EN 280: Literature of the "New Woman" Era:1880-1930
1880-1930EN 280: Literature of the "New Woman" Era:
Professor Claire Garcia Autumn 1998
This course will examine literature by and about women at the turn of the last century. During this period, there were radical changes in women's social and economic roles as the ideal of "true womanhood"-the pious, submissive, domestic "steel-engraving lady" of the nineteenth century-gave way to the ideal of the independent, athletic, economically empowered "New Woman." Of course, like all ideals, the "New Woman" ideal both shaped and contradicted a more complex reality. We'll be looking at how literature of this period both reflects and shapes the lives of middle-class women, affluent women, women of color, immigrant women, working women, married women, single women, girls embarking on womanhood and older women coming to terms with their life choices and social constraints. We'll also, from our own location on the brink of a new century, examine what has changed-and what hasn't-for women since the last turn of the century.
Texts
Photocopy packet, available in the English office with works by Charlotte Perkins
Gilman, Frances E.W. Harper, Sui Sin-Far and other primary and secondary texts.
Cather, Willa. The Song of the Lark (1915)
Chopin, Kate. The Awakening (1899)
Gissing, George. The Odd Women (1893)
James, Henry. Daisy Miller (1878)
Yezierska, Anzia. Bread Givers (1925)
Showalter, Elaine. Daughters
of Decadence (Anthology)
Work
There's a lot of reading in this class-if you're the kind of reader who can burrow into a novel for a couple of hours, this is the class for you! Expect to spend about four hours a night, on average, preparing for class-doing the reading, making headway on your papers, preparing formal and informal assignments for the next day's class. This is a level 200 class, and I expect you to be learning about how to talk about and write about literary texts the way professionals do as well as getting to know some interesting and influential writers.
Components and weights of class work: Two papers (20% and 30%); you need to use at least 5 secondary sources (including one from the web) on the second paper. Papers should be between 6 and 10 pages long. Small group projects assigned throughout the block (20%). Final written exam (20%). Class participation is important and is given a grade worth 10% of your final grade.
Class Meetings
We meet daily at 9:30, except where noted on the syllabus. Class attendance is important in a discussion-oriented class where students take primary responsibility for teaching each other. Each UNEXCUSED ABSENCE WILL LOWER YOUR GRADE BY ONE INCREMENT (i.e. one unexcused absence will lower your final grade from a B to a B-, two from a B to a C+, and so on). Absences will only be excused BEFORE a particular class meeting, unless you are unconscious. In that case, get your roommate or parent to call me BEFORE the class in question.
Grades
Receiving a "No Credit" grade in more than one of the class components will result in a "No Credit" for the class, regardless of grades you receive in the components.
Talking to me
My office hours are Wednesdays, 9-11 a.m. and by appointment. My extension number is 6510, and I don't mind calls at home as long as they are not around dinner time and before 9:30 p.m.
Honor Code
I expect all students to uphold both the letter and the spirit of the Colorado College Honor Code in all aspects of your work. A statement that you have upheld the C.C. Honor Code is required on all written work before I will read it. The text of the Honor Code can be found in your Pathfinder.
Daily Assignments
Week One:
Monday: Introductions and historical background.
Tuesday: Do the "Godey's Ladies' Book" Web assignment. In your packet: Read (in this order!) Welter, "The Cult of True Womanhood" , "Phyllis Schafley's Ancestors," Ammons, "The New Woman as Cultural Symbol and Social Reality"; Phelps, "The Angel Over the Right Shoulder" and Harper, "The Two Offers."
Wednesday: James, "Daisy Miller"
Thursday: Off to read the assignment for Friday's class.
Friday: In packet, Anna Julia Cooper, excerpts from A Voice from the South.
Week Two:
Monday: Introduction and first eleven chapters of Gissing's novel, The Odd Women.
Tuesday: Finish The Odd Women and then read, in packet, Showalter, "Odd Women."
Wednesday: First paper due at 12 noon. Off to read for Thursday's class and do small group Chopin assignments.
Thursday: In Daughters of Decadence read Gilman, "The Yellow Wallpaper." In packet, Chopin, "The Story of an Hour" and the first sixteen chapters of her novel, The Awakening.
Friday: Finish The Awakening and read, in Daughters of Decadence, Chopin's "Emancipation, a Life Fable" and "An Egyptian Cigarette"
Week 3
Monday: In packet, McDougald, "The Double Task: The Struggle of Negro Women for Race and Sex Emancipation" and Yezierska, Bread Givers, Book I.
Tuesday: Yezierska, Bread Givers, Book II.
Wednesday: Off to read for tomorrow's class.
Thursday: Cather, The Song of the Lark, Part I.
Friday: Cather, The Song of the Lark, Parts II and III.
Week 4
Monday: Cather, The Song of the Lark, Parts IV-VI.
Tuesday: Off to work on final paper, due 8 PM.
Wednesday: Final exam 9:00-12:00.
