Constructions of Femininity in 18th-Century Fiction

Dozent/in:

Susan Brähler

Angaben:

Seminar/Proseminar/Übung, 2 SWS, ECTS: 6, Studium Generale, Gender und Diversität, Erweiterungsbereich

Termine:

Do, 14:00 - 16:00, Raum n.V.
All participants registered via FlexNow will be added to the VC course (see link "online") before the course begins. The link to Microsoft Teams will be published on the VC. If you join the course after the first session, please contact the lecturer.

Voraussetzungen / Organisatorisches:

1. Module Allocation:

1.1 Seminar
BA Anglistik/Amerikanistik: Aufbaumodul Literaturwissenschaft / freie Erweiterung: Seminar 6 ECTS
BA Berufliche Bildung: Basis/Aufbaumodul Literaturwissenschaft: Seminar 6 ECTS
LA GS/HS/MS/RS: Basis/Aufbaumodul Literaturwissenschaft (b): Seminar 6 ECTS
LA GY: Aufbaumodul Literaturwissenschaft: Seminar 6 ECTS
M.Sc. WiPäd: Aufbaumodul Fachwissenschaft: Seminar 6 ECTS

1.2 Übung:
all modules including an obligatory/optional reading tutorial (Übung) for literature in
LA GS/HS/MS/RS/GY
BA Anglistik/Amerikanistik
MA English and American Studies
MSc WiPäd
Erweiterungsbereich English and American Studies
Open for Consolidation Module Literature (Übung)
Open for Ergänzungsmodul Literature

2. (De)Registration:

in FlexNow! (except for guest auditors): 07.09.2020, 10:00 - 15.11.2020, 23:59

guest auditors: please contact lecturer

Inhalt:

The eighteenth century saw the rise of gender as a political category. “[C]learly defined gender roles were” thought to be “central to the stability of English society, and by extension, to England’s status as a world power” (Barker/Chalus 1). Men and women were conceived as ‘naturally’ different, with women being in need of close supervision. Gender roles were becoming increasingly more rigid and contrasting over the course of the century, which is reflected by an abundance of prescriptive texts elaborating on ideal male and female behaviour in a polite society. The Spectator deemed ‘the fair sex’ essential in upholding the moral order and stressed that it was vital to instruct women in “all the becoming Duties of Virginity, Marriage, and Widowhood” (March 1711). Next to periodicals like The Spectator, The Tatler, The Female Spectator and The Female Tatler, conduct books, salon discussions and the newly emergent genre of the novel were major vehicles in either fostering 18th-century ideals of a ‘decorative femininity’ or pushing the boundaries of what it meant to be an ideal woman at the time.

This class will offer a survey of literary representations of women in texts written during the Long 18th-Century, spanning from Aphra Behn to Jane Austen, the first self-proclaimed ‘novelist’. We will not only be interested in texts written by female authors but also in constructions of femininity in the fictional texts and conduct books written by their male contemporaries. Students will be introduced to the impact of Enlightenment thought on gender roles as well as the cult of sensibility’s supposed threat to male authority. Our text selection will comprise a variety of genres: Gothic fiction, amatory novels, sentimental novels, the novel of manners, conduct books, feminist tracts, poetry, diaries and travel accounts. We will be interested in how female protagonists conform with, push the boundaries of or satirically and more or less radically transgress established gender codes. Topics will range from female sexuality and marriage, women and property to women and class and politics.

Empfohlene Literatur:

All primary texts will be made available on the VC. Students will be asked to read excerpts from the texts listed below in preparation for each session.

Conduct books (t. b. a.)
Travel accounts (t. b. a.)
Aphra Behn, Love-Letters between a Nobleman and his Sister (1684-87).
Phoebe Crackenthorpe, ed., The Female Tatler (1709-10; selection of articles).
Eliza Haywood, Love in Excess (1719), Anti-Pamela (1741); The Female Spectator (1744-46; selection of articles);
Daniel Defoe, Moll Flanders (1722).
Samuel Richardson, Pamela (1740); Clarissa (1748).
Henry Fielding, Shamela (1741).
Charlotte Lennox, The Female Quixote (1752).
Horace Walpole, The Castle of Otranto (1764).
Fanny Burney, Evelina (1778).
Mary Wollstonecraft, A Vindication of the Rights of Woman (1792).
Ann Radcliffe, The Mysteries of Udolpho (1794).
Poems by Charlotte Smith (t. b. a.).
Dorothy Wordsworth, Grasmere Journal (written 1800-03; publ. 1897 posthum.).
Maria Edgeworth, Belinda (1801).
Jane Austen, Sense and Sensibility (1811), Northanger Abbey (1817).

Exam Preparation English Literature

Dozent/in:

Susan Brähler

Angaben:

Übung, 2 SWS, ECTS: 2, Studium Generale

Termine:

Do, 10:00 - 12:00, Raum n.V.
All participants registered via FlexNow will be added to the VC course (see link "online") before the course begins. The link to Microsoft Teams will be published on the VC. If you join the course after the first session, please contact the lecturer.

Voraussetzungen / Organisatorisches:

1. Module allocation
all modules including an exam preparation (Examensübung/ Übung für Examenskandidaten)

Übung in "Vertiefungsmodul" or "Master Module" in any of the following courses of study

LA GS/HS/MS/RS/GY

BA Anglistik/Amerikanistik

MA English and American Studies

Erweiterungsbereich English and American Studies

NOT open for Consolidation Module Literature
NOT open for Ergänzungsmodul Literature

2. FlexNow (de-) registration: 07.09.2020, 10:00 - 15.11.2020, 23:59

Inhalt:

This course is designed specifically for students of all "Lehrämter" who prepare for the written "Staatsexamen" in English Literature according to the new LPO. However, students preparing other - oral or written - final exams are very welcome, too.

Students will first revise basic terminology for the analysis of poems, narrative and dramatic texts and receive an overview of literary history. After that, each session will be dedicated to one set of "Staatsexamen" questions from previous years. The course will cover all of the "Körbe" used in Staatsexamen (englische Literatur) (e.g. "Thema 1: Dramatische Texte der Renaissance," "Thema 6: Narrative und expositorische Texte des 19. Jahrhunderts" etc.). After the revision sessions, each session will be divided into a revision of the literary history of the respective "Korb" and a detailed analysis of one state exam question from this "Korb". All participants need to prepare a presentation based on these questions and the literary and historical background for each of them.

Tutorial for Students of MA English and American Studies

Dozent/in:

Susan Brähler

Angaben:

Übung, 2 SWS

Termine:

Di, 9:30 - 11:00, Raum n.V.

Voraussetzungen / Organisatorisches:

Please follow the link above ("online") to access the VC class (no password).

Welcome Meeting new MA students

Dozentinnen/Dozenten:

Christoph Houswitschka, Susan Brähler, Kerstin-Anja Münderlein

Angaben:

Sonstige Lehrveranstaltung

Termine:

Einzeltermin am 28.10.2020, 11:00 - 12:30, Raum n.V.

Inhalt:

This meeting will be held via MS TEAMS. Please follow the link above ("online") to access the team with your student account. If you encounter any technical problems, please contact maeas.englit(at)uni-bamberg.de