ENGL 314: Syllabus
Home Page | 314 Homepage | 314 Description & Requirements | 314 Assignments |
1/9 Course Objectives, Expectations,
Procedures
Why Study Sexuality? Is there a History of
Sexuality?
Viewing of Torch Song Trilogy, Screenplay by Harvey Fierstein
Assignment for Next Class: Read the following and prepare Dialogue Journal #1: Sappho, selections from fragments (in Readings for ENGL 314); John Winkler, "Double Consciousness in Sappho's Lyrics" (in LGSR); Ellen Greene, "Feminine Desire in Sappho's Verse," Martha Nussbaum, "Of Paederasty and Proposition Two"; M. D. Thomas, "Omnisexuality in the Poetry of Catullus"; John Clarke, "The Man in the Middle [all in Readings for ENGL 314]; David Halperin, "Sex before Sexuality: Pederasty, Politics, and Power in Classical Athens" in Hidden from History
1/16 Varieties
of Sexual Practices in the Ancient World and Contemporary Erasures of Same-Sex
Love
Dialogue Journal #1 Due
Sappho, selections from fragments (in Readings); Ellen Greene,
"Feminine Desire in Sappho's Verse," (in Readings); John
Winkler, "Double Consciousness in Sappho's Lyrics" (in Lesbian and
Gay Studies Reader); Martha Nussbaum, "Of Paederasty and Proposition
Two"; M. D. Thomas, "Omnisexuality in the Poetry of Catullus";
John Clarke, "The Man in the Middle" (all in Readings); David
Halperin, "Sex before Sexuality: Pederasty, Politics, and Power in
Classical Athens" (in Hidden from History).
Assignment for Next Class: Read the following and prepare Dialogue Journal #2: Shakespeare, Selections from Sonnets (in Readings); Bruce Smith, excerpt from Homosexual Desire in Shakespeare's England (in Readings); Mark Lilly, "The Homophobic Academy" (in Readings); Alan Bray, Homosexuality in Renaissance England, pp. 33-80 (in Readings); James Saslow, "Homosexuality in the Renaissance" (in Hidden from History); Judith C. Brown, "Lesbian Sexuality in Medieval and Early Modern Europe" (in Hidden from History)
1/23 Early
Modern Constructions of Same-Sex Eroticism and Heterosexist Literary Criticism
Dialogue Journal #2 Due
Shakespeare, selections from Sonnets (in Readings); Bruce
Smith, excerpt from Homosexual Desire in Shakespeare's England (in
Readings); Mark Lilly, "The Homophobic Academy" (in Readings);
Alan Bray, Homosexuality in Renaissance England, pp. 33-80 (in Readings);
James Saslow, "Homosexuality in the Renaissance" (in Hidden from
History); Judith C. Brown, "Lesbian Sexuality in Medieval and Early
Modern Europe" (in Hidden from History)
Viewing: excerpts of Derek Jarman's Edward II or Caravaggio
Assignment for Next Class: Read the following and prepare Dialogue Journal #3: Walt Whitman, Calamus (in Readings); Byrne R. S. Fone, "Brethren and Lovers" from Masculine Landscapes (in Readings); Jonathan Ned Katz, "Coming to Terms: Conceptualizing Men's Erotic and Affectional Relations with Men in the U. S., 1820-1892" (in Readings)
1/30 Late
Nineteenth-Century Emergence of a Gay Male Identity: United States
Dialogue Journal #3 Due
Walt Whitman, Calamus (in Readings); Byrne R. S. Fone, "Brethren and Lovers"
from Masculine Landscapes (in Readings);
Jonathan Ned Katz, "Coming to Terms: Conceptualizing Men's Erotic and
Affectional Relations with Men in the U. S., 1820-1892" (in Readings)
Viewing: Out of
the Past
Assignment for Next Class: Read the following and prepare Dialogue Journal #4: Oscar Wilde, Picture of Dorian Gray; Alan Sinfield, "Queer Thinking" from The Wilde Century (in Readings); Joseph Bristow, "Wilde, Dorian Gray, and Gross Indecency" (in Readings)
2/6 Oscar Wilde and the Emergence of a Gay
Male Identity in 1890s England
Dialogue Journal #4 Due
Oscar Wilde, Picture of Dorian Gray; Alan Sinfield, "Queer
Thinking" from The Wilde Century (in Readings); Joseph Bristow, "Wilde, Dorian Gray, and Gross
Indecency" (in Readings)
Assignment for Next Class: Read the following and prepare Dialogue Journal #5: Moises Kaufman, Gross Indecency; Kendall Thomas, "Corpus Juris (Hetero)Sexualis: Doctrine, Discourse, and Desire in Bowers v. Hardwick (in Readings); Arthur S. Leonard, "Equal Protection and Lesbian and Gay Rights (in Readings)
2/13 Legal
Constructions of Same-Sex Relationships: Same-Old Same-Old
Dialogue Journal #5 Due
Moises Kaufman, Gross Indecency; Kendall Thomas,
"Corpus Juris (Hetero)Sexualis: Doctrine, Discourse, and Desire in Bowers
v. Hardwick (in Readings); Arthur
S. Leonard, "Equal Protection and Lesbian and Gay Rights" (in Readings)
Viewing: Wilde
Assignment for Next Class: Read the following and prepare Dialogue
Journal #6: Martin Sherman, Bent (in Readings);
Richard Plant, excerpts from The Pink Triangle (in Readings);
Erwin Haeberle, "Swastika, Pink Triangle, and Yellow Star: The Destruction
of Sexology and the Persecution of Homosexuals in Nazi Germany" in Hidden
from History
2/20 Nazi
Persecution of Sexual Minorities
Dialogue Journal #6 Due
Martin Sherman, Bent (in Readings);
