intertext | If You Were Teaching...

What's the definition of "Women's Lit"?

Only one novel?

Two books came to mind for me, both probably wrong. Evelina is a great book, and one they're unlikely to read other places.

Suggesting The Golden Notebook is probably as bad as suggesting The Handmaid's Tale, but I'm going to do it anyhow.

Pride and Prejudice. It's fun and it's feminist--it breaks all the rules about "passive and pure heroine or die" but it's so funny and smart one doesn't realize it. In this one, the women have power equal to,if not more than, men. Within the rules.

Jane Eyre

would work well, but if you wanted something a little less likely to have been encountered before, what about Elizabeth Gaskell? I've taught

North and South

at A Level with quite a lot of success. Or, of course, my beloved Austen -

Emma

is full of material relevant to "women's issues".

How about Elizabeth Gaskell's Ruth--I know the heroine meets a tragic end, but it's written by a woman and addresses social issues, and talking about how the author was constrained by her society is interesting. Similarly, how about Anne Bronte's The Tenant of Wildfell Hall--single mom has run away from alcoholic husband... in the 19th century. Lots of things to talk about with that.

And I really like The Wide Sargasso Sea, as much for its sexiness and bringing in of race questions (and for its beautiful language) as for its dialogue with Jane Eyre.

Personally, I really didn't like The Handmaid's Tale.

Sherri S Tepper's Beauty

There's also a whole lot of anger in those elegant sentences.

Pretty much anything written by a woman. I don't consider it means that it's FOR women or necessarily "feminist" (although one could argue that everything that deals with women's lives in some way is intrinsically that)

Yes, I've actually considered teaching both (Jane and Sea). However, there is again some risk that they might have Done that with another instructor.

And I didn't like Handmaid's Tale, either. I don't consider it Atwood's best work. If I were teaching her, I'd teach Alias Grace, which I think is a great book. Or Cat's Eye.

Ohhhh yes. But isn't that true even of Elizabeth Gaskell?

Speaking of which, a book that is astounding, feminist, true but doesn't get nearly enough attention due to missing the last chapter is Gaskell's Wives and Daughters George Eliot used it as inspiration for Middlemarch--another suggestion.

Ooh. Interesting choice. (thank you for NOT mentioning Gate to Women's Country, though I like it better than Handmaid's Tale)

Well, I could do two if they were both fairly short. I haven't decided yet if I'm going to do the course historically or by theme or what, but one possibility would be starting with Jane and ending with something else.

Evelina? I'm ashamed to say I don't know it...

OK. Part of me definitely wants to suggest Stella Gibbon's Cold Comfort Farm. It's such a sly, allusive novel that can be read on so many levels. I also have a big soft spot for iris Murdoch's The Sea, The Sea though that might be a bit challenging.

If I really hated your students I'd suggest Keri Hume's The Bone People. It's a terrific novel but horribly bleak.

if you do Jane Eyre, you should do Wide Sargasso Sea. To The Lighthouse, A Room of One's Own, Middlemarch, The Awakening, The Bell Jar, I could go on for awhile. All great books. Good luck and you are damn lucky to have gotten such a course. I am jealous!

Oh my. The Bone People Yes. I LOVED that novel, but you're right, it IS terribly bleak. Interesting idea, though...

And I like Iris Murdoch, too, though I agree that she is challenging.

Heh. I also rather like the idea of Cold Comfort Farm. It would be fun. The problem is that the allusiveness is over their heads, and it gets tiresome having to explain jokes.

Gaskell would be an interesting choice... aargh. There are so many possibilities!

The anthology I am considering using actually has Northanger Abbey in it. Not my choice for "one" Jane, and I think it needs teaching in the context of other Gothics, but a possibility. But there's also the problem that I think a colleague teaches it in another course...

A book you've probably never heard of, by a writer who later sold out and became the best-paid female writer of her generation:
Saturday's Child (http://www.amazon.com/Saturdays-Child-Kathleen-Thompson-Norris/dp/1406540161/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1208015993&sr=1-4) by Kathleen Thompson Norris. Sister-in-law of Frank Norris and wife of Charles Norris. Resident of Palo Alto, among other Bay Area places, and lyrical writer about nature's beauty -- not that there's a lot of that in this book.

Susan is an orphan living with her widowed aunt and three cousins in a San Francisco boarding house. Unlike her cousins, she insists on going to work -- she wants to make something of herself. And she gets in all kinds of trouble, of course. To escape the meaninglessness of waiting for a man to find her and marry her, she gets work in an office, becomes a companion to a wealthy young invalid (and sees the dark side of wealth), is tempted to start an irregular liaison with a writer, and finally finds satisfying work and marriage.

