COMPARATIVE SEXUAL POETICS

TEXTS

Collard, Cyril, Savage Nights
Coover, Robert, Briar Rose
Duras, Marguerite, The Lover
Genet, Jean, The Thief's Journal
Miller, Henry, Quiet Days in Clichy
Nin, Anaïs, Henry and June
Robbe-Grillet, Alain, La Maison de Rendez-vous
Sarraute, Nathalie, Childhood
Sartre, Jean-Paul, The Words
Wittig, Monique, Les Guérillères
Woolf, Virginia, A Room of One's Own

Films, essays, poetry, and other short readings as assigned.

COURSE DESCRIPTION

How is the literary imagination engendered? What is the relationship between sexuality and texuality and between gender and culture? Do men and women read and write differently? Within the context of contemporary feminist textual theory, we will explore these questions by focusing on paired texts by male and female writers, working in different genres (primarily autobiography, fiction, film, and poetry) and within different national traditions (primarily Anglo-American and French). Comparative Literature 230 is a Writing Intensive course and fulfills the requirement in Learning Across the Disciplines--Arts and Humanities.

REQUIRED WORK

1) CLASS attendance, including careful prior preparation, is required; all assigned readings/viewings are to be completed before class on the dates indicated below. The course stresses active and informed participation in class discussion and thoughtful reflection on the assigned texts. At times, and in groups of 2-3, you may be asked to facilitate class analysis of a particular reading/viewing assignment.

2) You will be asked to prepare and submit in writing a series of PREPARATION ASSIGNMENTS, some of which will be of your own creation. Such assignments will, of necessity, sometimes be made in class; please note that you are responsible for those assignments whether or not you are in attendance at the class in which they are made. All preparation assignments are to be turned in at the end of the class period for which they are assigned.

3) You will write a series of short ESSAYS in the course of the semester. I will always be happy to discuss your plans for an essay in advance. You may also continue to revise your written work after it has been assigned a grade, but the revision of any essay must be resubmitted within one week of the date it is returned to you.

4) There will be a cumulative FINAL EXAM that will assume both detailed knowledge of the particular texts assigned and a more general understanding of the theoretical issues engaged in the course of the semester.

5) All required work is DUE ON THE ASSIGNED DATE unless you have prior approval of an extension, ordinarily granted only in the case of exceptional circumstances (e.g. serious personal or family illness). Since all work must be completed to earn credit for the course, unapproved late work must be submitted but its grade will be limited to a maximum of 50% (on a scale of 100). This policy is specifically designed to assure fairness. Please note as well that any incidence of plagarism or cheating will result in failure for the course.

6) Your FINAL GRADE will be determined as follows: Class and Preparation Assignments--25%; Essays--60% (12-15% each); Final Exam--15%.

DAILY CLASS/ASSIGNMENT SCHEDULE

I. M 1/12 Introductory Discussion: "Gender de Plume"

W 1/14 "Little Red Riding Hood"

PREPARATION ASSIGNMENT: As you compare the "original" versions of LRRH (folktale, Perrault, Grimm) with its 20th-century female "revisions" (Sexton, Broumas, Carter, Lee), identify 2-3 textual changes that seem to you of particular significance to a consideration of gender and writing; discuss them briefly in terms of the specific cultural and historical context that might help to account for them (e.g. women's societal roles; feminist ideology, etc.).

II. M 1/19 Robert Coover, Briar Rose

PREPARATION ASSIGNMENT: Do a brief analysis of Coover's Briar Rose, paying particular attention to gender and writing. For example, what is the relationship between "sexuality" and "texuality"? Is this a specifically "male" or "masculinist" rewriting of the "original fairy tale? Is it a feminist one? As a postmodern text, is it "beyond" gender"?

W 1/21 Elaine Showalter, "Feminist Criticism in the Wilderness"; Peter Schwenger, "The "Masculine Mode"

PREPARATION ASSIGNMENT: Do a brief analysis of some aspect(s) of the texts we have already read within the framework of what Showalter calls "gynocritics" and/or what Schwenger identifies as a "masculine mode." For example, what is the "unique difference" of the female-authored versions of LRRH? Does Coover write in a "masculine mode"?

