PAY NO ATTENTION TO THE PERCENTAGE OF YOUR GRADE ON CANVAS. IT HAS NO RELATION TO YOUR FINAL GRADE.

Make sure sure you order copies of one of the critical editions below, or buy an e-book, or rent a copy, etc. To follow the schedule, just find the dates below in red and blue. Like this: January 13

The Wicked Lady (dir. Leslie Arliss, 1946) is on youtube on the link to your left. It may be on Swank Digital Campus. You can see a much better source print by renting the film on amazonprime.com. By "better," I mean the image quality is clear, not blurry. The sound quality is better too. You can also see the film on the Criterion Channel.

Post your DQs and shots BOTH on Canvas AND this Google doc. Do not post your DQs in the comments box on Canvas. I will see this message across my screen: "This student does not have a submission for this assignment." And in the upper right corner I will see "No submission time." The comments box is in the lower right and I won't be looking there. So I will end up giving you a zero by mistake.

The Google doc gives examples of the format for discussion questions and three shots. Assignments are always due Mondays and Wednesdays by 5:00 p.m.

Discussion Questions etc. are due every Sunday, Tuesday, and Thursday by 5:00 p.m.

I will give a brief quiz at the beginning of class. If you miss the quiz, I count you absent.

You will also be counted absent if you do not turn in the DQs and Big Words of Three Shots on time Sundays, Tuesdays, and Thursdays. No late work is accepted. I allow two unexcused absences. Three or four absences will impact your final grade at my discretion. More than four absences means you will fail the course. See the Attendance policies for this course.

UF gives you access to a large streaming collection here: Swank Digital Campus

– Swank provides free access to feature films and documentaries.

You usually learn to figure how to do something. You know where you're going before you get there. Learning how to read literature does not work this way. The point of reading literature is that it will surprise you in surprsing ways. And so you have to stay with the text and read it closely, even reread it.

Literature may not make you a better person. But it may make you a better reader. And it may inspire you to become a scholar, to learn how to learn. Critical thinking, imo, is often a misnomer. It often means: think the way I do; arrive at the same conclusions the same way. Thinking critically, for our purposes, means posing questions, learning to figure out what a good question is.

This will be a discussion class, not a lecture, and I encourage you to befriend each other by meeting on the group on app and by continuing discussion independently after class.

If you have a question or a problem in urgent need of resolution, please contact me in class or at [email protected].

Requirements: Class participation; quizzes at the beginning of class; co-lead class discussion three times; two 500-700 word papers; and two discussion questions and three BIG WORDS for each class.

TENTATIVE SCHEDULE (Please expect adjustments to be made in the schedule from time to time.)

January 13 Bad Girls Just Want to Have Fun / Wicked Women in Literature and Film: Who Are They? And What Did They Do? Banned Books / Imprisonment /

Non-Binary Literature Outloud: Who writes? Who speaks? Try Listening to Audio recordings. How many voices do you her? How do you hear characters speaking when you read silently? We will leave open the meaninf of "Wicked" in this course. While it describes criminal behavior and harlotry, it is not the opposite of Good (it is not a synonym for Evil). Maybe being a "bad" girl is a good thing. "Wicked" is non-binary. Literature always "goes too far." Let's think beyond good and evil with Friedrich Nietzche. What is the relation between wisdom and wickedness? (btw, the Spanish translation of film remake of TThe Wicked Lady is La Dona Perversa.) Men can write at the Margins. There is Only One Subject/ivity. But there is always more than one (female) voice, just as there is always more than one feminism, more than one kind of writing by women (literature and political tracts). And "more" does not mean "inclusion" but contradiction and disagreement (even within the same person).

1. Censorship: every work of literature we are going to read and one of the films we'll watch was censored at some time or other. Not until 1966 did the U.S. Supreme Court rule that John Cleland's Fanny Hill was not obscene because it was literature. NY Times 1964 on British cenorship of the novel. Fanny Hill MA Supreme Court decision, 1966. Defoe, Cleland, and Diderot all spent time in prison. Defoe was also put in the stocks. Self-censorship by the writer and by the narrator (do we get the whole story); the threats of state censorship or book banning, and punishment of the author with the pillory or imprisonment.

