Studies in Fiction (313-0-20)

Topic

Feminist Rage Fiction (Post 1830/Gender, Sexuality

Instructors

Jennifer Comerford

Meeting Info

Kresge Centennial Hall 2-319: Tues, Thurs 11:00AM - 12:20PM

Overview of class

From #MeToo to the overturning of Roe v. Wade and the ongoing assault on women's autonomy, narratives of feminist rage have never felt timelier, however much they appear double-edged. Audre Lorde has argued for the utility of anger as a powerful anti-racist tool. On the flip side, however, are the ways in which media has perpetuated stereotypes of the "Angry Black Woman." Some questions we will consider in this course include in what ways can rage be a resource of resistance and power in response to racism, misogyny, and compulsory heterosexuality in a patriarchal system? How can rage be channeled into constructive ends when it so often entails loss of control and the potential for (self-turned) destructiveness? To what extent does the commodification of angry women in media dilute the subversive power of feminist rage? And how do we address the potential for feminist rage to become absorbed into narratives of the hysterical woman or framed (often in racialized ways) as animalistic behavior?

Class Materials (Required)

Sylvia Townsend Warner, Lolly Willowes, Daphne du Maurier, Rebecca, and Han Kang, The Vegetarian. Short stories and essays include selections by Charlotte Perkins Gilman, Zora Neale Hurston, Zitkala-Sa, Carmen Maria Machado, and Leonora Carrington, Audre Lorde, and Claudia Rankine.

Class Attributes

Advanced Expression
Literature and Arts Foundational Discipline

Enrollment Requirements

Enrollment Requirements: Pre-registration -- Reserved for English and Creative Writing students.