Course Description

ENGL 6/7500:  Feminist Literary and Film Theory

Instructor: Dr. Elyce Rae Helford

Course Description:  This course introduces graduate students to the broad, interdisciplinary field of feminist theory, with emphasis on diverse schools of thought and the connections between feminist theory and literary and film study.  Feminist theory is defined in the course as philosophical/rhetorical discourse that works to explain and analyze gender and the study of human knowledge, language, and the self as well as the conditions of women’s lives in attempt to understand and strategize to mitigate psychological, social, political, economic, and ideological systems of subordination.  Students will develop skills in understanding theoretical discourse as well as in applying theory to literature and film.

Textbooks (subject to change in future terms):

Feminist Literary Theory: A Reader. 2^nd ed.  Ed. Mary Eagleton (Blackwell)
Feminist Film Theory: A Reader. Ed. Sue Thornham (NYU Press)