COURSE DESCRIPTION:

This course in fiction by American women is based on genres that have for various reasons been important to women writers: the domestic novel, the women's Bildungsroman, the short story collection on a particular subject, and the story cycle. In presenting these genres, with the exception of the Bildungsroman, I've paired a nineteenth or early twentieth-century example with a more recent one, which will allow us to consider why women were first attracted to the genre and how this interest has evolved in our own time. After learning about the history of the Bildungsroman, we'll look at two innovative adaptations by contemporary ethnic women writers. As we read all the paired works, we'll discuss the discourses about gender we discover in them, and attempt to understand how women have made these genres their own.