In addition to primary texts by writers such as Ama Ata Aidoo, Buchi Emecheta, Grace Ogot and Nawal el Saadawi, we will read short theoretical essays on African feminisms. In this workshop, we will explore, through reading and through writing, the presentation of self in autobiography. A major focus will be on the interweaving of voice, structure, style, and content. As we read the work of ourselves and of others, we will be searching for strategies, devices, rhythms, patterns, and approaches that we might adapt in future writings. The reading list will consist of writings by twentieth-century women.
Admission is by permission of the instructor.
During the registration period, students should leave a sample of their writings at the English Department office, Wright 101. Works to be studies will include Mrs. Dalloway, To the Lighthouse, Orlando, The Waves, Between the Acts, A Room of One's Own, and Three Guineas, as well as essays drawn from The Common Reader and stories. Supplementary readings from biographies of Woolf and her own letters, journals, and diaries. Cornelia Pearsall A study of the lives and works of the remarkable Bront sisters and their shadowy brother, exploring the literary, cultural and familial circumstances which aided and impeded the development of their art. Novels, poetry, and paintings by Charlotte Bront , Emily Bront , Anne Bront and Branwell Bront .