2. Moral Problem as a Reading Problem: (medieval deportment books deportment books written to teach "gentilesse" to yooung women; eighteenth-century conduct manuals for young women, spiritual autobiography, courtship novels, and cautionary tales for women who are sometimes warned against reading novels with women characters who are morally bad / sexually depraved / criminals (thieves; murderers; bigamists) but who finally repent and reform. Or do they? In Defoe's novels, which emerge from the tradition of "whore biography," bad characters go to Newgate Jail or Bridewell Prison; Punishment of criminal characters includes transportation to the colonies and death by hanging.

3. Character and Narration: Daniel Defoe is aware that the narrators of Roxana and Moll Flanders could be judged (perhaps correctly) by some readers to be obscene and immoral books. The unnamed editor of Moll Flanders and Moll herself both assert there is a moral in the novel. Is there? To address these questions, among others, we will examine syntax, diction, and punctuation; Narration and Voice: Male author (anonymous); frame narrative (a story-within-the story told by a hostess to two male guests who tend to interrupt the story, disagree with each other, and ask for more wine); preface as apologia; written by a male editor, or Prologue spoken by the narrator (we can include Chaucer's Prologue and Tale to the Wife of Bath), or letters unsent; female narrator of an autobiography supposedly authentic and truthful; first person speaker and third person (omniscient) narration; first person advocate, speaking on behalf of a group versus narrator who speaker herself and occasionally, her sex. See chapter 8 of Mary Wollstonecraft's Gothic novel Maria; Or, the Wrongs of Woman, a sequel to The Vindication of the Rights of Woman.

The Wicked Lady (dir. Leslie Arliss, 1946) You can see a much better source print by renting the film on amazonprime.com. By "better," I mean the image quality is clear, not blurry. The sound quality is better too. You can also see the film on the Criterion Channel. The Wicked Lady Trailer

January 17 Literature (not only sexuality) as the Other of Gender / Feminism?

Lady / Corporate Feminism vs. Revolutionary Feminism: Literary Critics and Historians of the book remain trapped inside the dead end of a binary opposition between two predictable, judgmental labels: on the one hand, you have pejoratives like "misogynistic"; "sexist" and on the other, you have agenda free, no content corporate labels like "strong women"; "independent women"; (business) "leaders"; "firsts"; "representation"; "intersectionality; "voices"; "empowerment," and "agency." No reading or reflection required (or allowed?). In a word: "feminonormativity."

NOTE: We'll spend a few minutes during this class learning together how to read Chaucer's Middle English out loud.

"The wrongs of woman, like the wrongs of the oppressed part of mankind, may be deemed necessary by their oppressors: but surely there are a few, who will dare to advance before the improvement of the age, and grant that my sketches are not the abortion of a distempered fancy, or the strong delineations of a wounded heart.

In writing this novel, I have rather endeavoured to pourtray passions than manners.

In many instances I could have made the incidents more dramatic, would I have sacrificed my main object, the desire of exhibiting the misery and oppression, peculiar to women, that arise out of the partial laws and customs of society.

In the invention of the story, this view restrained my fancy; and the history ought rather to be considered, as of woman, than of an individual."

1 "Experience, though noon auctoritee
"Experience, though no written authority
2 Were in this world, is right ynogh for me
Were in this world, is good enough for me

January 22 "That gentil text kan I wel understonde": The Wife of Bath as Scholar (and occasional self-censor)

Should we read Chaucer aloud? Or silently? Is Chaucer a ventriloquist, creating a female character like the Wife of Bath who cites male writers to challenge their authority by misinterpreting their views? Is there such a thing as the female voice? Or male? Reading, Voicing, Glossing, Book Burning, the Wife's "Bele Chose," (Re)Marriage (five times so far), Wrecked (Revenged) What does the Wife mean by "wyse" (wise) wife or woman?

