move on to modernist revisionary mythmaking in the work of Mary Butts, T.S. Eliot, and H.D. We will read two works by Woolf, and novels by Djuna Barnes, Jean Rhys, and Angela Carter. We will also read theoretical works by Irigaray and Lacan, along with individual essays by a range of feminist critics, theorists, and historians. Requirements include a short oral presentation and two 10-12 page papers.
updated 2006-11-02
