Fall

Contact Info:  elizgeo@hotmail.com

Office Hours:  By appointment

Meeting Days:  Monday/Wednesday

Meeting Time:  10:55 am - 12:10 pm

COURSE DESCRIPTION:

This course investigates significant issues raised in and by women-authored works.  Readings may cover fiction, drama, and/or poetry from any literary period produced by Anglo and American Women who lived in, traveled to, and wrote about Italy.  We will explore the role gender plays in the generation of written work, as well as Italy’s influence upon narrative structure, tone, theme and the socio-political implications of both gender and culture as they inform narrative.  Texts will include poetry, memoir, letters, reportage, and fiction.

OUTCOMES: 

Students will gain knowledge about women’s lives and writings; will understand the difference gender makes to the writing, reading, and interpretation of literature; and will acquire the critical vocabulary that will enable them to describe and analyze, and formulate arguments about, women-authored literature.

Knowledge Area Satisfied:  Literary Knowledge and Experience

Skill Developed:  Critical Thinking Skills and Dispositions; Writing & Communication skills

Learning Objectives: 

1. Students will acquire the critical and technical vocabulary enabling them to describe and analyze, and formulate an argument about, literary productions. Students will learn how to summarize the plot, main themes, and/or key arguments for each text covered. They will learn the definitions of critical concepts such as "theme," "image," "point of view," "irony," and "figure of speech" and be able to identify these concepts in specific literary texts by producing critical analyses that show how these literary devices structure readers' responses to the text. Students will be able to extract the main themes or arguments in a variety of texts both in class discussion and in written responses (e.g., quizzes, essays, exams).

2. Students will assess how formal qualities of literary productions determine the nature of the experience offered and affect the response of the audience. Students will be able to produce a "close reading" of a literary text that identifies literary devices (e.g., irony, figures of speech) and shows how these devices affect the readers's constructions of meaning(s) in the text. In addition, students will be able to identify the generic form for each text covered (e.g., realism, gothic romance, expressionism) and the main elements of that form and to assess the impact on the reader of such formal choices.

3. Students will examine multiple interpretive possibilities of any literary work, and know that such interpretations both reflect the culture that produce[d] them and change over time. Students will learn the difference between literal and figurative meanings, and between overt statements and implicit assumptions, and how to assess tone and point of view so that they can better understand how a piece of literature might produce multiple interpretations. They will also learn the different connotations of specific words, particularly gender-based vocabulary and culturally significant language, expressions, stereotypes, and patterns.

4. Students will assess the relationships of works of literature to the cultural-historical nexus that produce[d] and use[d] them.

5.  Students will learn how to read the literature in relation to its specific time period and cultural location, and in so doing, will learn how the position of women in society and the literature produced by women change over time and/or across racial or ethnic groups or cultures. Students will know the historical and socio-cultural context for each text covered and be able to articulate why that knowledge is important to reading the text. Students will learn how the concept of "woman" and/or "femininity" has been produced and defined in a particular historical moment, geographic region, and/or cultural tradition.

Skills:

1. Students will be able to comprehend, paraphrase, summarize, and contextualize the meaning of varying forms of literature (literature of different genres) and criticism.  Students will learn to produce a "close reading" of a literary text, identifying literary devices  and show how these devices affect the readers  constructions of meaning(s) in the text. Students will acquire skills in summarizing a plot or a critical essay on a piece of literature and in extracting the main themes or arguments in a variety of texts. Students will demonstrate their abilities through written assignments (e.g., journal entries, quizzes, essays, exams) as well as class discussion.

2. Students will be able to analyze relationships among statements, questions, concepts, descriptions, or other forms of representation intended to express beliefs, judgments, experience, reasons, information, or opinions. Students will learn to analyze the system of beliefs (e.g., ideologies of gender, cultural bias, etc.) informing certain statements or descriptions, or giving rise to certain kinds of questions in a piece of literature or criticism. Students will learn the difference between a statement supported by textual evidence and a statement requiring knowledge of a particular belief system or socio-historical moment.

