ENGL 680: Syllabus
Home Page | 680 Homepage | 680 Description & Requirements | 680 Assignments |
1/8 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 Probes and Insights #1: Sappho, selections from fragments (in Readings for ENGL 680); Ellen Greene, "Feminine Desire in Sappho's Verse," John Winkler, "Double Consciousness in Sappho's Lyrics,” 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 680]; David Halperin, "Sex before Sexuality: Pederasty, Politics, and Power in Classical Athens" in Hidden from History
1/15 Varieties of Sexual Practices in the Ancient
World and Contemporary Erasures of Same-Sex Love
Probes and Insights #1 Due
Sappho, selections from fragments (in Readings); Ellen Greene,
"Feminine Desire in Sappho's Verse"; John Winkler, "Double
Consciousness in Sappho's Lyrics”; 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 Probes and Insights #2: Shakespeare, Selections from Sonnets (sonnet numbers TBA); 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)
1/22 Early
Modern Constructions of Same-Sex Eroticism and Heterosexist Literary Criticism
Probes and Insights #2 Due
Shakespeare, selections from Sonnets; 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 Probes and Insights #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)
1/29
Coded Messages: Walt Whitman and Late Nineteenth-Century
Emergence of a Gay Male Identity in the U. S.
Probes and Insights #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); Willa Cather, “Tommy: The Unsentimental” (in Readings)
2/5
Coded Messages: Oscar Wilde, Willa
Cather, and the Emergence of Queer Identities in 1890s England and U. S.
Probes and Insights #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); Willa
Cather, “Tommy: The Unsentimental” (in Readings)
Assignment for Next Class: Read the following and prepare Probes and Insights #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)
2/12 Legal
Constructions of Same-Sex Relationships: Same-Old Same-Old
Probes and Insights #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 Probes and Insights #6: Martin Sherman, Bent; 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; Leslea Newman, “A Letter to Harvey Milk” (in Readings)
2/19 Nazi
Persecution of Sexual Minorities
Probes and Insights #6 Due
Martin Sherman, Bent; 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; Leslea Newman, “A Letter to Harvey Milk” (in Readings)
Viewing: Bent
Assignment for Next Class: Read the following and prepare Probes and
Insights #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; Esther Newton, "The Mythic Mannish Lesbian:
Radclyffe Hall and the New Woman" 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.
2/26
Forging Lesbian Identities and
Communities: 1920s-1960s / Lesbians' Struggle for Public Space
Probes and Insights #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; Esther Newton, "The Mythic Mannish Lesbian:
Radclyffe Hall and the New Woman" 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 Christopher James, "Denying Complexity: The Dismissal and Appropriation of Bisexuality in Queer, Lesbian, and Gay, Theory" (in Readings); prepare Probes and Insights #8.
3/19
Race and Sexual Orientation in Pre-Stonewall
Gay Fiction: James Baldwin and Bisexuality
Probes and Insights #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 Audre Lorde’s Zami and excerpts from Dorothy Allison, Skin (pp. 13-36, 63-76, 101-120, 127-134, 135-142, 143-150, 151-158, 165-182, 209-224 in Readings); prepare Probes and Insights #9
3/26
Race, Class, and Sexual Orientation in
Post-Stonewall Lesbian Fiction: Audre
Lorde and Dorothy Allison
Probes
and Insights #9 Due
Audre Lorde, Zami: A New Spelling of My Name
Dorothy Allison, selected essays (in Readings)
Assignment for Next Class: Read Leslie Feinberg, Stone Butch Blues
OR Kate Bornstein, Gender Outlaw; Will Roscoe, "Gender Diversity in
Native North America: Notes Toward a Unified Analysis" (in Readings); Serena Nanda, "Hijras
as Neither Man Nor Woman" (in Readings); Ki Namaste, "Tragic
Misreadings: Queer Theory's Erasure
of Transgender Subjectivity" (in Readings). Prepare Probes and Insights #10.
4/2 Transgender and Transsexual Identities in
Modern Western Cultures and Gender-Crossing in Non-Western Cultures
Probes and Insights #10 Due
Leslie Feinberg, Stone Butch Blues OR Kate Bornstein, Gender
Outlaw. Will Roscoe, "Gender Diversity in Native North America:
Notes Toward a Unified Analysis" (in Readings);
Serena Nanda, "Hijras as Neither Man Nor Woman" (in Readings);
Ki Namaste, "Tragic Misreadings:
Queer Theory's Erasure of Transgender Subjectivity" (in Readings).
Viewing: Paris Is Burning or The Brandon Teena Story
Assignment for Next Class: Read the following and prepare Probes and
Insights #11: David Leavitt, The
Lost Language of Cranes
4/9 Post
Stonewall Gay Male Fiction--The Coming Out Novel
Probes and Insights #11 Due
David Leavitt, The Lost Language of Cranes
Viewing: Before Stonewall
Assignment for Next Class: Read Leslea Newman's My Lover Is a Woman: Contemporary Lesbian Love Poems (titles of poems TBA); prepare Probes and Insights #12.
4/16 The Erotics and Politics of
Contemporary Lesbian Poetry
Probes and Insights #12 Due
Poems from My Lover Is a Woman
Viewing: Fire
Assignment for Next Class: Read Jeanette Winterson's Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit and prepare Probes and Insights #13
4/23
Post-Modern Lesbian Fiction in the
Post-Stonewall Era--The Lesbian Coming Out Novel: "To the Pure All Things
Are Pure"
Probes and Insights #13 Due
Jeanette Winterson, Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit
Viewing: One Nation Under God
Home Page | 680 Homepage | 680 Description & Requirements | 680 Assignments |
680 Links to Resources | Course Descriptions & Syllabi
