ENGL 281

Fall 2018 Part of Term 1

Part of Term 1
Aug 27-Dec 12

Women in the Lit Imagination

SHOW FINAL EXAM SCHEDULE

Credit: 3 hours.

Study of the way various writers, both male and female, have portrayed woman's image, social role, and psychologies in British, American, or Anglophone literature.

Same as GWS 281. May be repeated with permission of English advising office to a maximum of 6 hours if topics vary. Prerequisite: Completion of the Composition I requirement.

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ENGL 281 class schedule data for fall 2018
	CRN	Type	Section	Time	Day	Location	Instructor	Section Details
	43070	Lecture-Discussion	F	11:00AM -11:50AM	MWF	English Building	Baron, I	Part of Term: 1 Date Range: 08/27/18-12/12/18 Section Title: The Archetypal Fallen Woman Section Info: The Archetypal Fallen Woman in American and British Fiction Throughout the 17th and 18th centuries, America was seen as a new Eden—a land of endless social and economic possibilities, open to any free white male British citizen who made the arduous transatlantic crossing safely, and who settled successfully in the New World. Yet for unmarried women, the New World also became synonymous with the darker side of Eden—a place where the story of the fall was re-enacted countless times through the unbridled desire of men looking to corrupt innocent young girls into a life of sin and prostitution. In 1791, Susanna Rowson published Charlotte Temple, a transatlantic novel that deals with the sexual and social demise of a young English girl. Extremely popular on both sides of the Atlantic, the novel tells the story of the iconic fallen woman and her woeful tale of sexual intrigue and betrayal. For over two hundred years, American and British audiences, riveted by this moralistic narrative, encouraged writers to engage in a highly nuanced literary dialogue on the subject of the archetypal fallen woman, producing some of the best known literature of the 19th and 20th centuries. In this course, we’ll trace the genesis of the seduction novel as a vehicle for the conservative social theory behind British and American gender politics. We’ll begin with an examination of the theme of the ruined woman as a bi-cultural warning to any young girl who strays from the straight and narrow heteronormative sexual imperative set in place by hundreds of years of rigid Anglo-Norman patrilineal ideologies. Moving through the canon of literature focusing on this gendered tale, we’ll examine the fictional evolution of the fallen woman through its multiple iterations in England and America. We’ll explore how Anglo societies collectively viewed the sexually compromised female from the late Georgian period to the postmodernist period as an outcast who must be punished through banishment or death to avoid polluting the rarified air of untarnished women. As we unfurl the interlocking social discourse of these narratives, we’ll deconstruct how the body and the mind of the fallen woman is presented through the cultural dictates of each national identity, each literary period and the gender and sexual orientation of the authors. Ultimately we’ll see whether class differences, racial differences or the enfranchisement of women liberated females from this stigma or whether women today are still marginalized by sexually unsanctioned behaviors. Requirements include: an oral report, three short papers and a final exam. Texts and films include: Charlotte Temple, Sense and Sensibility, Pleasantville, The Scarlet Letter, The Ginger Tree, The Awakening, Howards End, The Great Gatsby, Passing, Jemima J and Juno.