ENG 247 Women Authors Fall 2007 Weds 5:40pm to 8:30pm,  H-110

Dr. Susannah Chewning

Office: H-123

(908) 709-7182

chewning@ucc.edu

Office Hours:  MW 10-11:15
TR 1pm-3pm and by appointment

“So intense is our absorption that if some one moves in the room the movement seems 

to take place not there but up in Yorkshire.  The writer has us by the hand, forces us 

along her road, makes us see what she sees, never leaves us for a moment or allows

us to forget her.  At the end we are steeped through and through with the genius, the 

vehemence, the indignation of [the author] . . . It is as if she could tear up all that we 

know human beings by, and fill these unrecognisable transparences with such a gust 

of life that they transcend reality.  Hers, then, is the rarest of all powers.  She could 

free life from its dependence on facts; with a few touches indicate the spirit of a face 

so that it needs no body; by speaking of the moor make the wind blow and 

the thunder roar” (Virginia Woolf, “Jane Eyre and Wuthering Heights,” 1925).

Course Description: A study of major female authors, emphasizing the historical and literary development of female literacy and authorship in British and American poetry (but not limited to the English-speaking world), drama, fiction, and non-fiction. Pre-requisite: ENG 102 or 122. 3 lecture hours per week. 3 credit hours.

Course Objectives:

• examine historical chronology and continuity as a basis for the study of female authors and their changing influence on literature in the English-speaking world

• examine the themes and subjects addressed by women writers from the Pre-Modern era to the twenty-first century

• develop techniques of accurate and appreciative interpretation through the practice of critical thinking and writing

• demonstrate, through substantial written assignments, an understanding of the research tools available in the study of female authors and their works

• through reading feminist critical works, to understand the developing presence of women and concept of the feminine within Western society

Required Texts:

Austen, Jane. Pride and Prejudice. New York: Penguin, 1983.

Foster, Hannah Webster. The Coquette. Ed. Cathy N. Davidson. Oxford: Oxford U P, 1987.

Lahiri, Jhumpa. Interpreter of Maladies. New York: Houghton Mifflin, 2000.

Larrington, Carolyne. Women and Writing in Medieval Europe. New York: Routledge, 1995.

Marie de France. Lais. Ed. Glyn S. Burgess and Keith Busby. New York: Penguin, 1999.

Wolff, Cynthia, ed. Four Stories by American Women. New York: Penguin, 1990.

Recommended Text:

Hacker, Diana. A Pocket Style Manual.  Boston, MA: Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2003..

Course Requirements: course policies are listed separately on this link.

Reading assignments.  Please make sure you read all the assignments on time.  You will also be expected to discuss what you have read at length in class.  Participation, which is 20% of your grade, includes being in class, taking quizzes, and being prepared to participate.

Note on research:  By the conclusion of the semester, all students who pass this course will have demonstrated, in at least one substantial graded essay, that they understand the fundamentals of research.  This will include doing basic research, being able to evaluate sources, and citing at least five of these sources in the proper MLA style in the graded essay.  Some of these sources must be electronic, including but not necessarily limited to the Internet.  Students must pass this essay with a grade of C or higher, and students will not be allowed to pass it unless they can adequately demonstrate their ability in this area to quote and integrate multiple sources.

Three papers two of at least 750 words (three typed pages), due September 24 and November 5, and one longer paper of at least 1,200 words due December 17.   This third paper will be a research paper which will require your use of at least four outside sources.  All paper topics will be assigned and discussed at length in class.  All papers written for this class must be typed and must conform in style and format to the MLA System of Style and Documentation.  Late papers will not be accepted under any circumstances.

Response Papers:  Ten short response papers based on your readings, each of at least two hundred words.  These are informal papers in which you discuss your response to the readings we do for class.  It is the best way for you to communicate with me and, at least on paper, participate with the class in your discussion of what you have read.  These papers will not be accepted late and cannot be revised.  You may write additional response papers for extra-credit, but please turn in a minimum of eleven.  For a sample of a response paper, please go to my website at http://faculty.ucc.edu/english-chewning.

Mid-term and final exams in class.

Breakdown of Grades: Participation 20%; Responses 15%; Papers 50%; Exams and Quizzes 15% 

Writing Expectations:  This is not a writing class, but in a sense all college English classes are writing classes.  This is a class in which your writing will be closely examined and in which you will be expected to express your opinions of the texts we will read in writing.  Thus I have fairly high standards which I expect you to meet in your written work.  All papers must conform to the MLA System of Style and Documentation.  They must also be free of careless grammatical errors and typos.  I strongly urge you to meet with me when your papers are due to show me outlines, rough drafts, and other pre-writing so you can be sure that your writing is at the level that I expect for this class.  You are also strongly urged to pursue assistance from writing tutors (available in the ALC office in the Library).

Schedule of Assignments: In addition to these assignments, there may be homework given in class.  If you miss a class, you should speak to a classmate (not me) or consult the web board to get the assignment.  Not being in class is no excuse for not completing an assignment--please keep in touch with me, especially if you have to miss a class.

ENG 247-051 Women Authors                                                                                                               Paper Topics

Please keep in mind that all papers must be typed and must conform to the MLA System of Style and Documentation. If you are an English major, I strongly recommend that you buy The MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers, 6th ed. It will help you through four years of College English papers. If not, Hacker’s Manual should be enough, but please be conscientious about format. Also, keep in mind that late papers will not be accepted and that your final paper must conform to the UCC English Department’s requirements in order for you to pass this class.

Paper 1: due September 24.  Choose one of the following topics and write a paper of at least nine-hundred words.  You do not need to use secondary sources for this paper, but if you do, please follow my research policies and document each source carefully.

1.       Discuss one or more of Marie de France’s Lais in relation to the problem faced by the woman/women in the story, how they respond to their situation, and how the problem and solution may reflect either Marie de France’s time or our own.  Has life for women in marriage and sexual relationships changed dramatically since the thirteenth century?  If so, how, or how not?

2.      Discuss the development of women authorship in England by choosing two texts we have read so far and comparing the topics and themes of the texts.  For example, how and why is Julian of Norwich’s work different from Hannah Webster Foster?  What changed between the thirteenth and seventeenth centuries that allowed women to write about new and different topics?

Paper 2: due November 5:  Choose one of the following topics and write a paper of at least nine-hundred words.  Please use at least two sources besides your text(s) – preferably from an electronic database to write the paper.

1.        Choose two characters from Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice and discuss how they develop and change over the course of the novel in relation to each other.  For example, how do Elizabeth Bennett and Mr. Darcy change? What causes the characters to change, and what characterizes the change itself?   

2.      Choose another writer from the period of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, one we have not read in class but that you have read on your own, and discuss it in comparison with one of the texts we have read for class (for example, compare two of Jane Austen’s novels, or one of Austen’s novels with a novel by Anne Radcliffe or A Vindication on the Rights of Woman by Mary Wollstonecraft.

3.      Discuss one or two recurring themes in the literature of women authors as they are represented in at least two texts we have read in class from between the thirteenth and eighteenth centuries.

Paper 3, due December 17: This paper must be a research paper and should include the use of five sources (at least one of which should be electronic—no websites, no encyclopedias—use only the sources I’ve recommended.). The topic should reflect an issue or concern that best defines your knowledge of the development of female authorship in the English tradition. We will discuss the kind of research I expect for this paper at length in class, but please keep in mind that you must receive a C or higher on this paper in order to pass this course.  The topic is up to you, but we will talk about it at length in class.