Feminist Ethics as Discourse Ethics:  Woolf, Bachmann, Wittig

The course will approach the question of exactly what a feminist ethics must look like, and in particular, how such an ethics must be reflected in discourse and its conventions.  To this end, several texts of Virginia Woolf (including at least “A Room of One’s Own” and Orlando), Ingeborg Bachmann (including at least Malina, plus short prose), and Monique Wittig (including at least “The Straight Mind” and Les Guérillères) will be studied in detail with a view less to their content than to their specific qualities as discourse.  One text with comparable feminist tendencies but by a male author may be included, perhaps Goethe’s  Elective Affinities.

Course schedule (day-to-day reading assignments will follow):

21 January:  finish Virginia Woolf, A Room of One’s Own

23 January-6 February:  VW, Orlando

9-13 February:  C. Wolf on Ingeborg Bachmann; and Bachmann, “Among Murderers and             Madmen”

16 February-6 March:  IB, Malina

27 February:  decision about first paper topic

16-20 March:  from Monique Wittig, The Straight Mind:  “The Category of Sex,” “The Straight    Mind,” “On the Social Contract,” “Homo Sum”

18 March:  first paper due

23 March-3 April:  MW, Les Guérillères

6-17 April:  Goethe, Elective Affinities

10 April:  topic for final paper due

20-27 April:  texts suggested by students

4 May:  final paper due

Grading:  midterm paper 30%, final paper 50%, class discussion 20%

Reading schedule for Malina:  Feb 16, to p. 31; Feb 18, to p. 63; Feb 20, to p. 92; Feb 23, to p. 126; Feb 25, to p. 155; Feb 27, to p. 187; Mar 2, to p. 210; Mar 4, to end.

Reading schedule for Les Guerilleres:  Mar 23, to p. 28; Mar 25, to p. 49; Mar 27, to p. 72; Mar 30, to p. 100; Apr 1, to p. 126; Apr 3, to end.

Reading schedule for The Elective Affinities:  10 April, end of part one; 13 Apr ch. 1-6 of pt 2; 15 Apr ch 7-11; 17 Apr ch 8 to end

 Feminist Ethics as Discourse Ethics:  Woolf, Bachmann, Wittig

The course will approach the question of exactly what a feminist ethics must look like, and in particular, how such an ethics must be reflected in discourse and its conventions.  To this end, several texts of Virginia Woolf (including at least “A Room of One’s Own” and Orlando), Ingeborg Bachmann (including at least Malina, plus short prose), and Monique Wittig (including at least “The Straight Mind” and Les Guérillères) will be studied in detail with a view less to their content than to their specific qualities as discourse.  One text with comparable feminist tendencies but by a male author may be included, perhaps Goethe’s  Elective Affinities.