3. Students will be able to evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of varying points of view. By comparing different interpretations of a work of literature, students will learn to assess the values and beliefs that give rise to certain readings and the critic's skills in supporting her or his particular interpretation. Students will be able to compare and assess a text in terms of other writings by women.  Students will be able to articulate what the concept of "woman" or "foreigner” means in historical and cultural terms, noting particular places in a text where this understanding is evident.

4. Students will be able to generate new ideas, hypotheses, opinions, theories, questions, and proposals; and develop strategies for seeking and synthesizing information to support an argument, make a decision, or resolve a problem.

5.  Students will learn to identify some common subjects, themes, concerns, and/or formal structures in literature by women in response to Italy and Italian culture. Students will engage in critical thinking by being able to identify any conceptual problems in a text's treatment of women and to articulate how the concept of "gender" and “the other or the outsider” impacts on the production and/or consumption of literary texts. Students will be able to incorporate the concept of gender and “the other” into the analysis of a text, identifying the implicit or explicit assumptions about gender in a text.

6.  Students will come to recognize when the need for ethical judgment and social action becomes imperative by exploring what leads certain writers to take the positions they do. Students will gain awareness of the ethical as well as social and political implications of different concepts of "woman" or "femininity" or “foreigness” by explaining how those concepts structure the relationships between characters in any one text and/or how they structure the possibilities of what any one author can say or do in a text or in a particular socio-historical context and/or cultural tradition.

LEARNING ACTIVITIES

1)       Readings and lectures will provide information regarding the texts, placing them in an historical context and providing avenues for critical analysis.

2)       General class discussions and small group work will actively involve students in the oral analysis of texts.  Students will be expected to read the materials in advance and be prepared to both ask and answer questions about the texts.

3)       Papers, writing assignments, written responses (done in class), and an oral presentation will be used to assess literary knowledge and writing skills.

REQUIREMENTS:

Participation is of the utmost importance. Literary criticism and lectures will provide a foundation for the course, however students will be expected to come prepared to contribute to class discussions of the various texts.  Detailed guidelines will be handed out before each assignment is due.  If, at any time, you find you have questions about the assigned readings or the papers and other assignments, please feel free to contact me either via Email:  elizgeo@hotmail.com.  I will be happy to clarify what I can and help in any way possible.  You may make appointments with me to meet outside of class for further discussion or a one on one tutorial of the subject matter.

ATTENDANCE POLICY:

Since our discussions (and your participation in them) are such a large component of this course, attendance is mandatory.  Three unexcused absences will result in the lowering of your final grade by one complete grade.  More than four unexcused absences may result in failure for the course. If you have a valid reason to miss class, please try to let me know in advance of your absence or follow up with me as soon as possible afterward. 

GRADE BREAKDOWN
Paper     #1                                                          Radcliffe                                20%

Paper #2                                                              Fuller                                    15%

Oral Presentation                                                Browning                               20 %

Memoir Writing Assignment                                TBD                                        15%                       

Final Paper                                                           Sontag                                  20 %

Participation, Homework, Attendance                                                              10 %

DISABILITY POLICY:

If you have a documented disability and wish to discuss academic accommodations, please contact me within the first week of classes

ACADEMIC INTEGRITY:  Plagiarism is considered a serious offense, will be reported to the Dean of the Loyola Rome program, and could result in expulsion.  Please see me if you have questions about how to do research, document and cite sources, or with any other questions you may have about papers and assignments. 

