Department of English

A historical study of cultural constructions of sisters as they have been represented i mythology, psychology, drama, narrative, fiction, and film. Form Cinderella stories to stories in which the hero sleeps with his wife's sister, varieties of sister plots will be our invitation to consider the relationship between representation and reality and how continuity and change in notions of sorority express larger cultural and ideological concerns. Texts include fairy tales, biblical narrative, Sophocles' Antigone, Shakespeare's King Lear and Taming of the Shrew, Chekhov's three Sisters, and novels by Jane Austen, Louisa May Alcott, and Alice Walker. Films include: Hannah and Her Sisters; sex, lies, and videotapes; Sweetie and Like Water for Chocolate. There will be short weekly writing assignments.