WFQS 218 - Literature, Gender, and Sexuality

1 unit(s)

(Same as ENGL 218) Topic for 2025/26a: Feminist Literary Theory. This course attempts an unusual structure. It does not try to survey or historically chronicle feminist literary theory. Rather it approaches “ways of knowing” female-identified subjects through selected methods of representation. The syllabus begins with recent enlargements and queries of the field before approaching historical texts, including the embedding of the female in general aesthetics. It then proceeds to classic second-wave theory, using it as a way in to modernist and contemporary literature, with a strong emphasis on poetry. Sentiment and affect follow as resurgent approaches to commodity, class, and ageing. The final unit explores “autotheory,” works that purport to combine nonfiction and theory, as a feminist genre. Jean Kane.

This course satisfies the REGS requirement for the English major.

Two 75-minute periods.

Not offered in 2025/26.

Course Format: CLS