English 205: Women's Autobiography and Bildungsromane

(Fresh.-Soph. Honors Prosem.)

Professor Kathryn Conrad
Fall 2000
11:30 MWF  *  4022 Wescoe

Course Description

In this course, we will examine two popular and powerful literary genres embraced and challenged by women writers over the years: the  autobiography and the bildungsroman, or novel of development. We will read and discuss these works with attention to a number of questions:  what is the self? what conditions affect the development of the self? what does gender have to do with selfhood and authorship? what is the  subject of autobiography? what choices must be made when making a life into a narrative? what is the relationship between authorship and authority? We will also explore questions of voice, authority, genre, and purpose with attention to the writing students will produce for the  course; students are encouraged to write at least one autobiographical essay.

Authors whose works we will read will include C. Bronte, Jacobs, Woolf, Cisneros, Kingston, and Lorde, among others.  Requirements include 4 papers, a final exam, and classroom participation.

Course Homepage

This course was administered through Blackboard.