English 455: Colloquium
Fall Semester, 2000
English 455: Colloquium
Description:
In this class we will focus on the home as a major metaphor in American
literature (as opposed to the frontier). We will examine various
images of the home: (1) as an alternative image of the movement westward;
(2) as a site of domesticity; (3) as a site of resistance to patriarchy;
(4) as a feminist utopian ideal; (5) as a domestic prison; (6) as a political
base; and (7) as a representation of the cooperation of human beings with
nature. We will study how these images are constructed, what purpose
they serve, and how they evolve. The format of the class will be
lecture, discussion, and individual presentations.
Objectives:
In this class we will be introduced to several women writers that are not
generally taught in American literature survey classes. We will renew
our understanding of feminist literary theories. We will apply those
theories in close readings of the texts. We will develop a mature
and sophisticated writing style and compose an original, publishable work
of literary criticism.
Requirements and Grading
Procedure: The requirements for the class include short (2 to
3 pages) journal responses to each novel we read in class; one short (3
to 5 pages) review of one of the suggested literary criticism books
listed on the handout; two short (3 to 5 pages) reviews of two essays of
literary criticisms; and one long paper (10 to 12 pages) on any issue,
theme, author, or text we read in class. This term project must include
research of related materials, and the project must be documented properly
according to the MLA handbook. One individual presentation on one
text in class. (Click here
for a description of the presentation and writing suggestions.)
Each short paper will be worth 100 points; the presentation is worth 100
points; the term project will be worth 200 points. Because
we meet only once a week, perfect attendance is expected.
Required Reading List:
(All of the titles are available at the school bookstore.)
A New Home--Who'll Follow by Caroline Kirkland
The House of the Seven Gables by Nathaniel
Hawthorne
Uncle Tom's Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe
The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Perkins
Gilman
Religion and Domestic Violence in Early New
England: The Memoirs of Abigail Abbot Bailey edited by
Ann Taves
The Professor's House by Willa Cather
The House Behind Cedars by Charles Chesnutt
House Made of Dawn by N. Scott Momaday
Refuge by Terry Tempest Williams
Click here
for
a supplementary reading list
Click here
for a comprehensive "help list" web site--the best I've seen
Click here
for Eastman Johnson's Old Kentucky Home, 1859
Click
here for George Caleb Bingham's "Fur Traders Descending
the Missouri"
Schedule:
Weeks One and Two: September
5, 12
Introduction
Selected poems by Anne Bradstreet and Emily Dickinson
"Domesticity" by Nancy F. Cott (on reserve in
the library)
"Anne Bradstreet and her Poetry" by Adrienne
Rich (on reserve in the library)
"Homelessness at Home: Placing Emily Dickinson
in (Women's) History" by Thomas Foster (on reserve
in the library)
Click here
for
an important link to the Woman's Sphere in the Nineteenth Century and the
"Cult of True
Womanhood"
Click here
to read "The Spirit of Place" by D.H. Lawrence.
Click here
to read "The Frontier in American History" by Frederick Jackson Turner.
Click here
for a hypertext of Godey's Lady's Book
Week Three: September
19
A New Home--Who'll Follow by Caroline
Kirkland
"The Literary Legacy of Caroline Kirkland: Emigrants'
Guide to a Failed Eden" by Annette Kolodny
(on reserve in the library.)
Student Presentation
Discussion Questionsfor
A
New Home--Who Will Follow?
Click here
for a bibliography on A New Home--Who'll Follow
Click here
for a good web site on Kirkland with various links.
Click herefor
an important web site on literature with links to Virgin Land by
Henry Nash Smith
Week Four: September
26
The House of the Seven Gables by Nathaniel
Hawthorne
"Women's Work and Bodies in The House of the
Seven Gables" by Gillian Brown (on reserve in
the library.)
Click here
for "Classic Notes" on The House of the Seven Gables
Click here
for
one web site on Nathaniel Hawthorne
Student Presentation
Weeks Five and Six:
October 2, 9
Uncle Tom's Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe
"Sentimental Power: Uncle Tom's Cabin and the
Pollitics of Literary History" by Jane Tompkins (on
reserve in the library.)
Click here
for a web site on Harriet Beecher Stowe
Click here
for a web site on "Mothers in Uncle Tom's Cabin"
Click
here for a web site on "Uncle Tom's Cabin and American
Culture"
Click here
to read Uncle Tom's Cabin on hypertext.
Click here
for a web site on the history of African Americans
Click here
for
notes to UTC
Uncle Tom's Cabin is a classic
Student Presentation
Week Seven: October
16
The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Perkins
Gilman
Selected essays from the Bedford Cultural Edition
"Afterword" by Elaine R. Hedges (on reserve in
the library)
"Monumental Feminism and Literature's Ancestral
House: Another Look at The Yellow Wallpaper" by
Janice Hane-Peritz (on reserve in the library)
Click here
for a web site on The Yellow Wallpaper
Student Presentation
Religion and Domestic Violence in Early New
England, edited by Ann Taves
Click here
for a web site on domestic violence
Service Project: Visit a Women's
Resource Center and interview the director of the center.
Writing Assignment: Research Domestic
Abuse on the Internet and respond to one Home Page or one
"victim's story."
Student Presentation
Week Eight: October
23 (mid-semester break October 27)
The House Behind Cedars by Charles Chesnutt
Click here
for
a web site of the hypertext and meaning of The House Behind Cedars
Click herefor
a web site on Charles Chesnutt
Click here
for a web site of criticisms of Charles Chesnutt
Student Presentation
Week Nine: October 30
The Professor's House by Willa Cather
Click here
for a reading group's discussion questions on The Professor's House
Click here
for
a web site that has discussion questions for The Professor's House
and a comparison of House
with My Antonia
Click herefor
discussion questions for The Professor's House
Student Presentation
Week Ten: November
6
"A New England Nun" and "The Revolt of Mother"
by Mary Wilkins Freeman (copies on reserve in the
library)
Click here
for a web site on Mary Wilkins Freeman
Click here
for a web site on "The Revolt of Mother"
Week Eleven: November
13
House Made of Dawn by N. Scott Momaday
Click here
for a web site on Momaday
Click here
for discussion questions and a review for House Made of Dawn
Click here
for
a web site on the Kiowa Nation
Student Presentation
Week Twelve: November
20 (Thanksgiving vacation November 22-26)
Refuge by Terry Tempest Williams
Click here
for an interview with Terry Tempest Williams
Click herefor
discussion questions for Refuge
Click
here for a biography of Williams plus additional links to
Williams and Refuge
Click here
for the official Web Page of the Mormon Church
Week Thirteen: November
27
Refuge by Terry Tempest Williams
Read "From Walden Pond to the Great Salt Lake:
Ecobiography and Engendered Species Acts in Walden
and Refuge"
Click here
for
a definition of ecofeminism by Rosemary Radford Reuther
(on reserve in the library)
Student Presentation
Week Fourteen: December
4
Three critical essays: Mohanty, Kaplan, hooks
(on reserve in the library)
"But Is It Any Good?: The Institutionalization
of Literary Value" by Jane Tompkins (on reserve in the
library).
Week Fifteen:
December 11
Presentations
Week Sixteen:
December 18
Final Exam
Click
here for helpful English Web Sites
Click here
for a guide to writing a research paper.
Click herefor
the Viterbo University critical thinking web site.