Taught by Dr. Alice L. Trupe  

• Go directly to Test Preparation materials: Departmental List of Recommended Works; Outline of English Literary History to 1750; Sample Test Questions
• Go directly to Top Class.
• Go directly to Reading and Writing Schedule.
• Go directly to Paper Assignment.

This winter's senior seminar will focus on texts by women, specifically British and American writers of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. In addition to the theme of gender, the seminar will explore some kinds of intertextuality--the interrelationships among texts. We will consider the impact of gender on both the production and reception of texts. Is a class in women's texts necessarily a class with a feminist bias? That's one of the questions we'll be discussing. I ask you to begin thinking about this by asking whether a class that includes men's texts almost exclusively is necessarily a class with a masculinist bias.

Since one purpose of the senior seminar is to review and integrate the knowledge of literature and criticism you have been developing over the past four years, we will read texts that help to highlight some contrasts between historical periods and texts that pose rereadings or rewritings of earlier texts. We will consider issues such as the impact of the Victorian era on writers in the early and mid-twentieth century, evidence of colonialist and imperialist policies in nineteenth-century literary texts and post-colonialist rereadings of those texts, and changing interpretations of human nature, gender, and sexuality.

Another purpose of the senior seminar is to build a bridge between undergraduate English studies and what will follow it--in many cases, graduate work in English or teaching. Since computer environments are having a dramatic impact on teaching and learning, we will also use computer discussion and writing environments. You'll find some useful Web links from my personal page, and I'll be expanding our Web resources with your help.

• Lots of reading and discussion, both face to face and in electronic environments
• One long paper, developed in parts over the term and incorporating feedback generated during two writing workshops
• An oral presentation on your writing and individual research
• A brief reflective, summarizing paper at the end of the term

Go to Reading and Writing Schedule.

Email Dr. Trupe.