Fall 2016

New Women in America

Listed in: English, as ENGL-153  |  Sexuality, Women's and Gender Studies, as SWAG-112

Formerly listed as: ENGL-01  |  WAGS-12

Faculty

Wendy H. Bergoffen (Section 01)

Description

(Offered as SWAG 112 and ENGL 153.)  This course will examine the emergence of the “New Woman” as a category of social theory, political action, and literary representation at the turning of the twentieth century.  Early readings will trace the origins of the New Woman as a response to nineteenth-century notions of “True Womanhood.”  Discussions will situate literary representations of women in larger cultural events taking place during the Progressive Era–debates over suffrage as well as their relationship to issues of citizenship, immigration, Jim Crow segregation, urbanization, and nativism.  The course will focus on texts written by a diverse group of women that present multiple and, at times, conflicting images of the New Woman.  Close attention will be paid to the manner in which these women writers constructed their fictions, particularly to issues of language, style, and form.  Readings will include texts by Charlotte Perkins Gilman, Kate Chopin, Edith Wharton, Pauline Hopkins, Anzia Yezierska, and Sui Sin Far.

Preference will be given to first-year students, SWAG students, and American Studies students.  Limited to 18 students. Fall semester. Lecturer Bergoffen.

 

If Overenrolled: If the course is overenrolled, preference will be given to first-year students, SWAGS students and American Studies students.

Cost: $35 ?

SWAG 112 - L/D

Section 01
M 12:30 PM - 01:50 PM FAYE 217
W 12:30 PM - 01:50 PM FAYE 217

ISBN Title Publisher Author(s) Comment Book Store Price
The Yellow Wall-Paper The Feminist Press at CUNY 1996 Gilman Amherst Books TBD
Arrogant Beggar Duke University Press Books 1996 Yezierska Amherst Books TBD
Awakening and Other Stories Modern Library 2000 Chopin Amherst Books TBD
Contending Forces Oxford University Press 1988 Hopkins Amherst Books TBD
Custom of the Country Scribner 1987 Wharton Amherst Books TBD
Emma McChesney & Co. University of Illinois Press 2003 Ferber Amherst Books TBD
House of Mirth Broadview Press 2005 Wharton Amherst Books TBD

These books are available locally at Amherst Books.

Offerings

2024-25: Not offered
Other years: Offered in Spring 2011, Spring 2012, Fall 2014, Fall 2016, Fall 2019