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43197
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Lecture-Discussion
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M
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9:30AM
-10:45AM
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TR
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English Building
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Baron, I
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- Part of Term:
- 1
- Date Range:
- 01/14/13-05/01/13
- Section Title:
- Feminist British Novel
- Section Info:
- Topic Section M: Marriage and Maternity in the British Feminist Novel In 1796 Jane Austen finished her initial draft of Pride and Prejudice entitled First Impressions. Two hundred years later, author Helen Fielding published Bridget Jones?s Diary, a postfeminist version of Austen?s classic novel about a young woman who refuses to be forced into marrying the wrong man despite the prospect of future penury. But for much of British history, women of all classes were expected to maintain the social hierarchy through marriage and to fulfill their personal destiny through pregnancy and motherhood no matter how they felt about their bodies, their husbands or their married lives. In this course, we?ll explore the evolution of women?s marital choices, sexual practices and economic rights in the UK over a two hundred year period from Austen to Fielding, viewing the changes that came along the way. We?ll begin during the Regency period by examining the nuances of 18th century marriages, zeroing in on how women regarded courtship and how the advent of the novel and the rise of the mercantile class began to restructure the rules about marriage and property in England. Then we?ll see why in spite of their many accomplishments and a powerful female figurehead to lead the nation, Victorian women were barred from owning property, barred from voting, and forced into submissive marriages that could leave them either vulnerable and depressed or curiously satisfied with their constrained lives. Moving into the late 19th century, we?ll take a look at how working class women dealt with the changes that technology had on their vocations, marital choices and sexual practices including premarital relations. Next we?ll zoom into the pre and post WWI and WWII periods to see how women fared in the UK after war had permanently altered the gender lines and their figures with the normalization of reconfiguring undergarments and modern make-up lines. We?ll end the semester on a lighter note with Bridget Jones?s Diary, focusing on the liberated late 20th century woman as she struggles to find just the right guy, battles bad hair days, unwanted cellulite, poor career choices and non-committal boyfriends. Course requirements include a response, an oral report, 2 moderate length papers (5-6 pages) and a final project or exam. Texts and films: Jane Austen, Pride and Prejudice; Emily Bront�, Wuthering Heights, Oswald Wynd, The Ginger Tree, E. M. Forster, A Room With a View, Jean Rhys, After Leaving Mr. McKenzie, Made in Debenham (film), Barbara Pym, Excellent Women, Helen Fielding, Bridget Jones?s Diary and for historical background, Marilyn Yalom, A History of the Wife. Films will supplement course readings.
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