Norris is notable as the only successful romance writer (and in her day, she was unbelievably successful) to be profoundly distrustful of falling in love. The real plot in most of her novels is "girl finds the work she loves." Often that's "girl meets ranch and raises kids, discovering what a pain the wrong husband can be" or "girl drags herself up from shame and poverty and possibly losing her virginity." It's never about becoming merely a wife, although most of the heroines are married in the end.

I'm really glad to see that this book, one of her early, socialist/feminist period, has been reissued. Some of her middle-period works are just hackery and not worth reading. Her late period stories, after her husband died, are notable for the luxury of their settings and the absolute cynicism with which she writes about life among the wealthy.

I think To The Lighthouse is too hard, and Middlemarch too long (have to be realistic about the abilities of 2nd year college students). The Awakening - yes, a possibility, though if I were doing something non British I'd probably consider a Canadian. (Canon is slightly different north of the 49th). Carol Shields comes to mind - Unless is a great book. I'm also considering a Muriel Spark (Prime, anyone?).

Yes - I'm really looking forward to the course, and shall enjoy planning it over the next few months.

Wow - it sounds wonderful. You're right - I've never heard of it (or the author, to be honest). Might be a possibility for the future - not this year, perhaps.

I was going to add that it has the racism of its time and place. Thus the smart, hard-working hero makes "No Chinese workers" one of his strike demands.

If you want to read the book for free, you can download it from Gutenberg.org -- look under Kathleen Norris. The Thompson is used these days to distinguish her from the religious writer.

Oh, it's lovely. Frances Burney. Not quite the only reason that I dropped prevet to major in English, but at least one of the factors. She's considered a major influence on Austen and I like the book very much. Often shocking, actually, and for a romantic novel it is quite low on sentiment.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evelina

Oh, I'll have to check it out. I've read one or two of her plays, I think. It would be an interesting choice... again, maybe another year.

Sigh. So many books, so little time :)

Well, there are a couple of others ... Shadow's End and Gibbon's Decline and Fall that might also work.

Actually, I think I might like to teach Grass sometime as it's my favourite of hers. I think it's a brilliant exploration of belief systems. Maybe not the most obvious choice in this context, though.

I love Unless -- I love the issues about translating in it -- how you have to speak the language but also truly understand it. The Japanese fellow I'm tutoring wants to be a translator and we've talked about that book.

What about The Diviners? But then, that might be addressed in another class. *goes to look at book shelf* A Tree Grows in Brooklyn is pretty fabulous. And there's always The Secret Garden, but seeing as it's a children's book officially, it probably wouldn't fit.

Atwood is brilliant, she does have other books besides the handmaids tale....good luck!

Well, I don't think you can go wrong with Jane Eyre, if only because so many will expect them to know it and because so many other women writers have been affected by it. TB has been teaching it and Wide Sargasso Sea in first year, if you can believe it. Yes, both of them! But I suspect they've not spent enough time on it. If you wanted to do a George Eliot that is more obviously about women, I'd do A Mill on the Floss. I adore Spark, and PoMJB is a masterpiece, and very short and would compliment Northanger Abbey very well. One of the shorter Margaret Drabbles might also capture that period. I have had great fun teaching Weldon's The Life and Loves of a She Devil as well. Are you really confining it to Britain? If not, consider Nadine Gordimer, Isabel Allende, or even The Heart is a Lonely Hunter by Carson McCullers. The latter is such a jewel of a novel. I also liked Margaret Laurence's A Jest of God.

This is one of the hardest parts about teaching a new course, isn't it? Choosing means saying no to so many things.

Would just like to quietly caution that when I recently reread The Golden Notebook, after many years, I found it had not aged well.

Linda Hogan's Solar Storms. Here is Publisher's Weekly paragraph copied from Amazon:
In her luminous, quietly compelling second novel, Hogan, a Chickasaw poet and writer (whose first novel, Mean Spirit, was a finalist for the Pulitzer), ties a young woman's coming-of-age to the fate of the natural world she comes to inhabit. Angela Jensen, a troubled 17-year-old, narrates the tale of her return to Adam's Rib, an island town in the boundary waters between Minnesota and Canada. Tucked into a pristine landscape of countless islands, wild animals and desperately harsh winters, it's her Native American family's homeland. As a child, Angela was abandoned by her mother, Hannah Wing, but not before Hannah had permanently scarred half of Angela's face; earlier, Hannah herself had been separated from her family and unspeakably abused. In Adam's Rib, Angela is reunited with her great-grandmother, Agnes Iron, and Agnes's mother, Dora-Rouge; she also spends a winter with Bush, a solitary woman who briefly raised her and, years earlier and also briefly, raised Hannah. Just as Angela discovers through her family's elemental way of life her own blood ties to the land, the threat of a huge hydroelectric dam project ruins her idyll. The four women-- Angela, Agnes, Dora-Rouge and Bush-- embark on a dangerous journey far northward to visit the homeland, where Hannah Wing is known to live. Hogan's finely tuned descriptions of the land and its spiritual significance draw a parallel between the ravages suffered by the environment and those suffered by Angela's mother. And, as the land is transformed, so are the lives of the characters, often in deeply resonant ways.

