Module Identifier EN36820  
Module Title POST WAR WOMEN'S LIFE WRITING OF THE UNITED STATES  
Academic Year 2004/2005  
Co-ordinator Dr Helena Grice  
Semester Intended for use in future years  
Next year offered N/A  
Next semester offered N/A  
Course delivery Seminars / Tutorials   10 Hours Seminarau. 10 x 2 hour workshop seminars  
Assessment
Assessment TypeAssessment Length/DetailsProportion
Semester Assessment Asesiad Parhaus: 2 x 2,500 word essays100%
Supplementary Assessment Resumbit any failed elements and/or make good any missing elements 

Learning outcomes

On completion of this module students should be able to:

1. demonstrate knowledge and understanding of a variety of autobiographical modes of writing which has been produced by women in the United States since WWII;

2. demonstrate knowledge and understanding of current theories of women's life writing;

3. demonstrate an ability to think critically about issues of genre and form, with specific relation to gender;

4. demonstrate an ability express themselves clearly in writing and in speech.

Aims

This module aims:

1. to introduce students to the variety of autobiographical modes of writing which has been produce by women in the United states since World War II;

2. to familiarise students with current theories of women's life writing;

3. to encourage students to think critically about issues of genre and form, with specific relation to gender;

4. to widen students' knowledge of post-war women's writing in the United States.

Brief description

This module explores the idea of writing women's lives from the perspective of a range of forms of post-war life writing by women, including auto/biography, memoir and diary, as well as less obviously autobiographical forms of self-inscription such as criticism and fiction. It will consider and compare the different ways in which the female self has been constructed in these texts, with reference to psychological, cultural and material pressures. Constructions of the self will be related to structures of narrative, and the module explores how a range of post war American women writers have adopted, adapted or abandoned traditional narrative patterns such as the bildungsroman or romance. It will also discuss and apply current theories of women's auto/biography, and look at the importance of the autobiographical mode in feminist criticism.

Reading Lists

Books
** Supplementary Text
Rachel Blau du Plessis (1984) 'For the Etruscans' - This text supplied as photocopy
Jane Tompkins (1987) 'Me and My Shadow' - This text supplied as photocopy
** Should Be Purchased
Sylvia Plath (1965) Ariel Faber
Audre Lorde (1982) Zami: A New Spelling of My Name Pandora
Evelyn Lau (1995) Runaway: Diary of a Street Kid Minerva
Gloria Anzaldua (1987) Borderlands/La Frontera Aunt Lute
Maya Angelou (1969) I know Why the Caged Bird Sings Virago
Maxine Hong Kingston (1977) The Woman Warrior Picador
Sylvia Plath (1963) The Bell Jar Faber

Notes

This module is at CQFW Level 6