Skip to main content
Department of English
Search
Log in
Navigation
About
Current Office Hours
Diversity Resources
English Library
Faculty Statement Archives
Internal Dept Resources
Medieval and Early Modern Studies
University Writing Program
Video Guides & Worksheets
Visit us on Facebook
Major/Minor in English
Advising
Creative Writing Application
Honors Program
Internships
Literary Magazines
Major Requirements Guide & FAQ
Minor Requirements
Study Abroad
Why Major in English?
MFA in Creative Writing
Admissions
Events, Prizes, and Resources
MFA Program Faculty
Newly Admitted Grad Students
Resources
Ph.D. in Literature
About
Admissions
Newly Admitted Grad Students
PhD Alumni Directory
Resources
Courses & Schedules
People
News & Events
Off the Syllabus Podcast
Recent News
Contests
Contest Winners
Previous Contest Winners
Newsletters
You are here
Home
»
Courses & Schedules
English 186 - Spring, 2018
Literature, Sexuality, & Gender
Class Information
Instructor:
Freeman, Elizabeth
CRN:
81978
Time:
MWF 11:00-11:50
Location:
206 Olson
Description
This course will begin with Modernism, often described as the first flowering of self-consciously LGBTQ literature. But we will start with a seemingly heterosexual Modernist novel, Hemingway’s The Sun Also Rises, both to hone our skills at reading for alternatives to heterosexuality and to see how gender norms and racial formations intersect. We’ll then move on to two Modernist classics, Nella Larsen’s Passing and Gertrude Stein’s Tender Buttons, before turning to postmodern and postcolonial novels, plays, poems, and short stories involving sexual and gender normativity and transgression. Throughout the course, the emphasis will be on the intersections of race with gender/sexuality, and of literary style with politics and social identity. Authors are Anglo-American, African American, French, Chicanx, Native American, Caribbean-Canadian, Black Scottish, and Asian American, gay, straight, queer, trans, male, and female.
Grading
Midterm Paper 20%
Final Paper 25%
Final Exam 20%
Ongoing Written Class Participation 25%
Quizzes 10%
Oral Particpation: up to 5% Extra Credit
Texts
The Sun Also Rises, ISBN 978-0743297332
, Hemingway, Ernest
Passing, ISBN 978-0142437278
, Larsen, Nella
Tender Buttons, ISBN 978-0872866355
, Stein, Gertrude
A Visitation of Spirits, ISBN 978-0375703973
, Kenan, Randall
Cereus Blooms at Night, ISBN 978-0802144621
, Mootoo, Shani
Trumpet, ISBN ISBN 978-0375704635
, Kay, Jackie
The Book of Salt, ISBN 978-0618446889
, Truong, Monique