The Novel in the Feminine (Le Roman au Feminin)

3 units

Informed through feminist criticism (Beauvoir, Cixous, Kristeva), this course examines the deconstruction of the novel as a traditional genre by twentieth-century women writers such as Colette, Nathalie Sarraute, Marguerite Duras, Marguerite Yourcenar, Annie Ernaux, and Mariama Bâ. We place special emphasis on the representation of the writing woman in the text itself and on the issue of écriture féminine in its socio-cultural context. Prereq: Fr 325 and Fr 326 or one of these courses and the equivalent WU transfer literature course from Toulouse or Paris. One-hour preceptorial for undergraduates.