Teaching and Research
The English Department offers a number of courses every year that focus on the study of women and gender, most of which are listed as women-emphasis electives or as cross-listed courses in the Women's Studies Department. It is possible to take such a course at every level in our English program: ENGL 1155, Introduction to Literature: Gender and Form; ENGL 2240 and 2241, Women's Literary Tradition I and II; ENGL 3363, Feminisms and Their Literatures; and ENGL 4407, Queer Theory. In addition, courses on women and gender may be offered as special topics or directed studies. Gender study is a well established part of the field of English literature, and many professors in the department incorporate such an approach among a variety of others in their teaching and research. Several English professors are also appointed as faculty in the Joint M.A. in Women and Gender Studies.
Check out the women-emphasis courses offered by our department in 2011-12.
The Lesbian Pulp Fiction Collection
This special collection of rare books in the Mount Saint Vincent Library is a rich research resource for students of literary history, feminist theory, women's history, cultural studies, and visual design. The novels are on permanent display beside the circulation desk in the Library.
Women-Emphasis Courses 2011-2012
In 2011-2012, the English Department is offering the following courses that are also listed in the Women's Studies program.
ENGL 1155: Introduction to Literature: Gender and Form
This course will provide an introduction to the critical study of the major forms of fiction, poetry, and drama, using examples from the time of Chaucer to the present day. Readings will include a balance of female and male writers, and a special focus for discussion will be representations of gender. Note: Students may not take both ENGL 1155 and ENGL 1170/1171 for credit.
ENGL 2240: Women's Literary Tradition I
Fall term; half unit
Wednesday 4:30 - 7:00 p.m.
Instructor: Anna Smol
This course is a study of women's writing from the Middle Ages to the end of the eighteenth century, with a focus on women writers living in England or known to the English. The course covers a variety of genres, including letters, poetry, prose non-fiction, and the novel. We will look at how writers in different periods such as Christine de Pisan and Mary Wollstonecraft write about women's education and about their lives generally, and we will read the works of writers like Mary Wroth and Aphra Behn, who take up genres and topics previously reserved for male writers. Throughout the course, we will investigate the material conditions that enabled women to become writers as we examine how women represented their experiences and how they presented their arguments in the long-standing debate about the nature and status of women in society. Further details about this course, as they become available, can be found at http://faculty.msvu.ca/asmol/2240.htm
This course is also available as a service learning option.
ENGL 3363: Feminisms and their Literatures
Fall-Winter terms; one unit
Tuesday and Thursday 3:05-4:20
Instructor:Rhoda Zuk
This course is a cross-cultural survey of women's writings from 1970 to the present. This course will examine feminism as a plurality and its activity as an international literary movement.