III. M 1/26 Virginia Woolf, A Room of One's Own

PREPARATION ASSIGNMENT: Before reading A Room of One's Own, identify (in writing) what your expectations are for both a "lecture" and an "essay." Then, as you read and/or after you have read Woolf, discuss the ways in which she deliberately challenges (thwarts, undermines, plays with, etc.) our expectations for the lecture and the essay.

W 1/28 Selections from Sylvia Plath, Ariel and Ted Hughes, Birthday Letters

PREPARATION ASSIGNMENT: Identify and discuss 2-3 differences between Plath's and Hughes's poetry, which seem to you of particular significance in the context of gendered writing, paying attention to voice, imagery, and form as well as thematics.

ESSAY #1 DUE

IV. M 2/2 Plath and Hughes, Cont.

W 2/4 Hélène Cixous, "The Laugh of the Medusa"; Rachel Blau DuPlessis, "For the Eutruscans"; Josephine Donovan, "Towards a Women's Poetics"

PREPARATION ASSIGNMENT: One could argue that Cixous and Blau DuPlessis differ from Showalter and Donovan in that the former explicitly attempt to "practice what they preach." Choose either "The Laugh of the Medusa" or "For the Eutruscans" and briefly discuss some of the ways in which a theory of a "female aesthetic" or a "women's/woman's poetics" is reflected (illustrated, embedded, etc.) in the textual strategies of the essay as a particular writing practice.

V. M 2/9 Anaïs Nin, Henry and June

PREPARATION ASSIGNMENT: By virtue of her own statements, we know that Anaïs Nin consciously sought to create an authentically "feminine" writing that would serve her specific needs as a woman. Use the text of Henry and June to begin to theorize what she might have meant by this assertion.

OR, alternatively, briefly consider Nin's writing practice as an exemplary model of the "woman's poetics" theorized in the essays we have been reading (i.e. Woolf, Donovan, Showalter, Cixous, Blau DuPlessis).

W 2/11 Nin, cont.April 26, 1998

PREPARATION ASSIGNMENT: To be determined by you collectively.

VI. M 2/16 Henry Miller, Quiet Days in Clichy

PREPARATION ASSIGNMENT: Discuss--compare &/or contrast--one of the following:

a) your reading and evaluation of Henry Miller as writer in relation to that proposed by Anaïs Nin in her Diary (e.g. "the most remarkable man of our age"--be specific about the reasons for your agreement or disagreement with Nin and about the passages in Miller's text that support your view)

b) or, more specifically, your reading and evaluation of Miller's portrayal of women, again in relation to that proposed throughout Nin's diary

c) or, more specifically still, Miller's portrayal of "June" (Mara) in relation both to Nin's own within the Diary and to her objections there to Miller's image of June

ESSAY #2 DUE

W 2/18 Philip Kaufman, Henry and June

PREP. ASSIGN.: Put yourself in Anaïs Nin's place and discuss your reaction to Kaufman's filmic adaptation of your diary. Be specific about what you do and/or don't like. In particular, does he respect your determination to "speak as a woman" or does he offer us a "male/masculine" version of your work? (Would Henry Miller like this film--would he like it better than your Diary?)

VII. M 2/26 Jean-Paul Sartre, The Words

PREP. ASSIGN: Briefly outline 4-5 distinctively different ways in which you might "tell the story" of your own childhood. In at least two of these projects, take gender specifically into account--one should consciously seek to express the "gender" of your own childhood both in what you propose to talk about and in the way that you propose to talk about it; the other should be projected within the context of a "feminine poetics" (or, alternatively, a "masculine poetics," but it is my assumption here that we are talking about the gender of a text and not of it's author). In all cases, your thinking should be specifically informed by your memory of your childhood and you should take into careful consideration your intended audience and your motives for recounting your life story (obviously, these may vary with each project).

W 2/25 Sartre, cont.

PREP. ASSIGN.: Recent feminist studies posit distinctively different male and female tradition within the genre of autobiographical writings. Using Nin's diary as your comparative model and as an exemplary text of the "female tradition," discuss some of the differences of Sartre's autobiography and speculate on how they might represent an alternative "male" tradition within a common literary genre.