You may read the interlinear Harvard modern translation of Chaucer's Middle English (1387-1400) here: "Wife of Bath's Prologue." You will see that the modern translation is neither in iambic pentameter nor in rhyming couplets. (There are no silent vowels in Middle English.)

The Riverside edition is very prestigous and has the same format as the Broadview edition above.

First person (prologue) and third person (tale); "Glosing" the text and the female body

129 Why sholde men elles in hir bookes sette
Why else should men set in their books
130 That man shal yelde to his wyf hire dette?

77 "But certeinly no word ne writeth he
"But certainly no word writes he
78 Of thilke wikke ensample of Canacee,
Of that wicked example of Canace, . . . .

86 And therfore he, of ful avysement,
And therefore he, after careful consideration
87 Nolde nevere write in none of his sermons
Would never write in any of his compositions
88 Of swiche unkynde abhomynacions,
Of such unnatural abominations, )

The Wife's prologue is in part an autobiography. So Chaucer does set up a biographical reading of the Wife's tale. But the prologue is not a unified text that enables us to view the tale from the outside and thereby make sense of it. The Prologue is a paratext, and it therefore has to be read as closely as the tale it surrounds and (p)repeats). (No critical approach is bad or unproductive per se. Its value depends on how it is used case by case.

Line 816 And made hym brenne his book anon right tho.
And made him burn his book immediately right then.

Geoffrey Chaucer, "Wife of Bath's Prologue," lines 627-828 interlinear modern translation of Chaucer's Middle English (see above for alternate editions) Line 627 What sholde I seye but, at the monthes ende,

By God, if wommen hadde writen stories,
By God, if women had written stories,
694   As clerkes han withinne hire oratories,
As clerks have within their studies,
695   They wolde han writen of men moore wikkednesse
They would have written of men more wickedness
696   Than al the mark of Adam may redresse.
Than all the male sex could set right.

January 27 Understanding" the Wife of Bath: "Ye woot wel what I meene of this, pardee!
You know well what I mean of this, by God!"

904 I grante thee lyf, if thou kanst tellen me
I grant thee life, if thou canst tell me
905 What thyng is it that wommen moost desiren.
What thing it is that women most desire.

Geoffrey Chaucer, The Tale in "Wife of Bath's Tale" interlinear modern translation of Chaucer's Middle English, lines 857--1264. Or see alternates above.

Just asking: Is there a psychological relation between the teller and the tale? Does the tale make sense since it is not an exemplum, a story with a moral? Is it at all realistic? How would you divide up the Prologue and Tale differently from the table of contents, either by creating a different table or by dividing it up into larger sections?

L'art d'aimer au Moyen Âge [The art of love in the Middle Ages] (Wonderful Online Resources in the 2020s--book illustrations as four minute cartoons with voice-over summaries of the plot. You can quickly learn what they are, not just how Chaucer used them.)

To sign up to co-lead class beginning January 27, go to this google doc. Do not co-lead with the same person twice and co-lead at least four weeks after the first time you co-lead.

1. The chapter title option is an intellectual autobiography. You have to explain what you did, why you selected the lines and how you divided the lines and assigned them titles).

The Tale is three times as long as the Friar's. In the first question, I'm suggesting the P and T are really long and would been if Chaucer streamlined it here and there. he cut lines or entire passages improved the P and T. He could have deleted the Homily. Yet as we saw today in class, it's good he didn't. One way to justify the opening lines is show subtly Chaucer sets up the question raised by the "foul, old" woman's transformation into a young woman. That question is not answered. It may help you formulate other questions. When you discuss or A or B you may also bring in the Prologue (because the P and T are connected).

Live GRADING in 4314 Turlington. We will meet at my office in person to discuss your assignment. I will send out an email with a link to a google with a schedule of times we can meet. You'll just need to sign up.

