LS 684 - All is Fair in Love and War: A Survey of Women's Texts from 900 to 2012

(3.00 cr.)

The adage "all is fair in love and war" connotes a strategic iciness in two of humanity's most commonly held experiences; it also betrays a disconcerting equation of humanity's capacities for love and violence. This class focuses on texts, mostly by women from Europe and America, broadly related to the ideas and experiences of love and war, as well as issues of race, history, and political activism. Canonical and non-traditional texts are discussed, among them novels, poems, short stories, memoirs, academic articles/works, journalism, films, and music. This course emphasizes how these texts represent gender, how literature contributes to identity-formation, and how women have used the written word to change their social and imaginative conditions. Taught from a feminist perspective.