ENGL 43920 - Seminar: Contemporary Women Writers

Institution:

University of Notre Dame

Subject:

English

Description:

Although the range and productivity of American women writers over the last two centuries has been enormous, the proliferation of extremely accomplished and important women writers has virtually mushroomed in the last few decades, embracing leading poets (such as Elizabeth Bishop and Adrienne Rich), leading novelists (such as Toni Morrison and Alice Walker), and altogether new voices, such as the chicana poet Lorna Dee Cervantes, the Asian American novelist Amy Tan, the native American fiction writer Susan Power (to name only a few). As a consequence, we will focus on the work of women writers after World War II and up to the end of this past century, with the idea of gaining an understanding of the range of women writers in this country during this period, but then with a tight focus on four of the best (two poets and two fiction writers). Since this is a seminar, students will be expected to participate in genuine class discussion, to develop a rationale for how to interpret these works (i.e., the most suitable critical perspective for given works or authors), and to do some external readings by and on one author of their choice for the final project. Written assignments will range from occasional one-page responses to the longer final project, with one short and one medium-length paper in between. At the end of the course we will hope that students, male and female, will have been inspired by one of these writers to produce creative work of their own. And if this is true, students' own work (if of high quality) can be substituted for one of the assignments.

Credits:

3.00

Credit Hours:

Prerequisites:

Corequisites:

Exclusions:

Level:

Instructional Type:

Lecture

Notes:

Additional Information:

Historical Version(s):

Institution Website:

www.nd.edu

Phone Number:

(574) 631-5000

Regional Accreditation:

North Central Association of Colleges and Schools

Calendar System:

Semester

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