Stanford University
ENGLISH 65N: Contemporary Women Writers of Fiction
Spring 2006

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How do women writers portray intimacy, sexuality, self-invention--and how do they chronicle loss, violence, exile? Do they share meaningful connections, or is “women’s writing” simply a convenient catchall? In this Freshman Seminar we’ll read closely the work of some very diverse writers having in common the fact that they’re all women who are alive and writing now--and writing in ways that contribute to our contemporary sense of politics domestic and global, of sex and sexual orientation, of “place” and its manifold meanings. Form will vary, because we’ll read short stories, novels, and possibly essays or poetry as well. The writers we’ll read include Nadine Gordimer, Edwidge Danticant, Alice Munro, Mary Gaitskill, and Louise Erdrich. By reading a diverse spectrum of writers, we'll enlarge our sense of what is possible, what is significant, and what really matters to us in the writing of women.

The syllabus has now been posted. Space is still available in this seminar, so if you're interested--and even if you're not a freshman!--please attend the first seminar meeting.

Meeting Time & Place
MW 3:15-5:05

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