VIII. M 3/1 Nathalie Sarraute, Childhood /Sartre

PREP. ASSIGN.: Make a list of similarities and differences between Sarraute's and Sartre's respective accounts of their childhoods, paying attention to both the formal (e.g. narrative technique, structure, etc.) and the thematic (e.g., relationship to language; portrayals of parents, etc.). Then, choose one element of comparison and contrast that you find particularly interesting and/or significant and explore it in greater detail, making explicit reference to specific passages in the two texts.

W 3/3 Sarraute/Sartre, cont.

SPRING BREAK

IX. M 3/22 ESSAY #3 DUE

In-class reading/writing--no prior preparation required

W 3/24 Alain Robbe-Grillet, La Maison de Rendez-vous

PREP. ASSIGN.: Imagine that a friend has just asked you what the novel you are reading is "about"; briefly (1-2 pages, as usual) answer his/her question. (Try to be both clear and accurate; we will assume that your friend knows--or thinks s/he knows--what "a novel" is and you may wish to take this into account in formulating your response to the question.)

X. M 3/29 Robbe-Grillet, cont.

PREP. ASSIGN.: La Maison de rendez-vous explicitly foregrounds a thematics that Robbe-Grillet himself readily characterizes as "sado-erotic." Some readers interpret R-G's use of sado-erotic elements and motifs as sexist, others as (at least potentially) feminist; alternatively, but similarly, some readers claim that R-G uses sado-eroticism to subvert dominant cultural views of women, others that this thematics serves to reinforce dominant cultural views. Take a clear position in this controversy and argue it as persuasively as possible. (Although I wish you to argue for a particular position, your argument will be most convincing to the extent it reflects and takes into account your understanding of the grounds on which the opposing position could be argued.)

PREP. ASSIGN.: Generate whatever "preparation assignment" seems appropriate to address whatever issues you have found to be most interesting, troubling, problematic, (etc.) in your reading of Wittig's novel. Two stipulations: the assignment must, as always, be in written form (although it might consist, for example of a series of questions); and it should be explicitly designed to engage your colleagues in critical discussion of the novel.

XI. M 4/5 Wittig/Robbe-Grillet, cont.

PREP. ASSIGN.: Wittig's Les Guérillères is among the texts most consistently cited by feminist theorists as an exemplification of what is meant by écriture féminine. Discuss Wittig's textual practice in this light; you may wish to use the novel itself as a basis for articulating your own theory of what is therefore meant by "women's discourse" or you may wish to consider the novel within the theoretical framework we have already explored (see, in particular, Cixous and Showalter).

PREP. ASSIGN.: Robbe-Grillet's La Maison de rendez-vous , Wittig's Les Guérillères , and Duras's The Lover offer us three examples of contemporary fictions that are all experimental in form and genre and all explicitly concerned with gender, not only in relation to their thematics but also to both the theoretical understanding of language and the linguistic practice they illustrate. Working consciously within the context provided by these three works, outline in detail a project for a "feminist fiction" of your own design.

XII. M 4/12 Duras, cont.

PREP. ASSIGN.: Develop, in writing, your own "preparation assignment," one explicitly designed to engage your colleagues in lively critical discussion of important questions raised by Duras's The Lover.

W 4/14 Jean-Jacques Annaud, The Lover

(** Read Collard**)

XIII. M 4/19 Cyril Collard, Savage Nights

ESSAY #4 DUE; In-Class presentation of ESSAY 4

W 4/21 Collard, Cont.

PREP. ASSIGN. Hélène Cixous identifies only two contemporary writers as actual practitioners of écriture féminine: Marguerite Duras and Jean Genet, of whom Collard is a direct descendant. Using The Lover and Savage Nights as a comparative base, what would now seem to characterize a gender-specific writing? (Try to be as specific as possible and pay particularly close attention to similarities between the texts of Collard and Duras.)

XIV. M 4/26 Cyril Collard, Savage Nights--the film

W 4/28 Conclusion

FINAL EXAM: Due Thursday, May 6, 9:00 a.m. (Kauke 240)

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Last Updated November 20, 2003