Course Syllabus - Leslie Simon

English 58A: Contemporary Women Writers and Poets

Course Description:

Reading List:

• No More Masks: An Anthology of Twentieth Century American Women Poets, Florence Howe (editor)
  
• Beloved, Toni Morrison
  
• Housekeeping, Marilynne Robinson
  
• Paula, Isabelle Allende
  
• Loving in the War Years, Cherríe Moraga
  
• Monkey Bridge, Lan Cao
  
• It Begins with Tears, Opal Palmer Adisa

Reconciliation

Introductions
Reconciliation

No More Masks: Introduction
Muriel Rukeyser "The Poem as Mask" (xxvii)
Judy Grahn (314-317); Ntozake Shange (418-421)
Voicing the Silence Sign-up

No More Masks: Audre Lorde (234-237); Joy Harjo (439-441)
Alma Luz Villanueva (381-384); Naomi Shihab Nye (448-451)

Beloved
Paper Guidelines; Voicing the Silence begins.

Beloved
Workshop: Paper I

Paper I Due: LATE PENALTY--2 POINTS
Field Trip

In-class "Reading Round" of your work or work of a favorite woman writer "The Highs and Lows of Black Feminist Criticism" by Barbara Christian

Mid-Term Review
Mid-term Exam: Poetry; Beloved
Guest writer: Nellie Wong

Housekeeping
Review of Paper II Guidelines

Housekeeping

NO CLASS

Paula

Loving in the War Years
"The Path of the Red and Black Ink" by Gloria Anzaldúa

Monkey Bridge
Workshop: Paper II

Monkey Bridge
"Yellow Sprouts" by Trinh T. Minh-ha

It Begins with Tears
"Believing in Literature" by Dorothy Allison

It Begins with Tears
Guest writer: Opal Palmer Adisa

Paper II Due: LATE PENALTY--5 POINTS
Brief presentations of your paper thesis
Final Exam Review

Final Exam: Housekeeping; Paula; Loving in the War Years; Monkey Bridge; It Begins with Tears

Grades:

90-100=A; 80-89=B; 70-79=C; 60-69=D; 59 or below=F

• Paper I (2 pages, double-spaced and typed; about 600 words). TOPIC: "Reconciliation"
  
  
• Paper II (6-8 pages; double-spaced and typed; about 1800-2400 words): critical examination of a central issue in one or two of the following texts: Housekeeping; Paula; Loving in the War Years; Monkey Bridge; It Begins with Tears.
  
  You will receive some writing guidelines to facilitate your process. The key to an enjoyable project is to construct an engaging thesis statement. Find a question that provokes you and whose answer leads you into a deeper understanding of the text(s).
  
  
• Exams: two in-class essay questions in each exam
  
  
• Voicing the Silence: Choose a poem from No More Masks in which you hear a previous silence voiced. Write a paragraph in that voice's "I," which you will read to the class, OR choose a poem in which we don't hear from a particular person, place, or thing--nevertheless, still present in the poem--and write a paragraph in its voice. We will begin each class (from February 6 to May 15, excepting exam and guest writer nights) with this assignment. Without it, you will lose five points. No matter what you do, as long as you do something, you'll be fine. Have fun with this; don't belabor it. But do watch where it takes you and, if you like, tell the class about your process.

Sample: Tess Gallagher's poem "Instructions to the Double" (350-352): I did what she said. I took up with the crazies. I left the comfort of my home, the place that raised me to be good, perfect, and quiet--to take directions and to follow someone else's lead. I wandered into places where women weren't supposed to go, leaving messages, arranging future meetings, disguising my voice. She wanted me to try, so I did it for her. But by the time I came back with my stories and wounds, my gifts and my prizes, I knew she'd be gone. It was a plan. It worked. We don't know if she lived or died. All we know is that I got free.