WMST 318 - Literary Studies in Gender and Sexuality

Semester Offered: Fall
1 unit(s)

(Same as ENGL 318) Advanced study of gender and sexuality in literary texts, theory and criticism. The focus will vary from year to year but will include a substantial theoretical or critical component that may draw from a range of approaches, such as feminist theory, queer theory, transgender studies, feminist psychoanalysis, disability studies and critical race theory.

Topic for 2015/16a: Feminist Approaches to the Representation of Rape The representation of rape has been central in the Western literary tradition providing a pretext for aggression and revenge since the Iliad. These stories, foundational to narratives of the making of political entities, are repeated and recycled in the literary tradition. Yet the subjectivity of the raped woman continues to confound. Her silence seems necessary. This course considers the classical figures of Lucrece, Lavinia, and Philomel and their translation into the English literary tradition in the work of Chaucer and Shakespeare. We then turn to recent feminist work on the representation of rape. Authors may include Alcoff, Higgins and Silver, Walker, and films such as Thelma and Louise and The Accused. Ms. Robertson.

Open to Juniors and Seniors with two units of 200-level work in English or by permission of the instructor.

One 2-hour period.