Humanities Arts Cultural Stu 0281 - Women Writers

What difference does it make -- to the reader, to the author, to the text itself -- that a text is written by a woman? Women writers over history have defied cultural prohibitions to break into public voice. In so doing, they have questioned, deformed, and reformed literary genres and cultural institutions, transgressing cultural expectations and producing literature of exceptional ingenuity and creativity. In this course we will explore women's access to and use of public voice during the early modern period across several cultures, reading literary texts in conjunction with historical and theoretical material. Authors include: Christine de Pizan, Giovanni Bocaccio, Marguerite de Navarre, Elizabeth Tudor, Elizabeth Cary, Teresa of Avila, Jane Anger, Michelangelo Buonarroti, Mary Wroth, Madeleine Neveu and Catherine Fradonnet, Louse Lab, Francesco Petrarca, Ann Finch, Margaret Cavendish, and Aphra Behn.

Multiple Cultural Perspectives Independent Work Writing and Research In this course students are expected to spend six hours on preparation and work outside of class time.