This subject, cross-listed in Literature and Women's Studies, examines a range of American women authors from the seventeenth century to the present. It aims to introduce a number of literary genres and styles- the captivity narrative, slave novel, sensational, sentimental, realistic, and postmodern fiction- and also to address significant historical events in American women's history: Puritanism, the American Revolution, industrialization and urbanization in the nineteenth century, the Harlem Renaissance, World War II, the 60s civil rights movements. A primary focus will be themes studied and understood through the lens of gender: war, violence, and sexual exploitation (Keller, Rowlandson, Rowson); the relationship between women and religion (Rowlandson, Rowson, Stowe); labor, poverty, and working conditions for women (Fern, Davis, Wharton); captivity and slavery (Rowlandson, Jacobs); class struggle (Fern, Davis, Wharton, Larsen); race and identity (Keller, Jacobs, Larsen, Morrison); feminist revisions of history (Stowe, Morrison, Keller); and the myth of the fallen woman (take your pick). Essays and in-class reports will focus more particularly on specific writers and themes and will stress the skills of close reading, annotation, research, and uses of multimedia where appropriate. A classroom electronic archive has been developed for this course and will be available as a resource for images and other media materials.
Course Expectations
Attendance and Participation (25%)
This is a discussion course where your attendance and participation in class are vital to your success and that of the group. Bring your text to class and be prepared to read aloud, debate vigorously, listen, and enjoy. If you must miss class, please notify me beforehand of the fact by phone, email, or in person; you are responsible for the information you missed. Any absence deducts a percentage point from your final grade: two latenesses count as one absence. Repeated absences will lead to a formal warning and can affect your grade and status in the class. If you have a conflict, like a recitation, lab, sports commitment, or job that meets during this class, you should not take the course.
This grade is based on classroom attendance and participation; on participation in an online discussion forum and on an in-class report, which will involve skills in research, annotation, oral communication, and the use of multimedia.
Written Work (75%: Essay One 15%, Revision 15%, Essay Two 15%, Essay Three 30%)
Essays and Revisions: You are required to write three essays and one revision (of the first essay). You may also revise the second essay, if you choose. The grade for the second revision will replace the grade on the original essay only if it raises it.
Essays and revisions are due at the beginning of class on the day assigned. In a course that depends so much on timing (i.e. getting the papers in, getting back comments in time to revise before the next essay is due), it is better to hand in something less than perfect than to delay. All revisions should include a brief statement summarizing the process of revision.
Essays must be typed or word-processed, double-spaced, and adequately margined, should include a title, and need to observe the conventions of grammar and spelling.
Statement on Plagiarism
Plagiarism attacks the freedom and integrity of thought. Especially in a class that will depend to some extent on online research, you must know what constitutes plagiarism and avoid it. The Literature Department has formulated this statement and policy for all plagiarism cases:
Plagiarism- use of another's intellectual work without acknowledgement- is a serious offense. It is the policy of the Literature Faculty that students who plagiarize will receive an F in the subject, and that the instructor will forward the case to the Committee on Discipline. Full acknowledgement for all information obtained from sources outside the classroom must be clearly stated in all written work submitted. All ideas, arguments, and direct phrasings taken from someone else's work must be identified and properly footnoted. Quotations from other sources must be clearly marked as distinct from the student's own work. For this course, students will use the MLA Works Cited format.
MIT's academic honesty policy can be found at the following link: http://web.mit.edu/policies/10.0.html