ENG 192: Gender and Literary Texts

ENG 192
Gender and Literary Texts
(3 credits)
Class Size: 15-25

Faculty: Carol W.N. Fadda, Associate Professor, Project Advance,
Administrative Contact: Sean M. Conrey, Associate Director, Project Advance

Please read this memo regarding recommended sequencing for WRT and ENG courses.

Course Catalog Description

Crosslisted with WGS 192. Construction and representation of “gender,” especially as it affects the production and reception of literary and other cultural texts.Shared Competencies Critical and Creative Thinking; Communication Skills.

Course Overview

ETS 192: Gender & Literary Texts explores the “construction and representation of ‘gender,’ especially as it affects the production and reception of literary and other cultural texts. The course foregrounds readers’ interpretive practices, i.e., how we read and make meaning in texts, particularly if we interpret them using the premise that gender is a social construct— rather than a natural, ahistorical “essence” that somehow “expresses” our true “selves.”

To examine the ways in which literature participates in the social reproduction of gender, as well as the difference that gender makes in the production and reception of literary texts, students will practice extensive close reading, evidence-based analysis and argumentation, and independent-inquiry. Raising awareness of how meanings are created through acts of critical reading, students will thus learn to analyze the ways texts construct categories of difference, including differences of gender, race and social class.

Pre- /Co-requisites

N/A

Course Objectives

• Develop skills in close reading, textual analysis, and effective historical and cultural contextualization of claims.

• Recognize how meanings are created through acts of critical reading.

• Analyze the ways texts construct categories of difference, particularly differences of gender but also those of race, ethnicity, nationality, sexuality, and class

• Formulate sustained interpretive, analytical, or conceptual arguments based on evidence drawn from texts.

General Skills Learning Outcomes

• Organize ideas in writing

• Use clear and appropriate prose

• Express ideas and information orally

• Engage in analytical and critical dialogue orally

• Evaluate arguments

• Identify and question assumptions

Laboratory

N/A

Required Materials

Fun Home: A Family Tragicomic, 2007, Mariner Books Classics.
ISBN: 978-0618871711

Theoretical anchor texts for each unit are required, but literary texts and secondary resources are selected by the course instructor and represent a range of historical periods and cultures. There are three kinds of writing assignments in this class: shorter, prompt-driven close reading responses, responses focused on reading through literary theory, and major essays.

Beyond anchor texts that instructors provide for students, wide latitude is given for choosing the other texts students will read. No “reader” is suggested for the course.

Instructor Recommendations

N/A