English R1B

Description

"In ?The Philosophy of Composition,? Edgar Allan Poe writes, ?the death . . . of a beautiful woman is, unquestionably, the most poetical topic in the world.? A recurring focus of interest in Anglophone literature is the dead woman?literally dead, imaginary, slowly perishing of a mysterious spiritual affliction, or rendered ghostly by her social context. In this discussion-based course, we will interrogate the notion of the female-gendered cadaver: what does it mean to have gender if one is dead? What attributes does femininity lose?or gain?in spectrality?



This course fulfills the second half of the Reading and Composition requirement; therefore, it will emphasize expository writing and research skills. Two papers, a research proposal, an annotated bibliography, and supplementary exercises will be required. Readings will include Hawthorne?s The Blithedale Romance, Woolf?s A Room of One?s Own, Toomer?s Cane, and Morrison?s Beloved, as well as short prose by Irving, Poe, and James; poems by Wordsworth, Tennyson, and Dickinson; critical essays; and the writing of peers. "