ENGL5510 · English

Contemporary American Women Writers

Morrissey College of Arts & Sciences

This course will explore the depiction of irresolvable tensions and mixed emotions in literature by current American women writers. As we focus on the tensions between love and fear, intimacy and violence, presence and absence, desire and disgust, we will think about how literature succeeds in conveying the intangible dynamics of feeling through language, imagery and form. Some of the topics we will explore include grief, aging, caregiving, pregnancy and motherhood, love and desire, physical and mental health, and domestic abuse. Although we will acknowledge the significance of gender conventions and the way they influence our everyday lives, our goal will be to interrogate rather than essentialize what it means to be a woman or a woman writer. In that regard, we will consider how embodiment and identity are shaped by race and ethnicity, age, sexuality, family dynamics and trauma -- as well as gender -- in these works. This is a class designed to explore connections between literature and lived experience. Community, creativity and original thinking will be highly valued. Required texts include Roz Chast's graphic memoir, Cant We Talk About Something More Pleasant?, as well as short fiction, poetry, and four novels: Louise Erdrich's Shadow Tag, Yaa Gyasi's Transcendent Kingdom, Nicole Krauss'The History of Love, and Marilynne Robinson's Housekeeping. Requirements will include an in-class presentation, two critical essays, a take-home final exam with an optional creative component, and class participation.