Dangerous Women in Literature

3 units

From the femme fatales of Romantic verse the murderous caregiver in Leila Slimani's 2017 novel The Perfect Nanny, women who imperil others--and themselves--have long captivated the literary conscious. How might the witchy personae of Anne Sexton poetry speak to the fairy tale fiction of Angela Carter, or the conniving protagonists of Enchi Fumiko? How may the punk proclivities of Patti Smith align, or collide, with the iconoclasm of Modernist poet Mina Loy or contemporary lyricist Warshan Shire? In this course we will examine fiction, poetry, and theoretical texts that speak to concepts of female rebellion, deviance, and destruction. Weekly readings and writing assignments will explore these texts both for content and for form--along with questions of how female authorship itself has been considered dangerous across history. Written work will take the form of short answer and short essay tasks, culminating in a presentation of your own on an author of your choosing.