Course Times: Tuesdays & Thursdays, 2:30-3:45, in 207 EPB

Office Hours: Tuesdays & Thursdays 3:45-5 PM, and by appointment

Phone: 335-0465 (office); 337-3364 (home)

E-mail: robert-latham@uiowa.edu; roblath@zeus.ia.net

 

Required Texts (all at Prairie Lights Bookstore):

Barbara Pym, EXCELLENT WOMEN

Muriel Spark, THE PRIME OF MISS JEAN BRODIE

Iris Murdoch, THE UNICORN

Margaret Drabble, THE MILLSTONE

Angela Carter, LOVE

Beryl Bainbridge, A QUIET LIFE

Penelope Fitzgerald, OFFSHORE

Anita Brookner, HOTEL DU LAC

Penelope Lively, MOON TIGER

Jeanette Winterson, SEXING THE CHERRY

A.S. Byatt, POSSESSION: A ROMANCE

 

Description: This course surveys novels by British women produced since the Second World War. We will trace contrasts between two distinct (but occasionally overlapping) traditions: the realistic novel of manners and the neo-Gothic novel of the fantastic. Our focus throughout will be on the resources each form provides for exploring conflicts between women's public and private selves in the contemporary period.

 

 

Requirements and Assignments: Your first requirement is preparation and attendance; you must be here for every session with the day's reading completed. Missing more than four classes will result in your getting an "F" for your attendance grade (see "Grading" section, below); missing more than six classes will cause you to fail the course.

 

The second assignment is a weekly reading journal, which I will collect on Tuesdays. The purpose of the journal is to record your responses to, questions about, and/or criticisms of the assigned texts. I do not want raw reading notes, but a couple of paragraphs of relatively coherent remarks. Feel free, in these journals, to develop strong positions and try out provocative ideas, since these journal entries can serve as the seeds for your longer papers. Another purpose of the journal is to permit me to assess whether you are keeping up with the reading, so please make your remarks as detailed as possible, with references to specific passages and events in the novels whenever appropriate. Individual journals will be graded check plus, check, or check minus, and a letter grade will be assigned to them in total at semester's end.

 

The major writing assignments are three 7-8 page papers. For each paper, you will have the option of selecting from sets of questions distributed in class or crafting topics of your own. I will discuss the paper format in more detail later in the semester. Papers are due on the Thursday sessions of Weeks 6, 11, and 17.

 

Grading: Final grades will be decided based on the following apportionment: 10% attendance and participation; 15% weekly reading journal; 25% each paper.

 

 

Reading Schedule:

 

Week 1. (January 18, 20)

Elizabeth Bowen, "The Demon Lover" (1944)

 

Week 2. (January 25, 27)

Barbara Pym, EXCELLENT WOMEN (1952)

 

Week 3. (February 1, 3)

Muriel Spark, THE PRIME OF MISS JEAN BRODIE (1961)

 

Week 4. (February 8, 10)

Iris Murdoch, THE UNICORN (1964)

 

Week 5. (February 15, 17)

Tuesday: Murdoch, cont'd

Thursday: Margaret Drabble, THE MILLSTONE (1965)--1st half

 

Week 6. (February 22, 24)

Tuesday: Drabble, cont'd

Thursday: Review of first four novels; First Paper Due

 

Week 7. (February 29, March 2)

Angela Carter, LOVE (1971)

 

Week 8. (March 7, 9)

Beryl Bainbridge, A QUIET LIFE (1976)

 

Weeks 9-10. (March 15, 17, 22, 24)

Spring Break and Reading Week. No classes.

 

Week 11. (March 29, 31) Second Paper Due

Penelope Fitzgerald, OFFSHORE (1979)

 

Week 12. (April 5, 7)

Anita Brookner, HOTEL DU LAC (1983)

 

Week 13. (April 12, 14)

Penelope Lively, MOON TIGER (1987)

 

Week 14. (April 19, 21)

Jeanette Winterson, SEXING THE CHERRY (1989)

 

Week 15. (April 26, 28)

Tuesday: A.S. Byatt, POSSESSION (1990)--chapters 1 - 11

Thursday: Byatt, POSSESSION--chapters 12 - 19

 

Week 16. (May 3, 5)

Tuesday: Byatt, POSSESSION--chapters 20 - epilogue

 

Week 17. Exam Week

Third Paper Due on Thursday by 5 PM