January 29 Non-Binary Oppositional Disorder: Neither / Nor v. Either / More (or less)

January 31 Acting Out the Binary: Moll as unmarried, occasional transvestite (and smoker)

Thomas Middleton and Thomas Dekker; Ed. Kelly Stage or Jennifer Panek, The Roaring Girl (1611)

The Roaring Girl, ed. Coppelia Kahn, in Thomas Middleton: The Collected Works, Scenes 5-8, pp. 745-60

Thomas Middleton and Thomas Dekker; Ed. Kelly Stage or Jennifer Panek, The Roaring Girl (1611)

Act 5 and epilogue (oline edited) / Scenes 9-12 and epilogue / 5.1-5.2 and Epilogus

Daniel Defoe, Moll Flanders, pp. 1-17; 88-110 (Pagination from the Oxford edition.) Pay careful attention to the Preface.

"Thus far I have had a smooth story to tell of myself, and in all this part of my life I not only had the reputation of living in a very good family, and a family noted and respected everywhere for virtue and sobriety, and for every valuable thing; but I had the character too of a very sober, modest, and virtuous young woman, and such I had always been; neither had I yet any occasion to think of anything else, or to know what a temptation to wickedness meant.

But that which I was too vain of was my ruin, or rather my vanity was the cause of it. The lady in the house where I was had two sons, young gentlemen of very promising parts and of extraordinary behaviour, and it was my misfortune to be very well with them both, but they managed themselves with me in a quite different manner."

In short, by an unwearied importunity, my husband, who was apparently decaying, as I observed, . . .

John Bunyan's The Pilgrim's Progress (1678), dream narratives, and Spiritual Autobiography

February 10 "I had two children by him and no more . . ."

REQUIRED READING:

Daniel Defoe, Moll Flanders, pp. 158-220

Begin reading at

"But there are temptations" . . .

Finish reading at

"I made off with this little booty. . . ."

February 12

REQUIRED READING:

Daniel Defoe, Moll Flanders, pp. 220-85

Begin reading at

"The Room in which I Lodg'd, lay next to . . ."

and finish reading the novel.

February 14 Don't tell me how to read!

REQUIRED READING:

Daniel Defoe, Roxana, the Fortunate Mistress, pp.3-82; Read from the Preface up to "This carry'd off our discourse for a time;" All page numbers are from the Oxford World's Classics edition.

Recommended Reading:

José María Pérez Fernández, "Picturesque" (2018)

February 17

REQUIRED READING:

Daniel Defoe, Roxana, or the Fortunate Mistress, pp. 82-144

Read up to "and when he evidently saw what I was going about . . . ."

February 19

REQUIRED READING:

Daniel Defoe, Roxana, or the Fortunate Mistress, pp. 144-200

Read up to "For now I came not to be sick of his Lordship only . . . ."

February 21

REQUIRED READING:

Daniel Defoe, Roxana, the Fortunate Mistress, pp.200-60

Read up to "He lik'd the proposal very well, and said . . . ."

February 24

REQUIRED READING:

Daniel Defoe, Roxana, the Fortunate Mistress, pp. 260-330. Read the rest of the novel.

February 26

REQUIRED READING: Literature and Obscenity

John Cleland, Fanny Hill, Vol. 1, pp. 3-44; Vol 2, pp. 104-39; 198-203 (Page numbers are from the Modern Library edition.)

Begin Reading Part Two at

"Madam, if I have delayed the sequel, . . . "

Read Up to

"Now, whether my partner had exhausted all the modes

Skip to

"Referring then to a more explicit narrative . . . "

and read to the end of the novel.

(Page numbers are from the Modern Library edition. I prefer it to the Penguin, Oxford, and Broadview, but all four editions are good.)

Begin Reading at

"Madam, I sit down to give you as undeniable proof of my considering your desire as indispensable orders . . ."

Read Up to

"In our calmer intervals, Charles gave the following account of himself, every tittle of which was true."