Richard Plant, The Pink Triangle (in Readings); Erwin Haeberle,
"Swastika, Pink Triangle, and Yellow Star: The Destruction of Sexology and
the Persecution of Homosexuals in Nazi Germany" in Hidden from History
Viewing: Bent
Assignment for Next Class: Read the following and prepare Dialogue
Journal #7: Radclyffe Hall, "Miss
Ogilvy Finds Herself" (in Readings);
Becky Birtha, "In the Life"; Carroll Smith-Rosenberg, "Discourses
of Sexuality and Subjectivity: The New Woman, 1879-1936" in Hidden from
History; Madeline Davis and Elizabeth Lapovsky Kennedy, "Oral History
and the Study of Sexuality in the Lesbian Community: Buffalo, 1940-1960"
in Hidden from History. Recommended Reading: Esther Newton,
"The Mythic Mannish Lesbian: Radclyffe Hall and the New Woman" in Hidden
from History
2/27 Forging
Lesbian Identities and Communities:
1920s-1960s / Lesbians' Struggle
for Public Space
Dialogue Journal #7 Due
Radclyffe Hall, "Miss Ogilvy Finds Herself" (in Readings); Carroll Smith-Rosenberg,
"Discourses of Sexuality and Subjectivity: The New Woman, 1879-1936" in
Hidden from History; Becky Birtha, "In the Life" (in Readings); Madeline Davis and Elizabeth
Lapovsky Kennedy, "Oral History and the Study of Sexuality in the Lesbian
Community: Buffalo, 1940-1960" in Hidden from History
Viewing: Last Call at Maud's
Assignment for Next Class: Read James Baldwin's Another Country and prepare Dialogue Journal #8. Recommended Reading: Christopher James, "Denying Complexity: The Dismissal and Appropriation of Bisexuality in Queer, Lesbian, and Gay, Theory" (in Readings)
3/6 Race
and Sexual Orientation: African-American Gay Male Fiction in the Pre-Stonewall
Era
Dialogue Journal #8 Due
James Baldwin, Another Country; Recommended Reading: Christopher James, "Denying Complexity: The Dismissal and Appropriation of Bisexuality in Queer, Lesbian, and Gay, Theory" (in Readings)
Viewing: Tongues Untied
Assignment for Next Class: Read the following and and prepare Dialogue Journal #9: Leslie Feinberg, Stone Butch Blues (in Readings); Marjorie Garber, "Spare Parts" (Lesbian and Gay Studies Reader); Will Roscoe, "Gender Diversity in Native North America: Notes Toward a Unified Analysis" (in Readings); Serena Nanda, "Hijras as Neither Man Nor Woman" (Lesbian and Gay Studies Reader); Ki Namaste, "Tragic Misreadings: Queer Theory's Erasure of Transgender Subjectivity" (in Readings)
3/20 Transgender
and Transsexual Identities in Modern Western Cultures and Gender-Crossing in
Traditional Non-Western Cultures
Dialogue Journal #9 Due
Leslie Feinberg, Stone Butch Blues (in Readings); Ki Namaste, "Tragic Misreadings: Queer Theory's Erasure of Transgender Subjectivity"
(in Readings); Marjorie Garber,
"Spare Parts" (Lesbian and Gay Studies Reader); Will Roscoe,
"Gender Diversity in Native North America: Notes Toward a Unified
Analysis" (in Readings); Serena
Nanda, "Hijras as Neither Man Nor Woman" (Lesbian and Gay Studies
Reader)
Viewing: Paris Is Burning (or The Brandon Teena Story)
Assignment for Next Class: Read the following and prepare Dialogue Journal #10: excerpts from Dorothy Allison, Skin (pp. 13-36, 63-76, 101-120, 127-134, 135-142, 143-150, 151-158, 165-182, 209-224); Ana Castillo, "La Macha" (in Readings)
3/27 Gender,
Class, Race and Sexuality / The Challange of Community
Dialogue
Journal #10 Due
Allison, selections from Skin (nine essays--see assigned pages)
Ana Castillo, "La Macha" (in Readings)
Viewing: The Times of Harvey
Milk
Assignment for Next Class: Read the following and prepare Dialogue
Journal #11: David Leavitt, The Lost
Language of Cranes
4/3 Post
Stonewall Gay Male Fiction--The Coming Out Novel
Dialogue Journal #11 Due
David Leavitt, The Lost Language of Cranes
Viewing: Before Stonewall
Assignment for Next Class: Read ONE of the following texts and prepare Dialogue Journal #12: EITHER Paul Monette's Becoming a Man: Half a Life's Story OR Leslea Newman's My Lover Is a Woman: Poems of Adrienne Rich, Dorothy Allison, and Judy Grahn (titles of poems TBA)
4/10 The Erotics and Politics of
Lesbian Poetry OR The Erotics and
Politics of the AIDS Memoir
Dialogue Journal #12 Due
Poetry of Adrienne Rich, Dorothy
Allison, and Judy Grahn (titles of poems TBA) OR Paul Monette's Becoming a
Man: Half a Life's Story
Viewing: Antonia's Line OR Silver Lake Life: The View from Here
Assignment for Next Class: Read Jeanette Winterson's Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit and prepare Dialogue Journal #13
4/17 Post-Modern
Lesbian Fiction in the Post-Stonewall Era--The Lesbian Coming Out Novel:
"To the Pure All Things Are Pure"
Dialogue Journal #13 Due
Jeanette Winterson, Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit
Viewing: One Nation Under God
4/24 Final
Essay Due at Class Time (5-8 page, typed formal essay). See assignment for guidelines.
Home Page | 314 Homepage | 314 Description & Requirements | 314 Assignments |
314 Links to Resources | Course Descriptions & Syllabi
