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English 579: Woman as Hero
Professor Harriet Malinowitz
The concept of the "heroic" traditionally contains the
assumption that the hero is male. Heroism is a public act,
requiring agency in the public world, while the concept of the "heroine"
is a diminutive one, in that the heroine exists only by virtue of
her relationship to the hero. Unlike a "heroine,"
a female "hero" (or, as Maya Angelou has put it, "shero")
is often unrecognizable within the conventions of patriarchal ideology
upon which heroic idealism is based. This course will suggest
titleernative ways of reading classic texts and will also consider
more contemporary texts as we attempt to identify and explore female
heroism in myth, fiction, theory, memoir, and film. From the
myth of Amor and Psyche to Thelma and Louise, we will examine
archetypes of the woman hero who embarks on a journey (either literal
or figurative), challenges the established order, and creates new
possibilities of community, wholeness, and selfhood.
English 624: Hemingway, Fitzgerald & the 1920s
Professor Howard Silverstein
Through an examination of their lives and selected works, this
course will assess Hemingway and Fitzgerald's contribution to Modernism,
their embodiment of the cultural highlights that mark the 1920s
(the Expatriate Movement in Paris, Prohibition, flappers), and the
influence they had on later writers. The major texts of the
course will include The Sun Also Rises, A Farewell to
Arms, The Great Gatsby, and Tender is the Night.
Attention will also be given to the shorter fiction of these writers.
Students will be assigned several critical papers as well as an
oral presentation.
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