i think i might know the student whom you are tutoring--does he go to camosun? if it's the same one, he's a nice guy and v. hardworking

He does indeed! His name is Masa and he is very nice. My mum rides horses at the stable where he lives/works.

Oh, pity about Northanger Abbey, as it would be my first choice. I think. (Yeah, impossible decision!) It's such a delight to read it in light of early feminist thought and to see JA take on the literary establishment at the same time. Fewer people likely to have read it than Jane Eyre as well. I also agree with the Elizabeth Gaskell suggestion - especially as I'm betting you're going to say Middlemarch is too much. (Yep - checked later replies.)

Not to be argumentative, but I wouldn't be sure about the Fanny Burney - I think you really might want a bit of experience with Austen and all to get the step 'back' to Burney.

I'm useless at anything of this type out of the 19th century, but we did Frankenstein in an OU second level lit course and it was fascinating. Or how about pushing it way out there and doing an Ursula Le Guin? With Orlando! (I'll stop now.)

(Except to say very unhelpfully that I hated Wide Sargasso Sea and loathed having to study it.)

Oh - and a question - are you doing short stuff too?

Mill on the Floss?

I'm not confining it to Britain, just that I tend to read more British, so those are my choices. Allende...? Hmm. I think her books are a bit overwrought, except Of Love and Shadows, which I adore.

Yes, it's an agonizing decision. Whatever I choose, someone (maybe me) will say "why didn't you choose something else"?

I was talking about this with friends last night, and we actually thought Orlando might be a good choice.

That sounds wonderful. I shall certainly look for it and read it - maybe food for next year... And I agree about The Golden Notebook - I think it's a bit dated now, though still important canonically. I didn't really enjoy it much when I read it for my comps, so I probably wouldn't want to teach it.

Yes - it or Middlemarch would have to be high on my list. It's so hard to choose!

I really think you can do two, just like in most second-year courses. Orlando might be fun because it asks all those questions about gender (I found it a bit of a slog, but I might not have been smart enough for it when I read it), but it might also be worthwhile to have something pre-twentieth century so as not to promote the notion that women's literature is a new thing (many students have a sketchy notion of "those days"). For that reason, Burney, Austen, Eliot, or Bronte might be worthwhile. I would still fall back on Jane Eyre because it would allow you to talk about the gothic, about romance, about realism, about religion, about class, about race, and about any number of things.

In the end, reading something with a view to teaching it is always a bit different, and Jane Eyre is on your to read list anyway, so maybe you should just read it and see . . . sometimes, our homework is pretty damn great!

Okay so I haven't read all the comments so a) this may have already been suggested and b) I don't have much experience in the realm of "women's lit" (well in the more rigid sense of the word I suppose), but I really liked Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit and The Passion of New Eve and The Bloody Chamber (as the WHOLE book of short stories). But I know you taught Winterson and also Carter in your 20th Century Lit so maybe you'd be double-dipping. I should come back to Camosun just to take that course with you.

I also really like Banana Yoshimoto, and her novel Kitchen might be good. Or one of her short stories from Lizard. But I don't know if you like Yoshimoto.

An interesting one to do with Northanger Abbey, and influential on it although not a gothic as such, is Charlotte Lennox's The Female Quixote.

I'd do either Maria Edgeworth, Belinda or Anne Brontë, The Tenant of Wildfell Hall, I think.

Yes, I have that on my "to read" list as well...

More interesting choices! I'm now thinking of making a reading list and having students choose one to read as a second novel - all these good suggestions won't go to waste :)

That's the one.

Wharton is also kind of interesting. And yes, Chopin. I think The Awakening is often pretty standard in a course like that. Or you could really make a splash and do Flannery O'Connor. Are you doing any Dorothy Parker? I also recommend a short story by the wonderful Lorrie Moore, but you probably have so much lined up for the 20th century. And have you ever read any poems by Mary Oliver? I think she's grand.

Can you tell I am working on 1001 ways to avoid marking essays?

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