Recommended Further Reading:

The Rest of Part One

Recommended Resources:

November_1749_Warrant_for_the_Detention_of_Cleland_and_Others_following_Publication_of_Memoirs_of_a Woman off Pleasure / March 1750. Warrant for the Detention of Cleland and Others following Publication of Memoirs of Fanny Hill

Fanny Hill MA Supreme Court decision, 1966

Nicholas D. Nace, Fanny Hill Now: A Half Century of Liberty Hampden-Sydney College

Peter, Sabor,"From Sexual Liberation to Gender Trouble: Reading 'Memoirs of a Woman of Pleasure' from the 1960s to the 1990s," Eighteenth-Century Studies, Summer, 2000, Vol. 33, No. 4, The Culture of Risk and Pleasure (Summer, 2000), pp. 561-578 / pdf

Recommended Listening, Viewing :

Audio book read aloud by men and by women

Audio book read aloud by a woman

BBC mini-series Fanny Hill (dir. James Hawes, 2007) Episode One, of Four / Episode Two (Free)

Photos of pages from a 1781 edition of Fanny Hill. The Cambridge edition of the correspondence of John Cleland

Cleland, John, 1709-1789, author.; Sabor, Peter, editor.; Terry, Richard (Richard G.), editor.; Williams, Helen, 1986- editor.

2024

February 28 Film, Obscenity, and Censorship

REQUIRED VIEWING:

The Nun / La Religieuse (dir. Jacques Rivette, 1966)

Trailer

March 3 She's having nun of that. The source text of Rivette's film

Required Reading:

Jacques Diderot, The Nun, pp. 3-61 (pagination from the Oxford World's Classics edition).

1928 English translation of Memoirs of a Nun (up to "This was done." pp. 1-89)

Recommended Resource:

Diderot, La Religieuse (the novel in French)

March 5 Nunsense!

Required Reading:

Jacques Diderot, The Nun, pp. 61-105

1928 English translation of Memoirs of a Nun ( up to "This Vicar was a M. Herbert, . . ." pp. 90-155)

March 7

Required Reading:

Jacques Diderot, The Nun, pp. 105-52

1928 English translation of Memoirs of a Nun (up to "I saw the affection Mother Superior . . . ," pp. 155-225)

Recommended Viewing:

The Nun (dir. Guillaume Nicloux, 2013)

The Nun (dir. Guillaume Nicloux, 2013) | Trailer | Pauline Etienne | Isabelle Huppert | Louise Bourgoin LA RELIGIEUSE (The Nun)

Un film de Guillaume Nicloux d’après l’œuvre de Denis Diderot Dossier

March 10 Nunsploitation Cinema

REQUIRED VIEWING:

Benedetta (dir. Paul Verhoeven, 2021)

Benedetta - Official Trailer

Recommended Reading:

The film is loosely based on

Judith C. Brown's acclaimed book, Immodest Acts: The Life of a Lesbian Nun in Renaissance Italy

March 12 Narrative Frame and Flashbacks

REQUIRED VIEWING:

The Devil Is a Woman (dir. Josef von Sternerg, 1935)

March 14

The Devil Is a Woman (dir. Josef von Sternerg, 1935)

SECOND PAPER DUE March 15 by 11:59 p.m. READ THROUGH THIS WEBPAGE. READ ALL OF IT. CLOSELY. VERY CLOSELY. PLEASE NOTE: Now that you have learned from your mistakes in our discussion of your first paper, and now that you have practiced writing twice a week through your DQs, I fully expect you to be able to make an argument in your essay, write grammatical sentences, use words properly, and punctuate properly. Papers that have ungrammatical sentences, mispunctuate, or misuse words will get "D" grades. Be sure to give yourself time to revise and to proofread your paper carefully before you send it to me at [email protected]. I recommend reading your work aloud. It's a good way to see what you need to revise. You can also get help at the Writing Program. See also the Plain Style: A Guide to Written English. READ THROUGH THIS WEBPAGE. READ ALL OF IT. CLOSELY. VERY CLOSELY.

There is a treasure trove of resources on close reading here:

https://www.closereadingarchive.org/teaching

March 15-23 SPRING BREAK

Recommended Viewing:

Becky Sharp (dir. Rouben Mamoulian, 1935) trailer