REQUIRED TEXTS:

Required Textbooks:

• Browning, Elizabeth Barrett, Selected Poems
• Fuller, Margaret, These Sad But Glorious Days
• Radcliffe, Ann, The Italian
• Mary Shelley, Valperga
• Sontag, Susan, The Volcano Lover

Additional Materials (In the form of handouts and on reserve in the library)*

Fiction & Memoir

• Bowen, Elizabeth from A Time in Rome
• Clark, Eleanor, “Fountains” from Rome and a Villa
• Spark, Muriel, “My Rome”
• Wharton, Edith, “Roman Fever”       

Criticism

• Broadwell, Elizabeth P., The Veil Image in Ann Radcliffe’s “The Italian” 
• Peck, Walter Edwin, The Biographical Element in the Novels of Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley
• Rosenblum, Dolores, Casa Guidi Windows and Aurora Leigh:  The Genesis of Elizabeth Barrett Browning’s Visionary Aesthetic
• Eckel, Leslie E., Margaret Fuller’s Conversational Journalism:  New York, London, Rome
• Peucker, Brigitte, Looking and Touching: Spectacle and Collection in Sontag’s Volcano Lover

 *additional handouts and criticism (not listed here) may be forthcoming

COURSE SCHEDULE

** This subject is subject to change.  If you miss class, please contact me for any updates.

Week One                             Course Introduction

Mon Sept. 8                          Italy through the eyes of women

Wed Sept 10                         Introduction to Ann Radcliffe

Week Two                             The Italian —1^st half of novel

Mon Sept 15                         Romanticism, the gothic genre, Writing Naples in the 18^th Century

Wed Sept 17        

Week Three                          The Italian — 2^nd half of novel & criticism

Mon Sept 22                        The Veil Image in Ann Radcliffe’s “The Italian”

Wed Sept 24                         Mary Shelley and Ann Radcliffe

Week Four                            Radcliffe Papers Due; Introduction to Browning

Mon Sept 29                         Paper #1 Due      

Wed Oct 1                             Poems TBA; Writing Florence & Italy in the 19^th Century                            

Week Five                             Browning’s Selected Poems, continued

Mon Oct 6                             Introduction to Browning and the romantic poets; Poems TBA

Wed Oct 8                             Browning’s Florence; Handout:  Casa Guidi Windows and Aurora Leigh:  The Genesis of Elizabeth Barrett                                       Browning’s Visionary Aesthetic               

Week Six:                              FALL BREAK OCT 10-19

Week Seven                         Oral Presentations (Browning)

Mon Oct 20                           Wrap-up Browning

Wed Oct 22                           Oral Presentations (order TBA)

Week Eight                           Introduction to Nonfiction & Italy, Margaret Fuller, et al

Mon Oct 27                           Fuller’s Rome; Dispatches TBA; the Risorgimento

Wed Oct 29                           Margaret Fuller’s Conversational Journalism:  New York, London, Rome

Week Nine                            Fuller and These Sad But Glorious Days, continued; Papers Due

Mon Nov 3                            Fiction, Nonfiction & writing contemporaries; Handout:  Wharton’s “Roman Fever”             

Wed Nov 5                            Papers Due:        

Week Ten                              20^th Century Italy & the memoir                       

Mon Nov 10                          Handouts:  Bowen, Clark, Spark (bring to class); the (so-called) feminine and the landscape of Italy

Wed Nov 12                          Guidelines for memoir project         

Week Eleven                        20^th Century, continued; The Volcano Lover

Mon Nov 17                          TBA (possible class outing); handouts (not on reserve or on syllabus)

Wed Nov 19                          Memoir projects due; Begin Sontag; Guidelines for Final Papers                                  

Week Twelve                       The Volcano Lover —Entire Novel 

Mon Nov 24                          Guidelines for Final Papers; Writing Naples in the 20^th century; 1^st half of novel

Wed Nov 26                          2^nd half of novel                  

Week Thirteen                      The Volcano Lover

Mon Dec 1                            Looking and Touching: Spectacle and Collection in Sontag’s Volcano Lover

Wed Dec 3                            Course Wrap Up & Final Papers Due

There is no final exam for this course. 

Final Papers will be returned during the Exam Period.